Indian Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said on Friday he believed it was "still possible" to clinch a World Trade Organisation (WTO) accord in 2007 despite recent setbacks. "Of course we can do it. We are still committed to the end of the year. It is still possible," he told reporters in Geneva after speaking to Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim.
Nath said he would meet European Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson in London on Saturday "to try to move this forward", referring to the Doha round of talks, which were launched in the Qatari capital in 2001 with the aim of boosting global trade flows and helping poorer nations export more.
The negotiations have been largely stalled since last year, when the United States and European Union locked horns with developing powers represented by Brazil and India over the size of needed cuts to subsidies and tariffs in sensitive areas such as farming and manufactured goods.
They hit further trouble last month when Nath, Amorim, Mandelson and US trade chief Susan Schwab failed to overcome divisions at a side session meant to salvage the Doha deal. The Doha round should have been concluded at the end of 2004.
Amorim, speaking to reporters after meetings of developing powers at the WTO's headquarters, said poorer nations would continue to need and push for a development-oriented Doha deal. He said concluding the round by the end of the year "is still possible".
The WTO's 150 member states need to reach consensus in the negotiations for an accord to be reached. WTO chief Pascal Lamy has said if an agreement is not secured soon, the talks could be put on ice and would remain so until after the US elections in 2008 when Washington may have more flexibility to negotiate than in the run-up to the vote.
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