Lamy asks Nath, Schwab to meet on Doha talks

NEW DELHI: Commerce Minister Kamal Nath and US Trade Representative Susan Schwab will meet in London next week at the behest of WTO chief Pascal Lamy to renew efforts for reaching a breakthrough in the stalled trade negotiations.

Nath would meet Schwab between October 15-17 as "Lamy believes the two countries that can take the WTO talks forward are India and the US," a highly-placed official said.
   
The Doha Round of multilateral trade talks have remained stalled over differences between the developed and developing nations on agricultural subsidies and industrial tariffs.

Subsidies have remained a sour point in the talks with the developing nations asking the US to significantly cut its trade distorting farm payouts.
   
India has maintained the US would need to cap trade- distorting farm spending at comparable levels before it could contemplate any reduction in duties on industrial goods.
   
"I would be happy with any reduction the US is willing to do on their applied levels" of farm spending adding, "Even one dollar reduction from what they are applying today, it is a deal. We will move forward," Nath had earlier said.
   
India and the US, along with Brazil and European Union form the G-4 grouping. Talks between the two countries had earlier collapsed in Potsdam, Germany due to differences on the contentious issues.

Currently, negotiations are on in Geneva, the WTO headquarters, where member countries are discussing the draft texts on agriculture and industrial tariffs circulated by the respective chairs.