India maintains veto on global trade deal; WTO prepares for crisis talks

India made no sign of dropping its veto on a global trade deal on Tuesday, forcing World Trade Organization chief Roberto Azevedo to announce a week of talks to try to chart the future direction of the Geneva-based body.

Some diplomats had said a WTO meeting on Tuesday was the last chance for India to let a global trade deal go through or other countries would abandon the global talks and split off into smaller groups instead, a development that many experts think would undermine the WTO.

WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell said he had never seen a similar situation at the 19-year-old WTO, which has been dogged by "impasse" in trade negotations for a decade. A breakthrough deal last year revived hopes, but India blocked its implementation in July, demanding more concessions. "(There have been) some pretty horrific situations but this is a unique one in its uncertainty and complexity," Rockwell said after Tuesday's General Council meeting, one of the shortest on record.