'Breakthrough in WTO talks still not in sight'

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Namrata Kath Hazarika | 13 Sep, 2010
As the US is not ready with the necessary details for concluding the Doha deal, this might further delay the negotiation process till 2011, said the Commerce Secretary, Rahul Khullar on Monday in New Delhi.

"Doha Round has been held up essentially because the US is not ready with the necessary details. The US administration actually needs more details on agriculture and Non-Agricultural Market Access (NAMA)," he said addressing a seminar on "WTO and Bilateral Agreements."

He added, "The Doha negotiations have not been done in 2010, but it will be done by early 2011."

Khullar also said that India is going to look the next 10 years of trade as major engines of growth.

"It means that we will go through a second phase of reforms which may be fiscal and economic...but all those will create greater competitiveness. We must also see where are our prospects in the next 10 years from now and not view only where we are today," he added.

He is positive enough with the conclusion of the Doha negotiations. Commenting on this he said, "We will see the WTO will close a deal. It is not that WTO will not close a deal. We will see at least in the next five years that a kind of protectionism from the predominantly developed countries."

Khullar is hopeful that after the US election is over the Doha talks will start its negotiations intensively, which will help in progressing the talks further.

The Doha negotiations have missed out several deadlines since it's inception in 2001. It was actually had to be concluded in the year 2004 but due to the indifferences between the negotiators the talks got stalled.

In fact, the successful conclusion of the Doha round will help the global economy to witness an infusion of stimulus of around US$500 billion in future.