WTO Negotiations
India worried at impasse in Doha round
Pti, United Nations
Expressing "serious concern" over the impasse in all areas of negotiations under the Doha round of WTO talks, India has asserted that if globalisation is inevitable, it has to be "fair and equitable" with multilateralism as its "life-sustaining" mechanism.Warning that the impasse threatens to jeopardise the development prospects of poor countries, Indian Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee told the developing nations that solidarity among them would be crucial in facing the challenges posed by globalisation. More intense cooperation at the international level coupled with increased flow of resources, enhanced market access and debt relief is an "absolute imperative," he said. Addressing the ministerial-level meeting of the Group of 77 developing nations and China Friday, Mukherjee emphasised that progress in international trade has to be measured against the yardstick of poverty eradication. "We believe that the developing countries must have the policy space to determine their development plans and priorities based on their individual situations," he told the ministers. It is important for the developing nations to maintain flexibilities to avoid the danger of de-industrialisation for some of them, Mukherjee said, asserting that the "Overarching principle" of special and differential treatment remains a "categorical imperative." Resumption of trade negotiations must carry forward the progress made, he said. The precise, effective and operational special and differential treatment for developing countries "must be an integral to all aspects of outcome of negotiations and the outcome should deliver on the developmental imperatives embodied in the Doha Work Programme," Mukherjee said. He particularly referred to the problems faced by the landlocked developing countries and small island states, stressing the need for their priorities to be taken into account. The fulcrum of international economic endeavour, the Minister said, are the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which seek to substantially reduce and eliminate several social and economic ills facing the developing nations. In this context, he urged the developed nations to meet their target of contributing 0.7 percent of GNP as official developing aid (OD) by 2015. Emphasising the role of science and technology in development, Mukherjee said the revolution in information and communication technologies offers the tool to face the challenges of globalisation.
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