New Delhi: Global trade talks that were
stalled since July last year will resume in Geneva on
September 14, with trade ministers of key WTO member countries
agreeing here that the negotiations should be taken forward.
"We have reached an agreement to intensify the
negotiations, it has been a breakthrough in this meeting, if
I can use this expression 'impasse'... (has) been broken...,"
Commerce Minister Anand Sharma said after the two-day informal
meeting hosted by India.
Talks had collapsed in Geneva in July last year after
India, among others, opposed agriculture subsidies offered by
rich nations to their farmers on the grounds that this
distorts trade by making produce of developing countries
costly.
"It has been agreed by all... by strong consensus and
unanimous endorsement that the chief negotiators and the
senior officials will meet in Geneva on September 14," Sharma
added.
The negotiators will meet for a week beginning September
14.
Bureau Report
First Published: Friday, September 04, 2009, 16:03