India says no future for group of four in WTO talks
Afp, New Delhi
India's trade minister said Friday there was no chance for a grouping of four key WTO members to break the deadlock in multilateral trade talks, a day after he walked out of negotiations in Germany. "It's the end of the day for G-4. Now it's for the full (WTO) membership to take the Doha round forward," Kamal Nath told reporters. The so-called G4 -- acting as representatives of major industrialised economies and emerging nations -- hoped to spearhead negotiations on a global trade deal by hammering out differences on key issues. The grouping is made up of the United States, the European Union, India and Brazil. Nath and Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim walked out of crucial talks Thursday after facing fresh demands to open their markets to industrial goods and services. India has argued that any lowering of its trade barriers needs to be matched by lower farm subsidies in the West. "Where agriculture is concerned, India has always maintained there can be no compromise with our subsistence farmers," Nath said. "Developed countries are looking at promoting and protecting the prosperity of their farmers, whereas in India we are talking about protecting the livelihood of our farmers," he said. "Certainly there cannot be a trade-off between prosperity and livelihood."
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