January 12, 2007	Friday	Zilhaj 21, 1427

ISLAMABAD, Jan 11: Pakistan on Thursday welcomed the agreement reached between the United States and European Union (EU), which would help in reviving the stalled Doha Round negotiations, Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan told Dawn.

The US and the EU have more or less reached an agreement on Monday last that Washington would reduce its domestic farm subsidies from its proposed level of $23 billion to somewhere below $17 billion, while Brussels was expected to accept tariff cuts for its farm products little over what was proposed by the developing countries coalition G-20.

Talking to this reporter the minister said that the US and EU’s move was encouraging, which would help to a great extent in reviving the suspended talks on the Doha Development Round (DDR).

“We should try to move forward to take on the negotiating blocks on board to re-start the Doha Round talks for the benefit of the developing countries,” the minister added.

World Trade Organisation chief Pascal Lamy is expected to visit India next week to attend a summit in Bangalore during which he would also seek New Delhi’s support to finalise an agreement in the stalled Doha trade liberalisation negotiations.

The commerce minister said that India as an important player of the WTO should have to show flexibility in a number of ways.

In an attempt to revive the talks, the WTO chief was currently calling on the heads of state of key countries such as Germany and the United Kingdom to mobilise support for the Doha negotiations, which broke down last year because of unbridgeable differences.

Trade analysts said as the EU and the US were now close to identifying a “landing zone” defining what Washington will do to reduce its trade-distorting domestic support and Brussels commitment on increasing market access for farm products.

They said the two sides were also working simultaneously on the process-related details to ensure that there was multilateral backing for whatever understanding was reached between them. On behalf of the G-20, of which Pakistan is also a member, Brazil’s trade chief also met with his US counterpart recently in a bid to evolve an agreed agenda of the block for the revival of the suspended talks. The rich countries were looking at the openness of the Indian market for its industrial and farm products.