April 13, 2007	Friday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 24, 1428

NEW DELHI, April 12: Top trade representatives from six key member-nations of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on Thursday proposed a new year-end deadline to revive and complete negotiations on a treaty to further liberalise global commerce, a joint statement said.

The WTO's Doha round of negotiations, named after the capital of Qatar where the talks began in 2001, have been stalled over rich nations' refusal to slash farm subsidies -- and poor countries' reluctance to grant greater access to their markets.The talks have missed several deadlines in the past, the last being December 2006.

The proposal for a new deadline came after negotiators from the United States, European Union, Brazil and India -- or the G-4 as they are known within the WTO -- held formal talks for the first time since they failed to resolve differences and suspended the Doha round last July. Ministers from Australia and Japan also attended the meetings in New Delhi.

“We believe that by intensifying our work, we can reach convergence and thus contribute to concluding the round by the end of 2007,” the statement said.

The six countries would work with other WTO member-nations “in the best interest of completing the round in the time envisaged,” it said.

US Trade Representative Susan Schwab said Washington was “willing to do more than its part” to conclude and expedite a deal.

“My assessment is if we can translate the sense of urgency into action, it is a realisable goal,” Schwab said referring to the new deadline.

Attempts to revive the process at informal meetings in recent months have failed, as the United States has refused to offer deeper cuts to the billions of dollars (euros) in farm subsidies that help its farmers sell cheaper exports, including cotton, in the global market.

The US stance has prompted the EU to resist further cuts in tariffs that protect its own farmers.

Both US and EU also want greater access to manufactured goods markets in countries, like Brazil and India.

Although, differences over duty cuts have held up progress in the Doha round, the meetings in New Delhi did not make any major breakthrough in this regard.

Still, EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said: “I think this has been a much better meeting than some had predicted.”

Indian Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said, however, that the talks were not intended to make a breakthrough but to take stock of the efforts made by key member nations of the WTO to revive the Doha round.

He said participants agreed on a roadmap for intensive engagements over the next few weeks and months.—AP