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Three-month long Doha trade talks start from today

New Delhi, Feb 01, 2010

Negotiators from key WTO members, including India, China and the US, will begin the marathon three-month meeting in Geneva from Monday to sort out vexed issues hampering conclusion of the Doha Round of trade talks.

The trade negotiators, who are working against a tight schedule, will engage themselves in intense deliberations and prepare the ground for a high-level stalk taking meeting scheduled in March.

Unless the trade negotiators are able to sort out the problems with regard to agricultural and industrial goods among the WTO members, it would be difficult to meet the 2010 deadline for conclusion of the Doha Round, an official said.

Global leaders, including the G-20 members, have been seeking completion of the Doha Round of talks in 2010.

"The stock taking exercise which may be done by senior officials is very important for the progress of the talks... everyone is saying that by the end of this year the Round should be concluded," the official said.

In February, the negotiators will hold parallel deliberations on agriculture, non-agricultural products and services, while in March intellectual property rights, technology transfer, trade in goods and trade facilitation issues would be discussed.

The problem areas of the talk include high-level of farm subsidy in developed countries, demand for better market access for industrial products in the developing countries, level of farmers' protection in the poor and developing countries like India.
 

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