India to be flexible in world trade talks: US

The US has said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has 'indicated' that India will commit itself to the market access and flexibilities as proposed by the World Trade Organisation to revive the stalled Doha Round of global trade talks.

In her remarks at the US-China Relations Conference in Washington on Tuesday, US Trade Representative Susan Schwab said: "I urge China to pull back from the brink and unambiguously commit to the market access and flexibilities put on the table by the chairs -- just as Indian Prime Minister Singh has indicated his country will".

Earlier this month, Singh had spoken to US President George W Bush and discussed ways to make progress and complete the Doha Round which was to conclude by December 2004.

The WTO talks are stalled for lack of consensus between the developed and developing

countries on the issues of market access and agricultural subsidies.

Developing countries, which have formed a G-20 group, have maintained that since Doha was a "development round", it should result into significant gains for the poor.

The developed world being led by the US and EU has sought market access for their products in the developing countries.

India has all along maintained that Doha should not be treated as a 'market access' round.

The WTO Secretariat had, in July, come out with separate draft texts on agriculture and industrial goods. India had described the farm text as "a good basis for negotiations" but rejected the non-agricultural market access draft.

Schwab also asked China to show more initiatives at the WTO negotiations rather than "let India, Brazil and others...take the lead".