Key ministers to review Doha trade talks in Paris

Trade ministers from key World Trade Organization members, including India, will meet on Friday in Paris on the sidelines of an OECD meeting to review the progress of the Doha talks for a global trade-opening deal.

The initiative for the consultations among the select ministers was taken by Australian Trade Minister Simon Crean.

Trade ministers from China, Argentina, South Africa and Russia are attending the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) meeting.

"India is for early conclusion of the WTO negotiations and Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma will pitch for it," a commerce ministry official said.

However, the consultations will be informal in nature, he said. While India is not an OECD member, it has been invited to the meeting of the OECD's Committee on Fiscal Affairs as an observer.

Other countries with observer status include Argentina, Chile, China, Russia and South Africa.

After the collapse of the Doha Round of talks in July, 2008, India took a major step to re-engage key WTO members, including the US, in September, 2009.

Since then, official-level talks in Geneva to conclude the negotiations have been unable to make any breakthrough.

In 2001, the World Trade Organisation had launched a negotiating round for reaching a new agreement on opening global trade among its 153 member countries.

However, differences between the developing and developed countries over the level of market opening and protection have come in the way of any agreement despite several efforts.