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August 11, 2001
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US hopes India will revise stand on new round

BS Economy Bureau

The United States on Friday continued with its carrot and stick approach to win India over in its bid to launch a new trade round at Doha. After the United States Trade Representative Robert Zoellick's tough talk on Thursday, the US on Friday backed India's participation in an informal ministerial meeting of 15-20 countries scheduled in Mexico in September.

The meeting has been called to decide the trade agenda for the WTO meeting in November. Zoellick, who ended his three-day visit Friday, expressed the hope that India would reciprocate the movement on generalised system provisions, under which the US announced duty free imports of 42 items, by providing a greater market access.

"I hope that our overtures in terms of improving trade by removing tariffs on of $540 million worth of trade would be just a step in the process (of developing a healthy relationship) and I also hope that as we work together to deal with the issues of concern in international trade, we will be able to deal with some of India's concerns on implementation and other topics for the WTO," he said after a meeting with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

The USTR, who was scheduled to leave in the afternoon for Indonesia had to change his plans as the appointment with the PM was delayed. The 20-minute meeting with the PM took place in the evening. Earlier, Zoellick met principal secretary to the PM Brajesh Mishra.

The USTR also called for a reduction in industrial tariffs saying that it would be to the benefit of India as it would increase competitiveness of the country's exports.

In a meeting with reporters at the end of his three-day visit, Zoellick continued to be hopeful that India would revise its stand on the launch of a new trade round. The USTR also maintained that failure to vest the trade promotion authority in President George Bush would not impact the US stand at Doha. "Ideally, we would like to have the TPA in the President's first year in office. But we can wait," he said.

On India's concerns on implementations, Zoellick said: "While the US has been working with other countries in the last couple of months, there are some areas where we think that we can work in the progress to Doha. There are other areas where I said that the process of negotiations was the best way to address in the process in the WTO context."

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