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November 10, 2001
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Hectic diplomacy by Maran at WTO

Mridula Krishna, in Dubai

Commerce Minister Murasoli Maran has initiated wide-ranging consultations with delegates in Doha to rally support for developing countries in the World Trade Organisation meeting.

India and other developing countries are opposing moves by the European Union and the developed world to bring issues like labour laws and environment within the ambit of the WTO.

The five-day ministerial meeting of the WTO began in Doha on Friday.

Maran, leading the Indian delegation, has so far met with trade ministers of Brazil, Cuba, Pakistan, Singapore, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. He is to meet those from Britain, Canada, France and other countries over the next two days.

Maran went to great details to explain to his counterparts the development implications of new trade issues such as investment, competition policy, trade facilitation and transparency in government procurement (collectively known as the Singapore issues)," a source in the Indian delegation said.

During the consultations, Maran focused on issues like the affordability and availability of medicines with reference to the TRIPS (Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights) Agreement.

Maran also made it clear that any further negotiations on agriculture must take into account the special and differential treatment to developing countries, in particular the large agrarian economies like India, and emphasised New Delhi's concerns over food security and rural livelihood.

Maran has also met WTO Director General Mike Moore and the chairman of the Doha conference, Yousef Hussain Kamal. He impressed upon them the need for transparency in the conference deliberations to build confidence among the developing countries, which was crucial for the success of the Doha conference.

He also hinted that the text of the revised draft ministerial declaration did not reflect the views of countries like India and also to the lack of consensus on several issues.

Indo-Asian News Service

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