The government will convene a meeting of the political parties prior to the World Trade Organisation ministerial in Cancun to elicit their views on issues, especially agriculture subsidy, to be discussed at the conference, Lok Sabha was informed on Friday.

Replying to queries during the Question Hour, Minister for Industry and Commerce, Arun Jaitley, said, "The government will have discussions with the political parties before the Cancun meeting of WTO slated for September."

On agriculture subsidy, he said there was no pressure on India from any of the developed countries or the WTO to reduce it, he said.

The minister said currently the subsidy for agriculture was to the tune of Rs 27,000 crore (Rs 270 billion) and this could be increased since this was within the permissible limit.