Lamy said the international trade body will continue to keep a close watch on protectionist measures that impede international free trade.
Duty-free and quota-free access in favour of LDCs is a commitment undertaken by WTO members at the launch of the Doha Round in 2001.
The body is form to restore health of oceans.
Trade ministers of key WTO member countries, including India would meet on the sidelines of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development meeting in Paris in the last week of May.
The meeting, convened by Switzerland, will take place on the sidelines of the annual World Economic Forum meeting.
WTO has released a draft text on the contentious issues of agriculture and industrial tariffs but it appears that not much headway has been made with wide differences persisting among member nations.
Ahead of his meeting with WTO Director General Pascal Lamy in Beijing on Tuesday, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said on Monday that India and China were working together to create a new 'architecture and pattern' of multilateral negotiations. The mutual cooperation in WTO was reviewed at a meeting between Nath and his Chinese counterpart Chen Deming.
Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said he talked to WTO Director General Pascal Lamy and told him that this was not a text of convergence, but nevertheless forms the basis for further intensive negotiations to restart in September.
WTO chief's two-day visit to India beginning Tuesday will also see him holding discussions with Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath, as well as representatives of the industry, sources said. His visit comes days after the WTO mini-ministerial meeting in Geneva collapsed on the issue of safeguard for farmers from the developing countries against import surges.
India on Tuesday said it was making a last ditch effort to revive the collapsed WTO talks but made it clear that it would not allow industrialised nations to trample developing countries' interest, especially in the sensitive farm sector.
"If the basis of the round (Doha negotiations) has to see a change in its very objectives, it would be tough going for global trade integration," said Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath. "Revival of the weakest" and "not survival of the fittest" should form the core of the negotiations, he added. Otherwise, a renewed attempt being made by WTO Director General Pascal Lamy to bring the talks back on rail could meet the fate of the recently abandoned talks in Geneva.
Not the one to give up hope, WTO Director General Pascal Lamy is visiting India next week to find ways for picking up the threads from last month's failed trade talks in Geneva.
Services have now become an offensive area for many developing countries like India and that is good news.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances