EU trade chief Peter Mandelson has said he is positive about making progress on world trade talks in Delhi this week despite the meeting being branded a ‘stocktaking exercise’.
“Always positive, always on the front foot. Always showing flexibility and I will do my best to sustain that position on the EU’s behalf,” Mandelson told reporters as he arrived in India according to a Reuters report.
Trade ministers from the so-called group of four, the EU, US, India and Brazil gather on Wednesday in Delhi in an attempt to revive the stalled Doha trade round talks.
The troubled talks, which began in 2001, collapsed last July after the four main players failed to reach agreement.
Ministers hope to break the deadlock before a Washington ‘fast-track’ negotiating mandate expires at the end of June.
But observers believe that ongoing differences over the level of farm subsidies and agricultural tariffs as well as a dispute with developing countries over the opening of their markets, means the talks will see little progress at this stage.
Press reports suggest that the US is playing down expectations calling the Delhi meeting a “stocktaking exercise”.
However, Mandelson sounded a more upbeat note, while also warning that the pace of negotiations needed to accelerate.
“This is a stocktaking exercise but to be more useful it also needs to be a turning point in the intensity of our work,” said Mandelson.
Have your say...
Please enter your comments below.