Doha Development Round (DDR), to my mind, is still the most useful exercise that has been undertaken in the recent past by World Trade Organisation (WTO), as a part of Multi-lateral Trading Regime (MTR), and yet it is lying in a state of animated suspension. India cannot disown the responsibility of creating such a situation; thanks to our the then ebullient Commerce Minister, Kamal Nath, whose love for playing up to the gallery could supersede any thoughtful and responsible attitude at international fora.

It would be recalled that we had, at the last meeting on DDR, walked out of negotiations, as we could not brook any departure from our perception of our "national interests". The result is that the discussions under DDR have come a grinding halt.

Protectionist proclivity

In the meanwhile, the global economy has been overtaken by economic slowdown, manifesting itself in to an acknowledged recession for major economies of the world i.e. the EU and the US, apart from Japan. All other countries are feeling the heat. Even the mighty China is feeling the pinch of economic slowdown. The absence of a functional and operating MTR has driven many countries to go in for protectionist policies, which can only further accentuate the problems of garment exporters. Even the next best alternative of bi-lateral or even multi-lateral trade agreements are hardly a substitute to a MTR. As the experience shows, India's performance in bi-lateral or multi-lateral trade agreements has been anything but flattering and we continue to be one important player in the world trade, which has inked the smallest number of free trade agreements, both at bi-lateral and multi-lateral levels.

The impasse is broken

Now that a new Minister for Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma has taken over, there does appear on the horizon a new perspective of making DDR work. There is palpable sign of thaw on the kind of approach that India had shown so far under Kamal Nath. It is understood that there is a directive from the Prime Minister to review our stand on DDR and revive it, particularly in the context of world economic slowdown. Sharma has, therefore, a task cut out for him of making Doha Round work again. He has given enough indications for that, the latest reaffirmation has come while he was addressing a press conference at Washing. Comparing the Doha Round of WTO trade negotiations to a 25-mile marathon, Sharma said the talks are in its last lap and hoped that countries would show flexibility in arriving at an agreement. The need of the hour is a rule-based multilateral trading regime, which takes on board developmental aspirations of the poor countries and at the same time ensures better access for all. "That is what we shall be striving for."

He said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has made commitments that the Doha trade talks, the latest round of which was stalled in July 2008, be concluded successfully. "That is the mandate I have from the Prime Minister, who feels that IN the present economic crisis, which the world is facing there should be a positive message for global trade barriers to be broken down further and global trade to move, which will help economies across the globe," Sharma said and added, "I am sure that President Obama wishes the same, and that's the feeling I got from (US Trade Representative) Ron Kirk. When political leaders discuss issues, they paint the larger canvass and not be bogged down by smaller details. If you have the larger picture in mind and you are committed to take it forward, the details can always be filled," he said.

Shadow of recession

In fact, there was no point on continuing with the stalemate that we had created. When Kamal Nath was looking after Commerce, there were growing signs of discomfort at the stand that we had taken while walking out of ministerial discussions at Geneva. The Geneva talks broke down as both India and the US refused to budge from their respective stands on Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM). It would be recalled that while India wanted an import surge up to 110 per cent above a three-year base period to trigger SSM, the US wanted it to be 150 per cent. As a via media, Pascal Lamy, WTO Director General proposed a 140 per cent trigger. This was the major point of difference, which led to breakdown, setting at naught the advantage of "convergence" on 18 out of 20 issues set by Pascal Lamy at the WTO Inter-ministerial discussions. Almost everybody agreed that it was a classic case of "so near and yet so far" and the disappointment was apparent both in developing and developed countries. Looking back on the turn of events, everybody realized that the favourable and deserving consideration that this part of Doha Round in July, 2008 should have got, did not happen because all economies in the world including those of the developed world had come under stress.