United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk is looking forward to working closely with his new Indian counterpart after a series of encouraging meetings, Kirk said on Wednesday. His comments indicated that one of the most troubled relationships in international trade diplomacy was improving, clearing one obstacle to a deal in the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) long-running Doha round talks.
"These are very difficult negotiations and even though they take years to complete I think sometimes interjecting new blood, new urgency, new ideas can breathe impetus to get us over the top," the former Dallas mayor, himself confirmed in the job only since March, told Reuters.
"I have had a number of opportunities already to meet with the new Indian trade minister, Anand Sharma. I'm very encouraged by what I've heard from him and look forward to continuing to work with him," Kirk said. Kirk was talking on the sidelines of the annual ministerial meeting of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), where he was due to meet Sharma, appointed last month, and other trade ministers over the next two days.
Negotiations on technical details of the Doha round have been continuing in Geneva among officials since December, when WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy decided at the last minute against calling in ministers to push for an outline deal because he judged the necessary political will was still not there.
But in recent weeks several ministers have called for a resumption of high-level talks on Doha, launched in the Qatari capital in late 2001 to help developing countries prosper through more trade. A meeting of trade ministers in Paris on Thursday hosted by Australia is expected to give further momentum, and Sharma has suggested calling key ministers together in India in September to try and clinch a deal.
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