India wants new WTO industrial text revised - Nath

By Surojit Gupta

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A new text on industrial goods in global trade talks needs substantial revision to narrow differences between members before ministers can discuss it, India's trade minister said on Thursday.

The comments from one of the major developing country participants in the long-running Doha round negotiations highlighted the gaps to be overcome before ministers can meet to clinch an outline deal.

A statement issued by Trade Minister Kamal Nath's office in New Delhi quoted him as saying India was ready for a ministerial meeting but a lot of work needed to be done to narrow differences before "identifying a safe landing zone."

The statement said Nath had noted a sharp increase in the number of square brackets, or alternatives, in the new negotiating text, which was released on Monday.

"He said this text would have to be completely revised and significant convergence achieved before taking the matter for deliberation at the ministerial level," the statement said.

Mediators in the World Organisation Trade (WTO) talks released revised negotiating texts for both farming and industrial goods on Monday.

The texts are the latest stage in the WTO's Doha round of trade talks, launched in late 2001, and have been drawn up as a possible basis for negotiations by senior officials, followed possibly by a meeting of ministers in a few weeks.

On farming, Nath said proposals on a special safeguard mechanism, which developing nations want to protect their poor farmers, were completely out of step with the reality on the ground in the developing world and developing nations could not accept them in their present form.