U.S. mulling WTO offer on key India services demand

By Doug Palmer

GENEVA (Reuters) - The United States is prepared for the first time in world trade talks to discuss allowing more service professionals from India and other developing countries to work there, a U.S. industry official said.

U.S. trade officials were given permission to discuss the visa issue this week after months of consultation with White House national security officials and key members of Congress, Coalition of Service Industries president Bob Vastine said.

"Whether they are in position to make an offer or even signal a specific kind of offer, I don't know. It may partly depend on the dynamic of the meeting," he told reporters on the fringes of a trade ministers meeting trying to reach a breakthrough in the nearly 7-year-old Doha round.

The Doha talks aim to open markets for farm, manufactured goods and services around the world but have struggled to overcome differences between rich and developing nations and they risk being put on hold for a couple of years unless a breakthrough is reached soon.

The issue of granting more temporary-entry visas for information technology engineers and other professionals from poor countries has been controversial in the U.S. Congress since the Bush administration did so several years ago in free trade pacts with Singapore and Chile.

Many lawmakers objected to inclusion of what they said were "immigration" provisions in a trade agreement.

The new move addresses a key demand of developing countries as the United States tries to persuade India and others to open their markets in sectors like financial services, distribution, telecommunications and computer-related services.

The EU is expected to make an improved offer to open its market to foreign professionals on Friday, when discussions in Geneva are scheduled to turn to services after several days of negotiations on agriculture and manufacturing.