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India warns U.S., EU as G-4 talks collapse

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: A day after the G-4 Trade Ministers’ talks at Potsdam in Germany failed to make any headway, India on Friday warned the U.S. and the European Union (EU) against their concerted efforts to divide the developing nations by creating differences and declared that the Group’s role in building a consensus in the stalled WTO negotiations had come to an end.

“It is the end of the day for G-4,” Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said while briefing newspersons here on his return from Potsdam, where the three-day talks among India, Brazil, the EU and the US collapsed as the developed nations refused to accept effective reductions in their agricultural subsidies and instead sought additional market access for their own farm products in developing countries.

“Agreeing to this [developed countries’ demand] would have not only been against the mandate of the Doha Development Round, but also would have seriously jeopardised the livelihoods of the farmers of the developing and least developed countries and threatened the food security of many poorer nations,” Mr. Kamal Nath said, while stressing that there was no question of any compromise on agricultural market access issues.

The G-4 Ministers’ meeting at Potsdam was the second such consultation since April this year. At the April meeting in New Delhi, the Ministers had charted out a roadmap for discussions.

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