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WTO Chief Pascal Lamy to visit India this week
Live Mint, August 10, 2008

The WTO chief would be in India on August 12 and 13 and is expected to meet Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath as well as representatives of the industry

WTO Director General Pascal Lamy is visiting India this week and will hold discussions with the government and industry to find ways for picking up the threads from last month’s failed trade talks in Geneva.

The WTO chief would be in India on August 12 and 13 and is expected to meet Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath as well as representatives of the industry.

Lamy’s India visit is likely to be followed by one to the US where he would meet trade officials and try to bring them on board for maintaining the momentum to conclude the Doha trade talks.

Lamy’s visit comes days after the WTO mini-ministerial meeting in Geneva collapsed on the issue of safeguard for farmers from the developing countries against import surges. The stand-off in the Geneva meeting was mainly between the US on the one side and India and China on the other.

India had later said, besides China, over 100 developing and least developed countries were backing the cause of poor farmers.

While in India, Lamy would be participating in a two-day international conference on ‘Global Partnership for Development’ being jointly organised here by think-tank CUTS International and industry body FICCI.

“This event has assumed greater significance because it is a first major global gathering being held immediately after the recent collapse of trade talks in Geneva,” CUTS International Secretary General Pradeep Mehta said.

The only name the official mentioned from the private sector was that of Pradeep S. Mehta, director general at CUTS Institute for Regulation and Competition, an independent agency that operates in the area of consumer protection. Mehta was not available for comment. However, his office confirmed that he has applied for a post at CCI.

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