London, March 14:

Two days of intense negotiations at trade talks here ahead of the April 30 deadline on WTO draft accords in agriculture and industrial goods saw a repeat of a by-now-familiar story of key players refusing to budge on their stated positions.

Observers are pessimistic about an agreement being reached before the April deadline, given the mutually intransigent positions of the key players. After the talks, India’s commerce minister remarked that negotiators “need more comprehension” of the prevailing realities. Th-e other parties at the talks were the EU, the US, Australia, Brazil and Japan. India and Brazil have been worki-ng in tandem at trade talks. Brazilian foreign minister reflected his Indian counterparts stance by saying that the talks on liberalising markets ‘lack urgency’.

The comments by Indian and Brazilian negotiators were less enthusiastic than those by representatives of the US and EU. The inability to achieve a breakthrough and the divergent remarks after the talks were indicative of the gulf in the contending perceptions on key issues that have plagued the Doha round of talks.

“If the draft pact were not rea-ched by the deadline, the WTO members states will be unable to finalise an accord before US president loses to approve trade deals in 2007.”