London, February 2:

The EU and and India made a fresh attempt in London yesterday to settle their differences in long-running global trade talks amid a fresh attack on the hardline tactics being pursued by Brussels.

In what were described as constructive talks, Peter Mandelson, Europe’s trade commissioner, and Kamal Nath, India’s trade minister, discussed trade in manufactured goods and services.

The talks came as Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel prize-winning former chief economist at the World Bank, criticised Mandelson for treating the trade talks as a bargain between equals. He said, “The real problem with Peter Mandelson is that he’s not looking at the trade talks from a historical context. He’s pretending that we’re starting from scratch.”

“Developing countries were cheated in the Uruguay round. They were promised that in return for financial services and intellectual property, subsidies on agriculture and textiles would be eliminated. They got delayed on textiles and they got almost nothing on agriculture. You can’t ask for reciprocity. They had their arms twisted and got nothing in return.”

Professor Stiglitz made the comments before his inaugural speech as the chair of the Brooks World Poverty Institute, which was launched in Manchester last night.