India ready to return to WTO talks, report

NEW DELHI, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- India's commerce minister says his country is ready to return to world trade talks on the Doha round but won't compromise on issues affecting its farmers.

Commenting on the failed Geneva ministerial World Trade Organization trade talks to rescue the 7-year-old Doha round, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said, "I told the WTO director general that India is ready to be on the table without compromising on issues which concern poor farmers of not only India but 100 other developing countries," the Press Trust of India reported.

The talks among the 35 ministers to liberalize world trade collapsed Tuesday after nine days of negotiations as the delegates couldn't agree on a safeguard to allow developing countries, facing falling prices, to temporarily raise tariffs to curtail surging imports.

The United States was blamed for not agreeing to India and China levying 25 percent tariffs on farm products when their imports rise 15 percent. The U.S. wanted the tariff to be triggered when imports rose 40 per cent over the previous three-year average.

Nath said at that level of imports "our farmers would have committed suicides."