Agenda for Ministerial Meeting at Doha

July 16, 2001

ICRIER organised a brainstorming meeting of a group of economists, financial editors and trade policy experts to discuss the agenda of the ministerial meeting at Doha, which was to be held later in the year. The group included Prof. T. N. Srinivasan, Mr. Jairam Ramesh , Dr. Isher Judge Ahluwalia, Mr. B. K. Zutshi, Mr. Anwarul Hoda, Dr.Bibek Debroy, Mr. T. N. Ninan and Dr. Sanjaya Baru. They issued a statement at the end of the meeting spelling out the logic of ministers to launch a new round of multilateral trade negotiations.

In their view, past experience suggested that the commencement of a new round checked protectionist forces worldwide. They recommended that the new round should focus on traditional issues of market access with implementation issues rolled in, as this was very much in India’s long term economic interest. They also felt that the sooner India declared her support for a new round, the greater her influence would be in setting the agenda for the negotiations.