Paris: India on Wednesday said the developed countries are trying to shift goal posts in WTO negotiations, lamenting that these attempts violate the Doha mandate that calls for an equitable global trade deal.
"India views such an attempt to shift goal posts as unacceptable and as a violation of the mandate," Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said, ahead of the WTO informal ministerial meeting here on the sidelines of the OECD meet.
While the informal meeting, being hosted by Australia would be "a good opportunity to discuss what lies ahead in Doha", the complex agenda of the Doha Round involving 154 members "cannot be rushed", he said.
In the face of unbridgeable differences among the developed and the developing countries, Australia is eager to secure consensus over a small menu of issues through Plan B, scaling down the ambitions of the Round, sources said.
Australia wants that difficult issues relating to market access agriculture, industrial goods, and services must be taken up next year.
Australian Trade Minister Craig Emerson had a meeting with Sharma.
But India, South Africa and Brazil want that members must strive to realise the much-promised developmental gains, said an Indian official.
In a statement, Sharma said developed countries are seeking to put more demands on the developing nations for market opening. It said progress already made must be protected.
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