India, China demand transparency at WTO

Emphasising on greater transparency at the World Trade Organisation, both India and China have said no last minute surprises should be sprung on negotiators and documents should be made available to member countries well in time to allow coordination of position before Cancun ministerial meeting.

Union Minister of Divestment and Telecom Arun Shourie, and Chinese Commerce Minister Lu Fuyuan, who met on the sidelines of the informal WTO meeting at Montreal, Canada on Monday, underlined the convergence of views on the issues in the context of ongoing negotiations covering key areas of agriculture, Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights and public health.

India and the WTO: News and Views

On the contentious Singapore issues regarding investments, China concurred with India's view that in keeping with the Doha mandate there should be agreement first on the modalities on the basis of explicit consensus before entering into negotiations.

Agreeing with the Indian stand, the Chinese minister said there should be coordination on substantive modalities and implications must be fully understood. "We should not be asked to take the first step without knowing where the journey will end," he said.