India Sees 75 Pct Chance Of Doha Trade Deal In 2008

Countries could reach agreement on a world trade deal in 2008, but the focus on agriculture and manufactured goods needs to be expanded to other areas like services and rules for government anti-dumping programs, a top Indian trade official said on Tuesday.

I''m 75 percent optimistic we might have a deal in 2008, Commerce Secretary Gopal Pillai said in a speech at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington.

But with many thorny issues left to work out, the earliest that trade ministers could come together to make final decisions is probably March 2008, Pillai added.

Many experts have seen a short window of opportunity to reach a deal in the six-year-old world trade talks in the next few months before the U.S. presidential election campaign picks up momentum next year.

Pillai said his most optimistic scenario assumed basic elements of the trade package coming together in January and February 2008, which would then set the stage for a ministerial meeting to bring together top trade officials to make final decisions on a deal.

While the talks have been focused recently on agriculture and manufactured goods, many countries are increasingly concerned that they cannot see the full outline of a deal unless negotiations are resumed in other areas like services and anti-dumping, Pillai said.

Anti-dumping is a particularly difficult area for U.S. trade negotiators since many members of Congress are opposed to any weakening of the United States'' ability to impose duties on imports it believes are unfairly low priced.