India Pitches For Progress On Trade Talks

India has pushed for comprehensive reforms of the international financial architecture to give greater voice to the developing world and pressed for returning to the negotiating table for early and substantive progress on Doha round of trade talks.

External Affairs Minister Mukherjee said the reforms should include measures to ensure greater voice for and participation by the developing countries in the Bretton Woods Institutions, describing it a key ingredient in the achievement of internationally agreed Millennium Development goals which aim at drastically reducing or eliminating several social and economic ills.

The United Nations system should more effectively support efforts of developing nations in this direction and the reform process must be carried to its logical conclusion if the credibility of these institutions is to be enhanced, he told the 192-member General Assembly last evening.

Calling for an early and substantive progress at the Doha round of trade negotiations, based on the primacy of the development dimension, he said, We must return to the negotiating table with a redoubled sense of urgency, while recognizing that adherence to the existing mandate remains critical.