Indonesia has called on Brazil, China and India to help revive the stalled Doha Round of trade talks at a meeting next month, a spokesman for Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said yesterday.
Yudhoyono has contacted Brazilian President Lula da Silva, Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to underline his concern at the failure of the ministerial-level WTO talks last month.
“In these three communications ... the president expressed his concern at the latest developments in the Doha Round,” spokesman Dino Patti Djalal said.
“He called on these leaders not to give up and to push for discussions to begin again, the president hopes in September. The president is very concerned about this issue because if discussions fail, the effects on the world economy and developing nations, for Indonesia, will be bad,” Djalal said.
It was not clear what form of meeting Yudhoyono was proposing or where, but Washington has also said it supports holding talks with a small number of countries next month to explore ways to restart the world trade talks.
US Trade Negotiator Susan Schwab said ahead of talks last week with WTO chief Pascal Lamy that the meeting could “clear the way, conceivably, for another round of ministerial engagement.”
The US trade negotiator suggested talks could start among a “small group” of senior officials from “those countries in leadership roles.”
The Geneva ministerial meeting ran aground after India and the US failed to agree over a special safeguard mechanism that would allow nations to impose a special tariff on agricultural goods if imports surge or prices fall.
Washington rejected Indian proposals that developing nations should be allowed to boost duties by an additional 25 percent on farm products if imports surged by 15 percent.
Washington insisted extra duties should be allowed only if imports rose by 40 percent.
Brazil has also been pushing to revive the talks and India has said it would like to return to the negotiating table if the US signals that the impasse can be overcome.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
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Typhoon Usagi yesterday had weakened into a tropical storm, but a land warning issued by the Central Weather Administration (CWA) was still in effect in four areas in southern Taiwan. As of 5pm yesterday, Tropical Storm Usagi was over waters 120km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the southernmost tip of Taiwan proper, and was moving north at 9kph, CWA data showed. The storm was expected to veer northeast later yesterday. It had maximum sustained winds of 101kph, with gusts of up to 126kph, the data showed. The CWA urged residents of Kaohsiung, Pingtung County, Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春) to remain alert to
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