Following the impasse in the talks at the mini-Ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) held in July 2008, the general opinion amongst WTO Members was that the negotiations should resume at the earliest opportunity. Informal small group discussions took place in September 2008. Multilateral discussions resumed at the WTO in October 2008 and continued through the month of November.
The Director General (DG), WTO made a strong push for convening another Ministerial meeting in December 2008 for finalising modalities for Agriculture and Non-Agricultural Market Access (NAMA). Several Members expressed their reservations on calling Ministers to Geneva with so many issues remaining unresolved. In the US, many voices were raised against a Ministerial meeting. Some important and influential members of the US Congress also urged the Bush Administration not to support the DG’s plans for a Ministerial.
India too expressed reservations about convening another Ministerial meeting in haste given the large number of unresolved issues.
The Chairs of the Negotiating Groups on Agriculture and NAMA brought out the fourth revisions of draft modalities for Agriculture and NAMA on 6 December 2008.
The DG subsequently decided against convening a Ministerial. He proposed the resumption of work in the Negotiating Groups early in 2009, using as a starting point, the revised draft modalities for Agriculture and NAMA issued on 6 December 2008.

The talks are yet to resume formally after the winter break in December. However, the Doha Round has been on the agenda of several major international meetings held in the recent past including meetings of the G-20 on 15 November 2008 and 2 April 2009; the Cairns Group meeting in Bali, Indonesia from 7 to 9 June 2009; the informal meeting of Trade Ministers on the occasion of the OECD Ministerial Council Meeting in June 2009; the G-8 plus 5 meeting in L’Aquila from 8 to10 July 2009; and the APEC Trade Ministers’ meeting in Singapore on 21-22 July 2009. These occasions have been used by the DG, WTO and others to press for early resumption of talks.

The pronouncements by Ministers and Heads of State and Governments at various international meetings signal considerable political enthusiasm for an early conclusion of the Doha Round though in some quarters skepticism has been expressed on the anticipated outcome. The Delhi Ministerial meeting in September was intended to help to convert this spontaneous expression of will into commitment so as to re-energise the multilateral process at the WTO.
India is committed to a rule-based multilateral trade regime that is fair and equitable. Multilateralism best serves the needs of developing countries and must be strengthened particularly in this time of economic crisis. An early conclusion of the Doha Round is necessary not only to give a stimulus to the global economy but also to support the Least Developed Countries and Small and Vulnerable Economies and to counter the inevitable tendency of most countries to resort to protectionist measures.
The meeting was as an informal ministerial meeting and should be distinguished from ministerial meetings which are convened by the WTO.
The objective of the meeting is to create political consensus to get the Doha Round back on track so that a multilateral process of discussion can resume at the WTO. Accordingly, discussions on specific areas of the negotiations are not envisaged.

India is strongly in favour of a fair and equitable rule-based multilateral trade regime, therefore, we are keen to conclude the Doha Round early. We support resumption of the multilateral negotiations at an early date based on the following:
The draft text of 6 December in respect to agriculture and NAMA should be the basis on which further negotiations are held. A substantial amount of work has gone into preparing these texts and there is no reason to review them or to introduce new elements into these texts.
Development in the developing countries is at the core of these negotiations. Food and livelihood security of the poor is critical to developing countries and cannot be compromised under any circumstances.
All issues being discussed in the negotiations are part of a single undertaking; therefore, adequate balance amongst major issues has to be ensured in the agreement.

All members of the G-20 alliance of developing countries were invited as this group and had been a major driving force in the negotiations. Apart from the G-20, country coordinators of other groups active in the negotiations as well as some key players such as the US, Australia and New Zealand were invited. Other invitees were the Director General of the WTO, Pascal Lamy and the Chairs of the Negotiating Groups on Agriculture, Non-agricultural Market Access and Services. A list of invitees is attached as Annex 1. Participation in the meeting was in the ‘Minister plus 2’ format.

The Ministerial meeting commenced by mid-day on 3 September and closed by the evening of 4 September. This was preceded by a meeting of Senior Officials on 2 September 2009.
The visiting Ministers called on the Hon’ble Prime Minister on 4 September 2009.