Brazil, China, India playing crucial role

Mumbai: Emerging economies Brazil , China and India are playing a "central role" in completing the Doha Round of world trade talks as finding an acceptable conclusion is "crucial" for both developed and developing countries alike, WTO director-general Pascal Lamy said in Beijing.

"Dealing with domestic concerns is at the top of the list for most political leaders, particularly dealing with the adjustment costs of trade expansion," Lamy told the 10th International Meeting of the Economic and Social Councils and Similar Institutions.

"Countries such as Brazil, China and India have championed the Doha Development Agenda as the signature theme of this Round, and they are playing a central role in deciding how it will be concluded," he said.

The political leaders of these countries understand well the role that opening up their economies to global competition is playing in fuelling their own economic success, he said noting, "the millions being lifted out of poverty in China and India are a living testimony of that."

"There is no question of them abandoning their conviction, nor of them standing still where they are today. Each has ambitious, forward-looking programmes of trade opening and domestic economic reforms," Lamy, who is visiting China seeking support for concluding the Doha Round, said.

At the same time, Lamy emphasised that completing the Doha Round is crucial for both developed and developing countries because it is a fundamental tool to control and harness globalisation and to ensure sustainable development.