Rich nations should provide greater market access to developing countries: Sharma - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Union Minister for Commerce and Industries Minister Anand Sharma on Wednesday urged developed nations to provide greater market access to developing and less developed countries. "We feel that there should be an understanding among the countries of the world i.e. between developing and developed, rich and poor which creates better opportunities and gives better access to the developing countries and less developed countries to bigger markets," Sharma told reporters in New Delhi. "That was the main reason that India had taken an initiative to bring together in rainbow coalition to energise the Doha round of the WTO and we will continue it," he added. Sharma was interacting with reporters after inaugurating the fifth International Forum on Creativity and Inventions, which was organised by World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) in association with Indian government. India says that a global commerce deal would deliver a boost to the world economy in the wake of financial crisis and help stave off protectionism. But Doha remains elusive after eight years of talks, and the World Trade Organisation warned countries would miss a 2010 target for a deal unless the pace of negotiations was stepped up. Sharma added that India would not raise import duty on refined vegetable oils and the ban on the export of non-basmati rice would continue top meet the domestic demand. Some traders expected India, the world's top importer of vegetable oils, to raise the duty on overseas purchases after imports touched a record high in September. India imposes 7.5 percent duty on refined vegetable oil imports and allows tax-free purchases of crude varieties.