We are hope that Goff is right to be this optimistic. Of course he did meet with his Indian counterpart in Auckland recently so will have reached a personal assessment on the degree to which India will dig in on non-agricultural market access.
The US Commerce Secretary seems more worried
In a separate speech, US Commerce Under Secretary Chris Padilla accused India of playing an obstructionist role in the the Doha round, which was launched in November 2001 with a goal of helping development in poor countries.
"So far the Indian government has resisted virtually all liberalising proposals in Doha, even those proffered by other developing countries," Padilla said.
"The time is fast approaching when India's stance on Doha may result in the failure of the Doha Development Agenda," Padilla said at the Heritage Foundation.
Padilla accused India of refusing to open its market significantly in either the agriculture or the industrial goods portion of the talks, while constantly demanding developed countries to put better offers on the table.
"The Doha Round is not a donors conference. It is a trade negotiation that requires major economic powers, such as India has become, to step up and take responsible leadership, rather than hoping for Doha's demise," Padilla said.
Goff agreed that India and other major developing countries need to improve their market opening offers.
