There is no stalemate in trade talks between developed and developing countries, Foreign Affairs CS Amina Mohamed has said.
Amina, who is the chairperson of the World Trade Organisation Ministerial Conference, allayed fears that negotiations in Nairobi had reached a crises in a briefing on Friday.
She said part one of what will be will be the Nairobi draft declaration is already done adding they were on the second part.
“There is no direct conflict between the United States and India or any other country. Everybody is determined to make this happen and trying to do everything they can,” she said regarding the progress of the negotiations.
There have been rumours that developing and developed countries had reached a deadlock, which happens in most WTO's biannual meetings, with Twitter hashtag #Indiablockstalks remaining the top trend on Friday afternoon.
The main cause of disagreements between the 164 WTO economically diverse members has been the Doha Round, which was launched in 2001 at the WTO’s fourth Ministerial Conference in Doha, Qatar.
It aims at reforming the international trading system through the introduction of lower trade barriers and revised trade rules.
“Please, lets not characterise this as a developing and developed country dispute. There are many developing countries which are on the same page with developed countries,” Amina said.
She said the negotiations are still in progress and there is no plan to extend the discussions beyond Friday, the last day of the summit.
“We are all in problem-solving mode. We are very close but we are not there yet,” she said.
