Aug. 13: WTO director-general Pascal Lamy said that he has got political nod from New Delhi to try to bridge the differences between India and United States on safeguard mechanism.

"The sense I got from Indian leadership is that we should not pull the ladder and that we need to rework and try to bridge this difference we had last month on safeguard," Mr Lamy said in an interview with this newspaper. "What I got from them (Indian leadership) was a sort of push in order to try to bridge this remaining difference that I know won’t be easy but that is the political signal I got," he added.

Mr Lamy, who was on a two-day visit to India, will be meeting top US leadership next week in order to save the WTO talks.

"Once the political determination is that we try, then we have to look at the details of the complex mechanism of safeguards," he said.

Mr Lamy doesn’t believe that middle ground has yet been achieved.

"If we could not find middle ground two weeks back, we will not find it today just because people thought so," said WTO director-general.

Last month, after nine days of negotiations, the WTO talks in Geneva collapsed as the United States and India failed to agree on a proposal to help poor farmers deal with floods of imports.

The United States had said, that the trigger for extra duty should be given only after agricultural imports surge by 40 per cent over the average of the preceding three years, on which India didn’t agree.

"We have to re-look at the concept and substance of safeguards. Also we need to revisit the two positions led by India and the US," Mr Lamy said.

He said that the safeguard will be there as there is an agreement on it.

"There is one side worried that the safeguard would capture normal trade and not only import surges, and the other side wants to make sure the safeguard is effective," he said.

Mr Lamy said that it is the concept which people will have to work out before one go into the numbers (what percentage of import surge will trigger safe guard).

Mr Lamy said that sooner the WTO members meet will be the better, even on senior official level.

He said that there is still a chance that WTO talks would be concluded by end of this year.

"This is because what is on the table and desire people have expressed loudly after the failure," said Mr Lamy.

He said that he doesn’t think that opposition on safeguard could be overcome by giving concession on other issues like services.

Asked whether there would be other issues which could held up the talks, Mr Lamy said, "Of course, we have other issues which are cooking like anti-dumping, fisheries subsidies, trade and environment and dispute settlement understanding. But my sense is that these could be easier after solving the SSM issue."