India Inc:
The global financial crisis might have gradually given way to a more buoyant mood for this year’s annual summit in Switzerland but India is not going in with over-optimism.The European Union has convened an informal meeting of the United States, China, Brazil, India, Japan and Australia, hoping for some progress.
However, India fears a lack of engagement from the US may derail the process. Trade secretary Rahul Khullar expressed fears that American plans to re-open negotiations on terms already agreed is likely to set the process back by another few years, dashing any hope of an agreement over the final text by April.
India and the US have been the focus since the talks broke up in 2008 over tariff barriers.
The Doha round of World Trade Organisation talks was launched nearly a decade ago to help poor countries prosper through trade and it is believed a deal will add hundreds of billions of dollars to the world economy.
The EU's initiative to set up an informal meeting at the Swiss meet on January 28 was seen as a possible signal that political momentum may be building to clinch a deal. But as world leaders prepare to descend on the Alpine resort of Davos from January 26 the deal seems further away from the finish line.
Besides home minister P. Chidambaram, who will be speaking at a special session on global terrorism, the Indian delegation will include the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, and commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma.
Chidambaram will participate in two other sessions – Governing one-sixth of the world’s citizens and India’s inclusive growth.
The eurozone's struggle with debt and the power shift towards emerging giants like India and China will be at the heart of all discussions at this year’s summit, expected to be attended by 2,500 representatives from over 100 countries.
As Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum, put it: “the world will go through some shock waves of adaptation.”
