Friday, November 25 2005 17:02 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Days ahead of the Hong Kong WTO Ministerial Conference, India has asked Commonwealth countries to harmonise and reconcile their positions in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations.

The harmonised position was particularly important in view of the fact that the Commonwealth's 53 member countries, accounted for 40 per cent of WTO's membership, a third of the world's population and about a quarter of global trade and investment, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said at Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Malta.

"The importance of this group lies in the fact that its interests span a wide spectrum, including developed, least developed and developing countries," he was quoted as saying in an official release.

He was speaking at the Round Table, which was attended by Prime Ministers of Mauritius and Barbados as well as Presidents of Zambia and Uganda and as many as 30 top CEOs from all parts of the world last evening.

Bajaj Auto Chairman Rahul Bajaj, who is also the co-chair of the Commonwealth Business Council, represented India at the meeting.

Later, addressing the Commonwealth Business Forum, Nath said the topic was all the more relevant in the context of the WTO Ministerial, which was just a few weeks away.

He reiterated that development must be at the heart of the current Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations.

"It is not by accident that this round has been called the Development Round but by precise intent. A development round must remove distortions in international trade rules that inhibit export growth of developing countries," he said.