New Delhi: In a major victory for India, World Trade Organisation (WTO) Director General Suppachai Panitchpakdi today (June 25, 2004) said any deal to break the impasse in the contentious farm trade talks will have to take into account the "sensitivities of Indian agriculture".

"The deal has to take into account the sensitivities of Indian agriculture and this is something which the Ministers of member-countries are aware of," Suppachai told reporters after his meeting with Commerce Minister Kamal Nath.

India has been maintaining it will not compromise on the need to protect livelihood concerns of its 650 million farmers in the farm trade talks, which have been stalled since the collapse of Cancun Ministerial.

The recent G-20 paper on agriculture, finalised on the sidelines of UNCTAD meeting at Sao Paulo, has been dubbed by India as the "starting point" to break the deadlock.

The paper emphasises on the need for movement on three pillars of farm negotiations - market access, domestic support and export subsidies - in tandem, which meant taking into account sensitivities of protecting interests of farmers.

He said the differences on contentious issues were narrowing down and there were signs of flexibility in both developed and developing countries, raising hopes of a framework by July end.

"The signs we are getting are that although countries could not agree on convergence in position, they are negotiating providing different options for others to consider. So they are still trying to be flexible in their position and this gives me good hope," he said.