Washington:
The United States will insist that fellow World Trade Organization members stick to promises around a global deal to lower trade barriers and speed up the passage of goods through customs, a top trade official said on Wednesday.
India has criticized a deal struck in December in Bali for putting trade facilitation ahead of a compromise on agricultural subsidies, a crucial issue for a country that stockpiles food for its poor, although its top trade official said on Tuesday the country would not block the pact.
Member countries are due to sign a protocol that is a step towards implementation by July 31 and US Ambassador to the WTO Michael Punke said the United States was pushing to make sure deadlines and all other pledges are met.
"We are confronting efforts by a small minority to change the conditions for implementation, as agreed in Bali," Punke told a Congressional panel, according to prepared remarks.
"I want to assure you that the United States is insisting that (trade facilitation agreement) implementation takes place in strict accordance with the procedures and timelines agreed by all ministers in Bali."
South Africa has also said trade facilitation should be balanced by complementary measures to help agriculture in poorer developing nations.
© Thomson Reuters 2014