Commerce & Industry Minister Anand Sharma on Tuesday made a strong pitch for a balanced package for the least developed as well as developing nations in the ministerial level discussions in the upcoming WTO meeting.

An official statement, released yesterday, stated that Mr. Sharma discussed the roadmap to the Ministerial meeting with key Ambassadors to WTO.

The statement said, "Sharma made a strong pitch for a balanced package for the Ministerial which has the interest of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and developing nations at its core."

It also said that the LDC package included duty-free, quota-free market access.

Mr. Sharma, who is at the World Intellectual Property Organization Headquarters for a High Level Policy Dialogue, stressed that there was need to provide emerging economies with a special & preferential treatment as these economies have to carry a huge income disparities and lopsided burden of poverty.

The 9th WTO Ministerial Conference is scheduled to take place from December 3 to December 6 in Bali. The WTO Ministerial Conference is the top decision-making body that meets at least every two years.

In addition, the members are expected to discuss the stock of Doha Round that aims at further opening up the global trade during the upcoming meeting.