India has called for devising fair and equitable policies in the WTO talks at Doha to convert the economic crisis into an opportunity. Union Commerce Minister Anand Sharma also asked international communities to expand trade in view of the latest IMF figures projecting a shrinking of 9 to 10 per cent of global trade. Speaking at the United Nations last evening, he said, the cardinal issue is to enhance the global commerce in this dismal scenario. On the Doha rounds, Mr. Sharma urged nations to prioritize long-terms gains over short-term stop gap measures. He said, creating an understanding between rich and poor countries will lead to a multilateral agreement that corrects the historical injustices and meets the legitimate aspirate ion and expectations of the developing countries. Mr. Sharma reminded the gathering that after the informal WTO meeting in New Delhi, negotiations had restarted in Geneva, and emphasised that fresh discussions should take into account the two draft reports of agriculture and Non-Agricultural Market Access. In a related development, India's leading economist Jagdish Bhagwati said that New Delhi should take a lead on the contentious talks as Washington is stuck. He said, India should push for closing the Doha talks on the areas that have been agreed upon. Bhagwati told world diplomats over a high-level lunch meeting at the United Nations yesterday that President Obama is just stuck and publicly his silence on trade is eloquent. The academic who teaches at Columbia University called for sealing the deal on the issues that have achieved consensus, but simultaneously called for a new round of talks for the remaining disputed topics such as agricultural subsidies.