New York: India and the U.S. now have more convergence on the Doha round of trade talks than a year ago and are determined to see it through at the soonest while keeping in mind sensitivities of the two nations, says India's Commerce Minister Kamal Nath and U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab.

Addressing a press conference with Schwab after their meeting here Thursday, the Indian minister agreed that the two nations must head towards market access for each other but reiterated India's concerns, particularly relating to agriculture.

Their next meeting will be in Washington June 11.

Kamal Nath added: "As India engages with the global economy more and more it is essential that we strengthen the rule based multilateral trading system."

In the context of the perceived slowdown of the global economy, he said: "It becomes more important that we close this round of talks at the earliest. Some consensus has to develop by June if things have to move forward."

Referring to his talks with Schwab, Kamal Nath said: "We also discussed the role we can play on the issues with third countries, European Union, for instance. We would like to see joint effort in trying to iron out those differences."