Delegates meet to push Doha round

Negotiators from leading trading nations and blocs are beginning a series of meetings this week in a bid to put the Doha round of world trade talks back on track after they admitted on Friday that a key April 30 deadline would be missed.

Trade delegates will meet at the World Trade Organisation's HQ in Geneva today to decide how the next few weeks will pan out after WTO chief Pascal Lamy announced on Friday that a 'mini-ministerial', originally scheduled to wrap a deal up next weekend, would not take place for lack of anything concrete to agree on.

European trade commissioner Peter Mandelson will hold talks with French prime minister Dominique de Villepin to discuss how the talks can be put back on track. But France is seen as one of the stumbling blocks to progress in liberalising trade in agriculture and is unlikely to offer a way forward. Mr Mandelson talked to Mr Lamy over the weekend and promised that EU trade officials would be fully involved to try to put a reasonable deal back on the table.

The Doha round was kicked off in 2001 with the aim of bringing about a reduction in restrictions to world trade by 2004. But now, even in 2006, a deal is still not done.

But sources close to the WTO yesterday said progress was being made on agriculture and tariffs on manufactured goods and the next few weeks could produce a result. 'But we cannot leave it until July, that would be too late.'

A spokesman for Mr Mandelson agreed, saying it may turn out to be a blessing in disguise that next weekend's mini-ministerial had been called off since that could have risked killing off the round altogether. 'One of the key things now is that we keep everybody on board for what will hopefully be the final stretch,' he said.

President Bush last week moved his trade representative, Rob Portman, to another job, showing the US government's lack of interest in a multilateral trade deal. In response Mr Mandelson appealed to all parties to redouble their efforts to negotiate a realistic outcome and be prepared to make extra concessions if necessary.