WTO chief optimistic over talks

Poor countries say they are still being short-changed

World Trade Organisation head Supachai Panitchpakdi says ministers meeting in Paris are near to agreement on key trade liberalisation issues.

"We are beginning to see from this meeting the shape of the final outcome that we can expect for July," he told correspondents.

The WTO set a July deadline for a deal on farm subsidies and import tariffs.

The last attempt to reach such a deal - in Cancun, Mexico, last year - failed on the issue of farm trade.

"We're on the verge of seeing a historic breakthrough in areas which are key like elimination of export subsidies (for agricultural products)," said Mr Panitchpakdi.

New alliance

European Union Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said on Friday an accord among WTO members on "50%" of the topics in the Doha round of trade liberalisation talks is possible by the July deadline.

The key problem is reaching a deal that will be agreed on not only by the world's biggest economies, but also by the developing world - which considers itself frozen out of the market by rich-country subsidy policies.

Zoellick says the agreement is a 'top priority'

Agricultural exports are crucial to many poorer countries, and their supporters argue that they should be given a fairer deal.

Australia, Canada and other nations said on Friday they would join with developing countries to push for a lifting of import tariffs on agricultural produce.

President Bush has instructed me to spare no effort to accomplish this end Robert Zoellick, US trade representative

The 17-nation Cairns group said it would ally with the G20 group of poorer nations to draw up a proposal they hope will be acceptable to all other WTO members, Canadian Trade Minister Jim Peterson said.

In Cancun, developing countries banded together for the first time to overcome what they say is an EU-US dominance of the agenda.

After July, the US will be focused upon forthcoming elections, and some fear that it could be months and possibly years before another trade deal can be done, if nothing comes out of the current talks.

But US trade representative Robert Zoellick said the agreement was "America's top trade priority".

"President Bush has instructed me to spare no effort to accomplish this end."

Brazil, which leads the G20 group, also said there had been progress.

"I sense a positive movement of all major actors and it makes me optimistic," Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said.

BBC correspondent in Paris John Moylan said several days of talks between trade representatives preceding Friday's meeting appear to have injected new momentum into the Doha trade round.