Doha on agenda for financial summit: White House

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A summit meeting of 20 world leaders next month to discuss the global financial crisis will put a heavy focus on the role trade liberalization could play in boosting the world economy, White House officials said on Wednesday.

"I'm sure Doha will be discussed," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters, referring to the long-running round of world trade talks, which suffered a major setback in July when a meeting of trade ministers in Geneva ended in failure.

"One of the things President (George W.) Bush will stress at this meeting is the importance of opening trade and for liberalization of goods going back and forth between countries so we can get every country back on the path of prosperity, including our own," Perino said.

Leaders from key players in Doha negotiations -- India, Brazil, China, and the European Union -- are among the 20 country heads Bush has invited to a November 15 summit in the Washington area.

Although trade ministers made progress on many hard issues at the Geneva meeting, the talks collapsed because of a sharp disagreement between the United States and India on how to help developing countries protect their farmers from a surge in agricultural imports.

On Tuesday, Bush said he would "press hard" for a successful conclusion of the Doha round until he leaves office January 20.

Even with an all-out effort, it would be difficult for negotiators to finish every detail of a world trade agreement in the next four months.

However, U.S. officials have said it is still possible to reach a deal in 2008 on key agricultural, manufacturing and services trade issues at the heart of the round.

Meanwhile, Perino also said Congress should give the U.S. economy a much-needed boost by approving three pending free-trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea when it returns next month.

(Reporting by Doug Palmer; Editing by Bill Trott)