Trade powers agree end-2007 deadline for WTO deal

By Unni Krishnan and Charlotte Cooper

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Trade powers on Thursday injected new urgency into sluggish negotiations for a new global free trade treaty which they said they would aim to hammer out by the end of 2007.

Ministers from Brazil, the European Union, India, the United States, Australia and Japan, the so-called Group of Six (G6), promised to speed the search for understandings in the crucial areas of farm and industrial goods and services.

"We believe that by intensifying our work, we can reach convergence and thus contribute to concluding the round by the end of 2007," they said in a statement.

They will meet again in mid-May, although they set no date nor place. However, trade ministers have traditionally attended the annual gathering of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris set for May 14-15.

"The success of this meeting demonstrates that there is a shared sense of responsibility and a shared sense of urgency," said U.S Trade Representative Susan Schwab.

"If we can translate the shared sense of urgency into action, it's a realizable goal," she said of the end-year goal.

Earlier, Brazil's Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said the talks made progress on what the next steps should be, but there was no discussion of the key numbers in areas such as farm subsidies and industrial tariffs that will be needed for a deal.

Since its launch in 2001, the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) Doha round has missed deadline after deadline as negotiators struggle to find common ground, mostly on farming, but also on market access for industrial goods and services.