"There was already great concern that if Doha failed to give momentum to multilateralism, countries would veer more towards regional trade agreements," she said.
"If it is considered a failure, it will send a very bad signal for confidence."
Japan is finalizing its first bilateral free trade agreement, with Singapore, and US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick served notice last week that, if the WTO falters, the US will turn to regional and country-by-country alternatives to trade liberalization.
But Zoellick said Washington very much preferred to launch global negotiations to help build on the 17-fold increase in world trade over the past 50 years overseen by the WTO's predecessor organization, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.
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