Top US and Brazilian negotiators said a breakthrough is still possible for a global trade accord following the collapse of WTO talks last week.
Many meetings will be required between trade ministers from the 149-nation WTO to regain momentum on negotiations, but a deal could be sealed within five to seven months, US Trade Representative Susan Schwab and Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said on Saturday.
"We believe it is possible, but it won't fall from the sky," Amorim told reporters after talking behind closed doors with Schwab for two hours in the hastily called meeting.
The talks broke down in Geneva after rich nations and poor nations failed to reach an accord amid deep divisions over farm subsidies developed nations give their farmers and increased market access in developing countries.
Amorim and Schwab said the US and Brazil -- key players in the WTO talks -- are committed to finding ways to purse a global treaty that would slash subsidies, increase market access and raise living standards in poor countries.
They said that they would encourage trade ministers across the planet to determine why the talks in Geneva broke down last week, and what can be done to get them back on track.
"Brazil and the United States are leaders in this effort to help revive the Doha round [of talks], and we see our meeting today as the beginning of a process that we hope our colleagues from other countries will also support," Schwab said.
Named after the Qatari capital where negotiations began five years ago, the Doha round is designed to boost the global economy by lowering trade barriers, with particular emphasis on helping poorer countries develop their economies through export growth.
Schwab said Washington is not interested in negotiating a watered-down agreement that some have said might now be possible, preferring instead to press for a treaty with sweeping trade liberalization.
She and Amorim met two days after WTO chief Pascal Lamy urged the organization's members to avoid playing the "blame game" over the collapse of the Doha round. Lamy was apparently referring to the EU and the US, which spent much of last week blaming each other.
The EU said the US derailed the talks by not offering deeper cuts in subsidies paid to farmers, while Washington attacked Europe for declining to ease foreign access to its agricultural markets.
Poor nations claim the trading system is stacked against them because wealthy nations' farm markets remain highly protected. The rich have said they are willing to slash farm support, but only if developing countries open up their markets to international industry and services.
Lamy suspended the talks last Monday after a meeting of ministers from the US, the EU, Japan, Australia, India and Brazil made it clear that differences over farm subsidies were unbridgeable.
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