WTO says trade deal in works

A breakthrough in global trade talks is achievable in the next few weeks, World Trade Organization director-general Pascal Lamy said yesterday.

Momentum in the oft-stalled trade negotiations has been building up in the past two months. Known as the Doha Round, they were launched in 2001 in a bid to boost the world economy and help developing nations export more.

"At a time when a breakthrough in these negotiations is do-able in the next weeks, we are hopeful that this conference will help to get it done," Lamy told a United Nations trade meeting in Ghana.

"If we have a revised compromise text on agricultural subsidies, agricultural tariffs and industrial tariffs sorted by the end of April or the very beginning of May, I think a (WTO meeting) can take place by the end of May," he said.