Rich club to press emerging heavyweights for WTO deal

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Leaders of rich countries will press counterparts from China, Brazil and other emerging economies on Wednesday to help rescue a global trade deal, less than two weeks before the negotiations face a critical test. The heads of the Group of Eight nations, including the United States, Japan and Europe's biggest countries, urged developing countries to keep the World Trade Organisation's Doha round of trade talks alive by making last-ditch offers on industrial goods and services.

"This could be the last chance to seal a deal and we should not miss it," said Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Union's executive Commission.

On Tuesday, the G8 leaders at an annual summit in northern Japan stressed the urgent need for a conclusion to the round, a day before they are joined in a plush ski resort hotel by the heads of five big developing countries: Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa. "All the countries in the room shared the view this was not something developed countries could alone do but that a successful Doha round would depend on major emerging economies also doing their part to open their markets," said Dan Price, US deputy national security adviser for economic affairs.

The WTO is due to host what is seen as a do-or-die meeting of ministers from trade powers around the world from July 21.

The Doha round was launched nearly seven years ago and could provide a boost the stalling economies of many countries as well as help poor countries ease poverty by exporting more.

But without an 11th-hour deal on the core issues of agricultural and industrial goods, it likely to be put on ice perhaps for several more years as the United States focuses on its presidential elections in November. The EU, United States and other rich countries are trying to break resistance among developing economies and win further concessions in areas of interest to their exporters of goods such as cars and chemicals, and their service providers.

But emerging countries complain that the rich world is not doing enough to scale back huge farm subsidies or high farm import tariffs that penalise poor country exporters. "Developed countries must dismantle barriers and distortions, especially agriculture subsidies and domestic support that affect the overall efforts of developing countries," the five big developing nations said in a statement as they prepared for Wednesday's meeting.