French Trade Minister Christine Lagarde said on Friday that she was pessimistic over the prospect of trade talks for a global deal in Geneva this week.

"Right now, there is a pessimism here and we are quite skeptical," she said on LCI Television.

Her remarks came as some 60 trade and agricultural ministers of key World Trade Organization (WTO) members were gathering in Geneva for a few days of intensive talks with an aim to move the Doha Round forward.

Lagarde also said she was concerned over the position of the European Union (EU) trade chief Peter Mandelson.

Mendelson said on Thursday that he was willing to show flexibility in the Doha Round of global trade talks.

"We will not make progress if negotiations remain in entrenched positions," he said, adding that the EU was prepared to improve its offer in agricultural market access if other major negotiating partners were also ready to move.

The French trade minister acknowledged that domestic political interests were playing a role in the talks.

"Of course they do ... Each country is thinking about the elections and also about their economies," she said.

Agriculture is one of the major fields of the Doha Round talks, which were launched by the WTO in 2001 with an aim to help poor countries' economic development through fairer trading conditions.

The EU, facing major pressure from other WTO members to open further its agricultural market, has so far put forward an offer of 39 percent cut in agricultural tariffs in exchange for further industrial market access of developing countries and for slashing farm subsidies by the United States.

But the G20 of major developing countries led by Brazil and India demand a 54 percent tariff cut by the EU, while the United States insists a much higher 66 percent cut.

WTO Director-General Pasacl Lamy has indicated that the G20's position could be a basis for consensus.

The tough negotiations have been stalled for a long time due to deep differences among WTO members.

Source: Xinhua