The latest failure of the Doha Round of global trade talks is a severe blow to the UN's poverty-cutting goals, a senior UN official said on Monday.

This is "very bad news" for the UN's Millennium Development Goals, which focus on substantial poverty-cutting by 2015, UN Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown told reporters, referring to failed weekend negotiations by World Trade Organization (WTO) members.

"Rural and urban incomes in developing countries took a prospective hit in terms of future growth with the outcome of the weekend's talks," he said.

Some 60 trade and agricultural ministers of key WTO members held crucial talks in Geneva from June 29 to July 1, but failed to break the long-time deadlock in agriculture and non-agricultural market access.

The failure put the Doha Round at risk, but WTO Director- General Pasacal Lamy said the talks were not hopeless yet, believing that differences among major WTO members were still bridgeable.

A successful Doha Round was very important for economic development of poor countries, as the mandate of the talks is to facilitate trade in a way that helps poor countries, Brown said.

Growth in Asia in recent years has shown that trade is very important for promoting domestic growth, and those countries with high growth rates have been at the forefront of progress toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals, he said.

"The statistics speak for themselves: countries that are integrated into the world economy grow faster than those that are not," he added.

The Doha Round was launched in 2001 with an aim to lift millions out of poverty through facilitating trade.

Despite setbacks, WTO members still eye an ambitious trade agreement by the end of the year.

Source: Xinhua