Key members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) launched fresh efforts on Monday in Geneva to salvage the long-stalled Doha Round of global trade liberalization talks.

Ministers from the United States, the European Union, Japan, Brazil and India as well as senior officials from Australia met briefly with WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy at the WTO headquarters to assess the current state of the negotiations.

They decided to hold two further ministerial meetings in Geneva later this month, when they will try to reach agreement on precise formulas for cutting industrial and farm tariffs and subsidies, the major stumbling block in the Doha Round negotiations.

The two ministerial meetings were set on July 23-24 and July 28- 29 respectively. But it is not clear how many ministers from the 149 WTO members will participate in the two meetings.

"The idea is to have another go at it with a bit more determination and hopefully a bit more flexibility," said India's Trade Minister Kamal Nath after Monday's brief meeting.

"The moment of truth is going to emerge in the next couple of weeks," he added.

"I think the next step is for us to head back to capitals and find out what kinds of flexibilities each of us has to bring back to the table," said U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab as she left Geneva.

The Doha Round of trade negotiations was launched in the Qatari capital in 2001 with an avowed aim to boost global economy and lift millions out of poverty by lowering down trade barriers.

The negotiators have stalled for a long time because of complex differences among the United States, the European Union and developing countries, particularly on the agriculture issue.

Already two years behind schedule, the Doha Round could risk further delays or even collapse if WTO members could not reach a deal in the next few weeks.

Monday's meeting was called quickly after leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized countries on Sunday set a one-month deadline to get the Doha Round back on track.

"At this stage, the deadlock in which we are caught will lead us to failure very soon if you do not give your ministers further room for negotiation," Lamy told the leaders of the G8 and developing nations on Monday in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Source: Xinhua