World Trade Organization (WTO) nations formally endorsed on Thursday the suspension of the Doha Round trade negotiations, trade officials said.

In his report to the ruling General Council of the 149-member body, Director General Pascal Lamy reaffirmed his Monday recommendation of freezing the trade talks.

The decision came after a meeting of the six key trading powers collapsed on Monday due to differences over farming and manufactured goods, indicating the total failure of the five-year efforts to reach a multilateral free trade accord.

On Monday, Lamy said ministers of the so-called G-6, namely the United States, the EU, Japan, Australia, Brazil and India, held lengthy and detailed negotiations on Sunday and Monday, but "the gaps remain too wide."

He said the main blockage was on agriculture, with the United States and the EU trading accusations of inflexibility on the key stumbling block of farm subsidies.

Top officials from the EU, Brazil and India lined up to accuse the U.S. of not cutting deeper handouts to U.S. farmers, while Washington insisted that developing countries had to offer much more on industrial access.

Because the gaps on agriculture were so wide, the issue of industrial market access, which mainly involves major developing nations such as Brazil and India, was even not discussed during the two-day meeting.

The Doha Round, which kicked off in the Qatari capital in 2001, was aimed at reducing subsidies, customs duties and lowering other trade barriers to boost world economy.

Source: Xinhua