U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab said in Geneva on Friday that she was more optimistic now than in the past few months that the Doha Round of global trade talks could have a successful outcome.

"I personally am more optimistic than I have been in many months that we are on a path that could enable us to reach a successful conclusion to the Doha round," Schwab told reporters at a press conference.

After meeting with World Trade Organization (WTO) chief Pascal Lamy, Schwab said the U.S. and other key WTO members were absolutely making progress in moving the talks forward.

She said she had been involved in "very in-depth" conversations with other WTO members over the last three or four months. "We're talking to each other directly, which is obviously much more conducive to reaching understanding."

But she admitted that a breakthrough was still a long distance away. "Are we near a breakthrough? No, we've got a long way to go for a breakthrough," she told reporters.

The Doha Round, launched in 2001, was suspended last July after six key WTO members, the U.S., EU, Australia, Japan, Brazil and India, failed to bridge their long-term differences on agricultural subsidies and market access.

Although WTO members have resumed technical work of the talks in Geneva, there is still no sign for a full and substantial revival.

A group of WTO ministers will meet later this month in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, on the fringes of the World Economic Forum, to discuss the fate of the talks. But it is unlikely that the meeting can lead to a breakthrough.

Source: Xinhua