Finance officials from the world's seven richest nations said on Friday that a successful conclusion of the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Doha round talks is "imperative."

"We are committed to resisting protectionist sentiment. Substantially lowering tariffs and other barriers is essential to spur new growth in global trade and reduce poverty," the finance ministers and central bank governors said in a joint statement.

"We welcome recent steps to intensify engagement, recognizing that substantive movement towards a comprehensive final outcome requires all parties to make additional efforts," they said.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson also urged his counterparts to make efforts to restart the stalled Doha round.

"We are at a critical juncture for progress on the Doha Development Round of trade negotiation, and we had a serious discussion on the way forward," he said.

"I urged my fellow Finance Ministers to encourage their trade ministers to achieve an ambitious deal because of the Round's potential to stimulate growth and economic development," he said.

Started in 2001, the Doha round is meant to help poor countries gain access to the developed world's markets by cutting subsidies and tariffs in rich markets -- especially in agriculture. In return, wealthy nations would win access to key markets for services such as banking and insurance.

But the talks collapsed last July after the European Union and the United States turned down requests by emerging economies such as Brazil and India to trim their generous farm handouts.

Source: Xinhua