Trade talks get farm boost, struggle in other areas

A revised negotiating text on agriculture has brought World Trade Organisation (WTO) members closer to their goal of a deal by the end of the year to open up world trade, diplomats said on Friday.

But negotiations in other areas such as industry and the rules governing trade still face big obstacles, they said.

India's WTO ambassador Ujal Singh Bhatia said the new agriculture text was a first but good step towards clinching a deal.

"It does incorporate all opinions. It keeps everyone's views on the table," Bhatia told Reuters as negotiators took a break from reviewing the agriculture text, issued last week together with a revised draft for industrial goods.

Trade ministers want to conclude the long-running Doha round this year, before a new U.S. administration takes office and is distracted by settling in, and to inject confidence into a world economy battered by financial crisis.

To do that they hope to meet in Geneva in March or April to agree the outlines of a deal.

The revised texts, summarising the past six months of talks in the Doha round launched in 2001, prepare the way for that meeting, at which ministers will make trade offs between farming and industry, and possibly other areas like services and rules.