DOHA (Islamweb & News Agencies) - A deal to launch a new round of world trade talks was tantalizingly close early on Wednesday after ministers, cranky from fatigue, made major progress toward bridging outstanding gaps, officials said.Briefing reporters more than five hours after a self-imposed deadline of midnight (4 p.m. EST Tuesday) came and went, one trade official said all-night negotiations had yielded a breakthrough on the contentious issue of farm export subsidies.
``It's moving forward. It's within reach,'' the official said.
A trade diplomat from a key Arab country added: ``It's going well. I think we'll get there.''
The trade official said a meeting of about 25 countries chaired by World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Mike Moore had come up with new wording on the controversial issue of farm export subsidies that ``appears to offer a compromise which people can endorse.''
The language was proposed to overcome objections by France to calls for talks to phase out the huge farm export subsidies that are cherished by the European Union's powerful agricultural lobby.
Although the form of words still calls for talks to phase out the subsidies, a goal of efficient agricultural exporters like Australia, negotiators added the crucial caveat that talks should be ``without prejudice to the results of the negotiations.''
The suggestion was put forward by the United States and Canada, which are themselves under fire from India on the other big sticking point at the conference -- developing-country demands to be allowed to sell more textiles to rich countries.
India has dug in its heels at the Doha meeting, now in its sixth day, but the official expressed confidence that New Delhi was working for a deal that advocates say would provide a timely tonic to growth and help lift millions of people out of poverty.
``I don't think India wants to see it fail,'' he said