However, in a speech at a Washington think tank, Malaysian Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz said she was under no illusion that world trade talks would come to a quick conclusion despite other EU concessions on Friday.

"I'm sure this one can go another seven years. ... It wouldn't surprise us at all," Rafidah said, noting the last round of world trade talks stretched from 1986 to 1993.

In a letter to other WTO members on Monday, EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said the EU "would be ready to move" toward eliminating farm export subsidies if other key elements of an agricultural reform package fell into place.

The EU's long-time refusal to commit to a goal of eliminating farm export subsidies has been a major stumbling block in the world trade talks.

In the same letter, Lamy said the EU was willing to drop demands for negotiations on competition and investment rules -- two of the four so-called "Singapore" issues that triggered a crisis in world trade talks eight months ago at the World Trade Organization's meeting in Cancun, Mexico.

Lamy said the EU was also willing to drop its demand for talks on government procurement, if that turns out to be the "consensus view" of the WTO. That would leave trade facilitation -- essentially, customs clearing procedures -- as the only Singapore issue left on the table.

Rafidah welcomed the move, saying both the EU and Japan had insisted in Cancun that investment remain part of the negotiations despite strong resistance from developing countries to take on new rules in that area.

After Lamy's letter, "we have to see where Japan is. If it still wants to talk about investment, then it's going to be an isolated country," Rafidah said.

WTO members are trying to reach a "framework" agreement in July that would allow negotiations to advance next year at a more detailed level. Rafidah said it was obvious a January 2005 deadline for finishing the talks would be missed, even though a new target has not yet been set.