"So, back to full negotiating mode in Geneva," WTO chief Pascal Lamy told ambassadors at the first meeting of the Geneva-based body since major powers agreed last weekend in Davos the time had come to relaunch the negotiations.

"No-one disagreed," one senior trade official said after a closed-door meeting of trade ambassadors called to discuss recent developments, including the outcome of the ministerial gathering in the Swiss Alpine resort.

"The political conditions are ... more favorable for the conclusion of the round than they have been for a long time," Lamy told the ambassadors.

The WTO negotiations on lowering barriers to commerce were halted by Lamy in July after major powers failed to break a long-running deadlock over the politically sensitive issue of farm trade.

However, a series of meetings in recent weeks -- mainly bilateral sessions between major trading states and blocs, such as the United States, Brazil, the European Union and Japan -- sent signals of flexibility.

Political leaders including President Bush, Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country presides over the G8, and Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva have urged negotiators to strike a deal.

The round was launched in the Qatari capital in 2001 just after the September 11 attacks to boost the global economy and lift millions out of poverty.

The key to a deal lies in getting deeper US cuts in farm subsidies, which developing countries say give farmers there an unfair market advantage, and in securing similar reforms from the EU, Japan and other big importers on farm tariffs.

Big developing countries such as Brazil and India would have to agree to open their markets, mainly to industrial goods and services but also, in the case of India, to farm goods.

But time is short, with special US presidential powers to negotiate trade deals due to expire in July.
EU URGES 'MORE AMBITOUS' CUTS IN US FARM AID
AFP from Brussels adds: Washington must make "more ambitious" cuts in aid to its farmers if stalled WTO talks are to be concluded successfully, the European Commission said Thursday in reaction to US plans to reduce farm spending.

"If we are to have a successful outcome to the Doha round (of WTO talks), the US will need to propose more ambitious cuts and disciplines in trade-distorting domestic farm subsidies," Commission spokesman Michael Mann said.

"We had hoped the (US) administration's proposal for the new farm bill would signal this more clearly," he added. "But this is not the end of the story: further steps are not precluded by these initial proposals."

The US government proposed on Wednesday to cut agriculture spending by at least 10 billion dollars (7.7 billion euros) over the next five years while leaving generous subsidies largely intact.