GENEVA, Dec 2: European Union trade chief Peter Mandelson on Friday said he doubted whether it would be possible to hold a summit of the Group of Seven economic powers and key developing nations to discuss faltering global trade talks.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called for the summit “as soon as possible” to help avert a failure at the World Trade Organisation’s Hong Kong ministerial meeting due to begin on December 13.

“I simply do not know whether this is a realistic or practical suggestion at this very late stage before Hong Kong,” Mandelson said in a statement released through an EU spokesman at WTO headquarters in Geneva.

The EU Trade Commissioner was taking part in a meeting with the other 147 members of the WTO on the deadlocked Doha round of talks, which are aimed at breaking down more trade barriers mainly for the benefit of developing nations.

He nonetheless added that “such an idea is for the G7 and therefore outside my competence to comment on”.

A Brazilian official said British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who currently presides the G7, had called Lula’s proposal “an excellent suggestion” and would consult with other leaders.

Brazil heads the G20 group of developing nations, which has been pressing the United States and Europe to lift barriers to agricultural trade.

Rich countries are pressing for more progress in easing trade in services and industrial goods.—AFP