July 29, 2006	Saturday	Rajab 2, 1427

BRUSSELS, July 28: Australia will seek to revive stalled global trade talks at a meeting in September to which it has invited ministers from leading World Trade Organisation (WTO) members, an Australian newspaper said.

The WTO indefinitely suspended on Monday the nearly five-year-old Doha round of negotiations to lower barriers to trade after major trading powers failed to bridge wide differences, chiefly over agriculture.

Australian Trade Minister Mark Vaile was quoted on the Web site of newspaper The Age as saying he had invited the ministers to an annual meeting of the Cairns group of agricultural exporting countries in mid-September.

“We agreed that we should use the Cairns Group meeting as a platform for launching things forward,” Vaile told the newspaper. “This could be the meeting where we start rebuilding some momentum.”

US Trade Representative Susan Schwab told reporters earlier this week she was scheduled to attend the Cairns Group meeting and The Age said US Agriculture Secretary Mike Johannes had also accepted.

Invitations had been sent to WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy, European Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson and Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, the newspaper said.

Vaile was quoted as saying it might still be possible to get the Doha round agreed this year.

“We'll be working the phones hard. Ultimately the gaps will be bridged, and the question is when the timing is right,” he said in the interview.

Ministers from other countries have suggested the round could be on hold for several years.

A spokesman for the EU's Mandelson confirmed an invitation had been sent to Brussels.

“It is very difficult diary-wise but no final decision has been taken,” spokesman Peter Power said. —Reuters