GENEVA, Oct 31: Five leading players in world trade are set to try once again to resolve bitter disputes that are holding up negotiations on a treaty to liberalize global commerce, diplomats said on Monday.

Senior trade ministers and officials from Australia, Brazil, the European Union, India and the United States are scheduled to meet in London on November 7 before regrouping the following day at the Geneva headquarters of the World Trade Organization, European trade diplomats told AFP.

The 148 governments in the WTO are struggling to prepare for a December conference in Hong Kong, where they hope to approve the broad outlines of a multilateral accord cutting customs duties, subsidies and other barriers to commerce.

The WTO aims to start drafting documents for the Hong Kong meeting by mid-November.

Although all members must approve the deal, an agreement between the five trading powers is seen as crucial because they epitomise many of the diverging interests at the WTO.—AFP