DAVOS (Switzerland), Jan 25: US Trade Representative Susan Schwab on Thursday played down hopes of a breakthrough at a meeting on deadlocked global trade talks this weekend but said progress was being made.

"I don't think we're looking at a breakthrough in the near term," Schwab told AFP on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos.

"But I think we're making some progress and some of the key players really are engaging -- Brazil, the EU, the United States and other countries -- and that makes me cautiously optimistic that we are laying the groundwork for a breakthrough," she added.Ministers from about 30 key trading nations are due to meet World Trade Organisation Director General Pascal Lamy in Davos on Saturday.

Lamy suspended the five-year old negotiations between the WTO's then 149 members on reducing barriers to trade in agriculture, industrial goods and services last July because of the deadlock.

However, diplomats at WTO headquarters in Geneva were allowed in November to resume contacts over technical details of a long-delayed trade deal, and negotiators from major players have met each other repeatedly since then.

A senior EU official close to European Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said on Wednesday that there were hopes of a "political signal" from the meeting in Davos to relaunch negotiations, rather than a breakthrough.

Schwab said on Thursday: "I know there are issues within the EU that have to be resolved."

The round is deadlocked because of differences between the EU and US on agriculture, discord between rich and poor countries about farming subsidies, while industrialised nations are seeking greater access to developing nations for their industrial services and goods.

Some ministers were due to hold individual bilateral meetings in Davos.

Indian Minister of Commerce Kamal Nath, who is also in Davos, said in an interview with the Financial Times on Thursday that the United States and the EU needed to give ground."I have told the US and the EU that they must both converge," Nath told the newspaper, adding that the Davos meeting was not about negotiations.—AFP