GENEVA, Feb 6: The United States needs to make a new offer on agriculture trade if France is to give its blessing to any EU concessions as part of the stalled Doha round of WTO trade talks, a top EU diplomat said here on Tuesday.

“France is the most sceptical” of the EU’s 27 member states and “would need a minimum signal” from Washington if it were to accept new proposals from Brussels on the bloc's own agricultural policy, the diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

In an “optimistic scenario”, the diplomat said there was a possibility of reaching the outline of a deal on agriculture, industrial products and services by the end of the year, followed by a ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation in the early part of 2008.—AFP