BRUSSELS, May 17: Major trading powers met here on Thursday for a marathon session aimed at salvaging World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks to boost global commerce, a European Union source said.

EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson and his counterpart for agriculture, Mariann Fischer Boel hosted US Trade Representative Susan Schwab and agriculture secretary Mike Johanns along with Indian Trade Minister Kamal Nath and Brazil’s trade representative, Foreign Minister Celso Amorim.

At the top of the agenda are questions on trade in agricultural products that have blocked progress in the WTO's Doha Development Round, launched with great fanfare in the Qatari capital in 2001.

Negotiators are under growing pressure ahead of a June 30 deadline when US President George W. Bush’s “fast track” trade authority expires.

Without the “fast track” provision, a Doha Round trade liberalisation accord approved by the US administration could be picked apart -- and neutralised -- by members of Congress defending constituents’ interests.

—AFP