GENEVA, May 7: The World Trade Organisation said on Wednesday it is highly unlikely that a ministerial meeting will be held this month given the scant progress in talks on liberalising agriculture and other thorny issues.

“It would be extremely difficult under this time constraint and given the importance of substance to this process to have such a meeting in May”, WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell told reporters.

The WTO’s Doha round of talks to reduce trade barriers was launched in the Qatari capital in November 2001 with the aim of reaching a deal by 2004.

It has foundered ever since, principally due to disputes between developed and developing countries on agricultural subsidies and industrial tariffs.

WTO Director General Pascal Lamy had initially hoped to bring ministers to Geneva over Easter to decide on “modalities” the key numbers for tariff cuts that would form the basis for any comprehensive deal.

But this timetable has repeatedly had to be put back as the members prove incapable of reaching consensus.—AFP