ISLAMABAD, March 5: Thirty trade ministers from leading WTO-member countries have formally agreed to work out a rough sketch or first approximation of the eventual agreement latest by July 2005 to obtain ambitious results at the Hong Kong ministerial conference.

Officials said on Saturday that an understanding to this effect was reached at the Kenyan mini-ministerial conference held on March 2-4, at Mombassa. Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan represented Pakistan. Others trade ministers from a selected group of countries, including the EU, the US, Japan, China, India, Brazil, Australia and South Africa, also attended the meeting.

The ministers agreed that the pace of negotiations should be intensified so that major issues could be resolved by July 2005. They also noted that the pace of negotiations on services was much slower than other areas and that there was a need for speeding up this. The ministers asked those countries which have not yet submitted their initial offers to do so as soon as possible.

Another ministerial meeting was expected to be held in Paris in early May to take stock of progress on these issues, added the officials.

The Kenyan conference gave particular attention to finding a formula for reduction of tariffs on industrial goods, as it was felt that negotiations on this issue were lagging behind other areas.

An official announcement issued here by the commerce ministry said that during the meeting, major focus of discussions was on finding solutions for issues that were stumbling blocks for Doha Round of negotiations.

Speaking at the conference, Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar noted that products of export interest to developing countries such as textiles faced high tariffs and stressed the need for evolving a formula to address this problem.

"If developed countries wanted to give preferences to some countries, it should not be at the expense of other poor countries," he said. He also stressed for speedier negotiations on major issues of agriculture such as domestic subsidies and market access. "Minor technical issues such as conversion of specific rates to ad valorem rates should be resolved urgently and transparently. Since specific rates are used by developed countries to hide tariff peaks, there is a need to have all tariffs in ad valorem terms," the minister added.

Mr Khan also asked for more transparent rules on anti-dumping provisions, which were being unfairly used by some major countries for protection purposes. "Development for developing countries means more market access, elimination of subsidies and fairer rules on anti-dumping."