LONDON, Dec 8: A world trade deal is within reach in a few days, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Monday.

Speaking after talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, Mr Brown warned the world had reached the ‘11th hour’ and urged countries to “work together ... to send a signal against protectionism.”

“We are convinced that a world trade deal, that is within our grasps in the next few days, is something that all countries in the world must now push with great priority,” he said.

“Protectionism is something that we must both avoid and fight against in the course of the next few months. “We believe that any resort to protectionism would delay any recovery and would be to repeat the mistakes of the past.”

In Geneva, trade sources said key negotiating problems remained and there was as yet no date set for a World Trade Organisation ministerial meeting before the end of the year.

WTO members are struggling to conclude a global deal under the seven-year-old Doha round of talks that would reduce barriers to trade in goods and services.—AFP