The long-running Doha round of trade talks may take an additional two or three years to be concluded if world leaders fail to reach a breakthrough this year, Brazil's Foreign Minister Celso Amorim warned on Thursday.
"If we can get to an agreement on (trade) modalities this year, the next US administration, whichever it is, will find something already done with the support of several countries - and that would be harder to change," Amorim told reporters in New York, on the sidelines of the United Nation's general assembly.
"If we take longer, the round will take an additional two or three years and, in the meantime, people will die of hunger in Africa, African cotton producers will keep facing large US subsidies, and India will not have the (protection) mechanism it wants to create," he added.
The latest attempt to revive the Doha round failed in July when the United States and India disagreed over the terms of a safeguard mechanism to allow developing countries to raise tariffs on agricultural imports in response to a surge. Brazil is ready to facilitate an agreement between India and the United States, Amorim said, "as long as the parts show disposition to negotiate."
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