Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva appealed on Friday for rich countries not to hold the developing world back by refusing to give ground in global trade talks which risk running out of time.
Trade ministers from about 30 countries have converged on the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos in a bid to resume the World Trade Organisation's Doha round of negotiations on cutting import tariffs, subsidies and other barriers to commerce.
Lula, a former metal worker who recently began his second term as president of Latin America's biggest nation, said Brazil was ready to make concessions and he urged Europe and the United States in particular to move too.
"We are fighting ... to make rich countries aware that if there is no deal on the Doha round, there will be no point in blaming things on Iraq, or thinking that they can resolve wars by giving out financial help every now and again," he said.
"It's the possibility of growth, creating jobs and distributing wealth that will create a peaceful world," the former trade union leader said in Davos.
The Doha Development Agenda, as the round is officially known, was launched shortly after the attacks on the United States in 2001 in an attempt to fight poverty in developing countries as well as increase flows of trade and investment.
Brazil, the world's new agricultural superpower, wants the United States to go much further than its current offer for cutting the billions of dollars it pays in farm subsidies, and the European Union to lower its farm import tariffs.
The EU and the United States want big developing nations such as Brazil and India to offer more on opening up their fast-growing markets in industrial goods and services. The chances of a WTO deal have been hampered by other conflicting interests and political sensitivities which have pitted rich countries against one another as well as causing some splits within the developing world.
Without a breakthrough soon on the main sticking point of agriculture, the WTO round risks being delayed by several years or possibly collapsing altogether, many negotiators say.
After three days of one-on-one and small group meetings, the trade ministers in Davos are due to come together on Saturday to see if they can come up with a plan that would allow resumption of the full negotiations involving the WTO's 150 members. EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson played down speculation that a breakthrough could be imminent. "I would not say in the next few weeks, but we will know either way in the next couple of months," he told reporters.
Ministers from the G33 group of poor countries said they "noted some recent developments that foreshadow strengthening of the political will to bridge the divergences" on effective cuts to subsidies and import tariffs. "They urged that these developments be brought into the multilateral process as soon as possible," a G33 statement said.
Negotiators are worried that without the outline of a deal soon, US President George Bush will struggle to get the Democrat-controlled Congress to extend his "fast-track" powers to approve trade deals. Those powers expire on June 30. Without them, the prospects for a WTO agreement are slim, they say.
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