France tells Brazil it wants trade deal: Brown

French President Nicolas Sarkozy made clear on Wednesday that he wants a breakthrough in world trade talks and appealed to Brazil to help strike a deal, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said.
Brazil, one of the world's biggest producers of farm goods, has played a major role representing the interests of developing countries in the World Trade Organisation's long-running Doha round of trade talks. For its part, France is reluctant to approve cuts to European Union farm subsidies that would have to be part of any deal.
"What's new is that Brazil has made it clear today that it wants this deal," Brown said. "President Sarkozy made clear he wanted to see a break in the deadlock and appealed to Brazil," he told a news conference at the Group of Eight summit in Japan.
Top trade officials from the United States, the EU, India, Brazil and other WTO members will gather in Geneva on July 21 in what experts says is the last chance to broker a deal before a new US president takes office in January.
Brown, who has been pushing for a strong political signal ahead of the meeting, earlier issued a joint statement on trade with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva that he said showed a softening of Latin America's position in the talks.
"I believe that shows a willingness on the part of every major player ... to get round the table and hopefully secure an agreement in July," Brown said. "I want to praise President Lula for his statesmanship in pushing forward with the trade deal now," he said.
While Lula said earlier this month the Doha round could be completed by July 30, a WTO mediator said on Tuesday that negotiators have yet to agree on key proposals to free up trade in industrial goods. A revised negotiating proposal on industrial goods is due on Thursday. That text, together with a new agriculture draft, will serve as the blueprint for trade ministers in Geneva, the headquarters of the WTO.
The United States and the EU want leading developing countries such as Brazil to make deeper cuts on import tariffs for industrial goods. That would be in return for reductions in developed nations' agricultural subsidies and tariffs.
The Doha round was launched in 2001, shortly after the September 11 attacks on the United States, in the hope of boosting the global economy and helping poor countries export more. But the negotiations have missed one deadline after another as countries have clashed on cutting farm subsidies and import tariffs and opening up markets to more competition.