Five core members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) ended hours of bargaining early today with an accord that could open the way to a deal on a trade pact by the full membership, a leading negotiator said.
The five are the United States, the European Union, Australia, India and Brazil, and these nations are considered to represent a wide range of trade interests within the 147-state body.
The WTO has set itself until midnight tomorrow to seal outline deals in four key areas - farm and industrial goods, services and a new customs' code - in a bid to put its troubled Doha Round of free trade negotiations back on track.
However, a number of other members, including Switzerland, suspicious at the leading role assumed by the five, have warned that they will not be pushed into a deal just because the big trading powers back it.
Negotiators are struggling to get agreement on a framework for the next stage of the Doha Round, launched in the Qatar capital in 2001 but effectively derailed since the collapse of a WTO meeting of trade ministers in Cancun, Mexico last September.
Such a deal would let them say the Doha Round was back on track, but failure could postpone for years further progress on liberalising trade, with its promise of a multi-billion-dollar boost to the world economy, trade officials say.
The central problem is farm trade reform, and the future of rich power subsidies.
Developing countries insist a first draft issued by the mediators several days ago ignores many of their basic concerns, while some richer nations - including Japan and Switzerland - say its provisions for lowering tariff barriers would hit farmers vital to their economies.