"I would only urge the Director-General (of the WTO) to treat this as a pause, not a breakdown, to keep on the table what is there," Indian Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said the morning after the dramatic collapse.

The world's economic superpower, the United States, and one of the biggest emerging economies, India, shared dismay and regret even as they stuck by the unreconciled positions on import tariffs which sank the talks on Tuesday.

Meanwhile African countries were just plain angry.

Trade Representative Susan Schwab said the breakdown was "distressing," while Nath turned up to talk to reporters "with a very heavy heart."

"Susan Schwab said she loved me and I said I loved her too," Nath said. "But probably she didn't love me enough. I told her that."

China's Commerce Minister Chen Deming called the collapse "a tragic failure," in a statement, as the outcome was mourned by many and cheered by some, including Japanese and South Korean farmers.

Talks collapsed after nine gruelling days of negotiations due to disagreement between India and the United States over the so-called special safeguard mechanism (SSM).

The measure is designed to protect poor farmers, allowing countries to impose a special tariff on certain agricultural goods in the event of an import surge or price fall.

But African countries which had hoped to tackle other issues, such as poor countries' cotton and banana exports, were inconsolable.

"We can hardly control our anger," said Burkina Faso's Tade Minister Mamadou Sanou. Kenya's Trade Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, speaking on behalf of an African grouping, said the collapse "gravely undermines" the fight against poverty.

"Africa's opportunity to achieve fair trade has... been gravely undermined by the lack of progress in these negotiations," said Kanyatta.

"Africa critically needs to realise development and get itself out of poverty through the establishment of fair trade rather than aid."

Ministers had struggled for nine days to reach consensus on subsidy levels and import tariffs for a new deal under the WTO's Doha Round, which has foundered repeatedly since it was launched seven years ago.

Optimism had peaked over the weekend after a breakthrough proposal by the World Trade Organization's Director-General Pascal Lamy. Then efforts ground to a halt.

Burkina Faso's minister came to Geneva in the hope of getting a fair deal for his country's cotton farmers -- but had to walk away with nothing.

"They wanted me to be here to negotiate on cotton. I have been here for 10 days and I haven't been able to discuss cotton," he said.

"We are most disappointed that the rich countries, champions of liberalisation who urge us to liberalise our markets, those very countries are afraid to trade with us on an equal footing."

Delegates held meetings on Wednesday to discuss the way forward.

Some called for the progress made so far to be preserved, while others have insisted time was needed before a next step could be made.

"We will need to let the dust settle a bit," Lamy said Tuesday. "WTO members will need to have a sober look at if and how they bring the pieces back together."

Schwab lamented that SSMs proved to be such a stumbling block after Lamy's proposal.

"It would have worked, and yet there were others who demanded more. And more included a tool to close markets," Schwab said. "We'd like to believe that there is progress here that we can harvest."

Brazil's Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, a key broker in the talks and a frank spokesman for the developing world, meanwhile hailed the rise of poor and emerging economies at the negotiating table.

"We all had wished to finalise (a deal), but one thing that we can celebrate is that deals here are no longer made just by the rich countries," he told reporters.

"They have to take us into account and that will continue to be so."

related report
Rich, poor nations trade barbs after WTO talks collapse
Economic powers and developing nations traded blame Wednesday over the collapse of global trade talks amid a row over food tariffs, but expressed hope the marathon efforts are not yet dead.

The breakdown of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations was met with disappointment from world leaders but was cheered by Japanese and South Korean farmers who fear an influx of cheap agricultural imports.

Tokyo, which zealously protects its farmers, issued a thinly veiled criticism of its regional economic rivals after the breakdown of the talks.

"The economic weight of China and India has been increasing," said Japan's top government spokesman Nobutaka Machimura. "They need to take more responsibility."

US business lobbies also blamed China and India for insisting on protecting their farmers.

"India and China are emerging powers, but with great power comes great responsibility," the US Chamber of Commerce said in a statement.

But Chinese state media slammed some unnamed developed economies for caring too much about their own interests.

"This selfish and short-sighted behaviour directly caused the failure of this small-scale WTO ministerial meeting, which will lead to a series of serious consequences," the Xinhua news agency said in an editorial.

Argentina blamed wealthy nations for failing to provide enough concrete benefits for developing countries.

"On the side of the developed countries there was very little willingness to provide concessions on commercial matters, but plenty of ambition to obtain benefits for themselves," Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana said.

The Geneva talks collapsed Tuesday as the United States and India failed to settle a row on food tariffs during days of wrangling.

India has continually insisted that it will not sacrifice the interests of its millions of subsistence farmers to clinch a Doha Round deal.

China called the breakdown a "tragic failure" and expressed disappointment over the inability of those involved to reach a consensus.

The talks broke down because of the "inability of two countries to bridge the gap between their positions," Commerce Minister Chen Deming said, apparently alluding to the standoff between the United States and India.

Japanese farmers, however, welcomed the failure to strike a deal.

"We are relieved, if not delighted, at the collapse of the talks," said Yoshiyuki Kiri, an official at a union of agricultural cooperatives in the southern prefecture of Kagoshima.

He said a proposed agreement on the table at the WTO talks "would have killed our farming and the whole community."

There were concerns that the collapse of the talks would hit African countries particularly hard.

The breakdown of talks on a world trade pact has "gravely undermined" African countries' efforts to fight poverty, warned Kenya's trade minister, Uhuru Kenyatta.

Representatives of Brazil's huge farm and biofuel sectors said they would be especially hurt by the failure to reach an accord.

"This WTO accord was important for Brazil because it would have opened markets in all the countries," said the head of the Export Association of Brazil, Jose Augusto de Castro.

The talks -- the latest in the Doha Round of global free trade negotiations launched in 2001 -- had been seen as a last-ditch bid to strike a deal.

But there was guarded optimism in the wake of their collapse that the dream of a global free trade deal might not be completely dead.

"It's too early to say, but the bottom line is we can't give up," said Indian Ambassador Ujal Singh Bhatia.

Australian Trade Minister Simon Crean said: "This is by no means the end of the road. It is not the end of the Doha Round."

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