Nath's signal to initiate bilateral talks with the EU came a day after Brussels' top trade envoy accused emerging developing countries like India and Brazil of risking world trade talks by failing to lower tariff barriers to European imports.

"Europe is ready to give more than others," said Peter Mandelson, European trade commissioner in Berlin before the German business community on Monday. "There is no alternative to negotiation. I am sure Europe is willing to move faster and go further where that is appropriate - but not in a race with ourselves."

The EU has in recent weeks called on emerging developing countries to show greater flexibility in revising their offers on industrial tariffs and services. Brussels has made it clear it will be unable to make further movements on liberalizing agricultural market access, if it does not receive concessions from other trading partners on these two vital sectors.

Mandelson has also been putting pressure on Washington to urge emerging developing countries to make movements on industrial tariffs and services or risk a "minimalist outcome."

The United States which has repeatedly called on the European Union to make further movement on agricultural market access has been working to get both groups of trading partners to move in parallel to make progress on talks.

"They should move together," said Portman, urging the EU to advance its agricultural proposal to gain further market access and emerging developing countries to move on industrial tariffs and services.

"At this point, where we are, unless the EU steps forward on agriculture, emerging developing countries including India and Brazil and others will not step forward on industrial tariffs and services, and the United States, frankly, will not be able to deliver on its proposal regarding subsidies with the conditionality expressed in our agreement," said Portman.

While Mandelson has described the current state of negotiations as "serious, but not desperate," he has called on trading partners to unblock long-protected sectors in order to promote growth in the world economy and achieve an ambitious successful round.

Brazil and India, which lead the Group of 20 developing nations, have held fast to protectionist policies due to residual fears that a reduction of barriers would create an influx of developed goods that would ultimately affect world prices, making it harder for poorer countries to compete.

But according to a study by the World Bank, total world gain in liberalizing agriculture would be $248 billion with poor nations gaining $142 billion alone. The same study also indicated that if developed countries removed protective barriers they would stand to gain $111 billion.

Mandelson reiterated similar remarks in his speech in Berlin Monday arguing that developing countries stand to gain the most out of liberalizing services in trade. The EU trade chief said developing countries in recent years have shifted away from agricultural trade to trade in industrial goods and services.

While Mandelson has been under pressure by trading partners, including the United States, to make further movements on agricultural market access, India came to Europe's defense Tuesday, saying it had put forward the most aggressive proposal than any other WTO member.

In recent months -- especially leading into the Hong Kong ministerial last December -- major trading partners like the United States and the European Union have been under pressure to make aggressive cuts in trade-distorting support in agriculture. But economists have argued advanced developing countries must do their part in cutting industrial tariffs and opening up their services sector in order to achieve an ambitious and successful round.

Some economists have also suggested that if India and Brazil reduced their industrial tariffs and services sectors, the EU would be willing to make further movements on agricultural market access -- a major sticking point in negotiations.

India's decision to meet with Mandelson for bilateral consultations in Britain from Jan. 31 to Feb. 1, following the conclusion of this week's world economic summit in Davos, Switzerland, may bring a fresh impetus to stalled negotiations, which were launched in Qatar in 2001.

The United States and the EU have been at odds how to break the impasse in trade talks, but Washington indicated last week negotiators have developed "an understanding of what the ultimate bargain could be now."

Negotiators from roughly 30 key countries are expected to hold sidebar meetings during the World Economic Forum this week on Doha negotiations. It will be the first time ministers will reconvene after leaving negotiations in Hong Kong.

related report
Business concerns elbow out politics at Davos
by Peter Capella Geneva (AFP) Jan 24 - After drawing political heavyweights and flirting with Hollywood stars, the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum will return to its roots on Wednesday by giving business concerns centre stage.

About half of the 2,340 participants invited to the select five-day gathering of the world's political and business elite in the eastern Swiss Alpine report of Davos will be corporate executives, the organisers said.

Coinciding with a renewed surge in oil prices to close to 70 dollars a barrel, a survey of the business participants -- including a record 735 chief executives or chairpeople -- revealed widespread concern about tight energy supplies.

This year's president of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Edmund Daukoru of Nigeria -- where unrest is sparking oil markets along with concern about Iran -- is scheduled for his first major public appearance in Davos.

He is due to be accompanied by outgoing president Kuwaiti Energy Minister Sheikh Ahmad Fahd al-Sabah, while oil and gas industry chiefs have also been given greater elbow room this year.

Executives also acknowledged the growing economic weight of China and India in the internal survey, prompting invitations to substantial delegations from both Asian giants in the Swiss resort.

"These countries are transforming more rapidly than the developed economies did and the knowledge and potential of their people appear limitless," said James Turley, chief executive of global consultants Ernst and Young on the WEF's website.

"Chinese and Indian companies have started to expand beyond their home markets and some of these will become global leaders in the coming years," he added.

China's Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan, who also holds the keys to the country's five-year economic planning cycle, will follow freshly elected German Chancellor Angela Merkel in opening the summit.

However, a repeat of last year's agenda-setting initiatives on tackling poverty or global warming is regarded as unlikely in the absence of other major political movers and shakers from the United States or Europe.

Middle Eastern peace brokers are focused on elections in Palestine and Israel and Brazilian President Lula Ignacio da Silva has also decided to cut short his run of Davos appearances in an election year.

The business community is looking to Merkel's keynote speech Wednesday for a response to their frustration with Europe's traditional economic powers.

"Asia and Eastern Europe are in the fast lane and Western Europe is under considerable pressure. So therefore Western European states have to become more creative in how they deal with restructuring," said Martin Sorell, chief executive of British advertising group WPP and a co-chairman of this year's forum.

"If you believe that 35-hour working weeks are more important than economic growth then you have to remember what the costs of that will be," he added, referring to labour legislation in France.

French Economics and Finance Minister Thierry Breton and his British counterpart Gordon Brown are expected in Davos, the organisers said.

Other political figures include Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Despite an expected appearance by International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei, WEF executive chairman Klaus Schwab admitted distaste with "politicised" issues such as the nuclear standoff between the West and Iran.

That preference for a low key approach is also reflected in the celebrity list, after Hollywood star Sharon Stone unexpectedly obliged businessmen to dig deep into their pockets for mosquito nets during a public session last year.

Angelina Jolie, who is also a UN goodwill ambassador for refugees, plus rock stars and anti-poverty campaigners Bono and Peter Gabriel are the only entertainers to survive the downsizing.

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