GENEVA, July 25 (Xinhua) -- The ongoing WTO ministerial talks over the stalled Doha Round trade negotiations had shown some "encouraging signs" over the past couple of hours, and "interesting proposals" had been put forward, WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell said here Friday.

    "I would simply say there are very encouraging signs and we would see what the reaction is in the coming hours," Rockwell told reporters during intervals of the ministerial meeting, which was aimed at salvaging the Doha Round launched seven years ago.

    "A spirit of cooperation" had shown at the five hours of small group discussions participated by seven key World Trade Organization members, namely the United States, the European Union, Japan, China, India, Brazil and Australia, said Rockwell.

    "It is the time to move to the wider group for their consideration," said Rockwell, who added that all the ministers from the 35 WTO members gathering here will meet at 6 p.m. (1600 GMT) Friday.

    However, Rockwell declined to provide any further details about the progress made so far.

    Rockwell was speaking only a few hours after WTO chief Pascal Lamy issued a stern warning of a failure of the ministerial meeting, which focused on agricultural and non-agricultural market access (NAMA) issues.

    "Some convergences have been recorded but progress remains painfully slow after four days of ministerial-level negotiations," Lamy said.

    "The world outside will not understand if we fail to grasp this opportunity to conclude a round that already has a great deal on the table," he added.

    Lamy urged further flexibility from the negotiators over the next 24 hours to avoid "serious consequences of failure."

    According to Lamy's arrangement, key WTO members should reach agreement first, and then their agreement would be sent for approval by the full WTO membership.

    The Doha Round had missed repeated deadlines in the past seven years mainly due to differences between the developing and developed countries over agriculture and NAMA.

    While rich nations were seeking more market access to the developing world for their industrial products, developing countries urged developed members to make a deeper cut of farm subsidies and tariffs for agricultural goods.

    A failure of this week's talks in Geneva could delay the wrap-up of the Doha Round for another several years.