GENEVA, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- Trade chiefs from the 153 members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Wednesday moved into their final day of talks with a call for a speedy conclusion of the long-stalled Doha Round.
The ministers said the eight-year-old Doha Round negotiations should be concluded quickly, with several of them calling for a political push early in the year so the talks could end in 2010, the WTO said on its website.
The three-day conference, which started on Monday, was largely dominated by discussions on how to move the Doha Round forward, although the meeting was not a negotiating session.
Launched in 2001, the Doha Round has been deadlocked in the past eight years due to differences between developed and developing countries over access to agricultural and non-agricultural markets.
Political leaders now aim to finish the negotiations by 2010, though several previous deadlines have been missed.
"The longer it takes to conclude the negotiations, the longer the WTO's insurance policy to guarantee stability and predictability of market access to governments and traders alike will remain unsubscribed," WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy said, urging ministers to translate their political will into concrete actions.
The WTO chief suggested that members should agree on a calendar of future meetings and push for the endgame if the 2010 deadline can be achieved.
During the discussions on Tuesday, Australia and Pakistan argued that a planned ministerial meeting in early 2010 should be more than simply a stock take of the situation and ministers should get down to bridging the gaps on outstanding political questions.
WTO members have been bargaining on revised negotiation texts since September, but Indian Commerce Minister Anand Sharma said the topics discussed had only been technical and therefore had not moved the negotiations forward.
He called for discussions on "headline" issues such as agricultural export subsidies.
Despite a united call for an early conclusion of the Doha Round, stubborn division remains.
While U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk pressed emerging economies to pledge "meaningful" market opening, his Indian counterpart said developed countries should temper their demands.
British Trade Minister Gareth Thomas said he was disappointed that little progress had been made so far, warning there was a danger of missing the 2010 target as well.
"The UK is disappointed that WTO members have not yet been able to take the final steps to agree an outline deal," he said. "If we do not make progress soon, we will miss our 2010 target and that would be a great loss for the global economy and the world's poorest."
Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming issued a similar warning that it remained difficult to conclude the negotiations in 2010.
He said the Doha Round should fulfill its original goal of helping development in poor countries, and negotiation should be based on what had been agreed.
"The Doha Round is a development round. It should look at how to help developing countries under the new global trade rules," he said.