PM Hopes for Last-minute Deal

Gordon Brown warned today that knife-edge global trade talks were "at a minute to midnight" as the G8 summit gave strong political backing for a deal to end seven years of tortuous negotiations later this month. Ahead of what he called a "make-or-break" meeting of trade ministers in Geneva on July 21, the prime minister said he was optimistic of a breakthrough after talks with George Bush, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil and French president Nicolas Sarkozy.

Brown and Lula issued a statement after their meeting stressing the need to boost the flagging global economy by opening up markets and resisting growing protectionism. "We are now closer than ever to a deal. But the window of opportunity for achieving such a deal is small and it is closing," the statement said.

Brazil is seen as one of the key players in the Doha round of trade talks. Along with India it has been demanding big cuts in support for farmers in Europe and the United States in return for opening up its domestic market to European and American industrial goods.

The prime minister said that after talks with Lula and Sarkozy he was confident that the year-long deadlock could be broken at the talks convened by the World Trade Organization later this month. "President Sarkozy was clear that he wanted to see a breakthrough in the talks," Brown said. French sources were, however, much more cautious about the prospects of a deal and Sarkozy has adopted a tough stance with Europe's trade commissioner, Peter Mandelson, over any further cuts in the common agricultural policy that might be needed to clinch a deal.

The G8 summit in St Petersburg two years ago ended with world leaders expressing strong support for an end to the Doha round, only for the talks to break down in Geneva within 24 hours.

Brown said the level of commitment showed by world leaders made him optimistic of a more successful outcome this time, adding that freer trade could boost family incomes in Britain by £200 a year. Benefits to developing countries, he said, would be even greater.