World Trade Organisation Director-General Pascal Lamy says the member countries do not want the Doha Round of talks abandoned after their collapse in Geneva last month, as "too much has been achieved now to simply leave it aside".

Speaking in India yesterday, Mr Lamy said the WTO had "never been so close to an agreement" as it was last month.

"This is not rhetoric," Mr Lamy said.

"This is the truth of where we stand: what Ministers and senior officials managed to achieve in the week they spent in Geneva late July is absolutely remarkable.

"The political reality, nonetheless, is that we must wrap up a few remaining issues, and build consensus amongst all members, before we can start the scheduling process, which would lead to the conclusion of the Round."

Among these few remaining issues, Mr Lamy said the most difficult one is the question of the agricultural special safeguard mechanism for developing countries.

One view is that developing countries need to have a safety net against import surges of agricultural products, in order to be able to protect their farming systems, and that this safeguard should be easy to use.

But the opposing view on the matter is that the safeguard should be subject to certain conditions and limitations, in order to ensure that that it does not hamper normal trade flows and that it should not be abused.