"We would like to see the (Doha) round completed as soon as possible, but for that everybody will have to be there," European Union Trade Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said. Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim told reporters: "We cannot expect more than that because of course one of the main partners is not represented at a ministerial level.
"We have come to a point when it is the question of political will," he said on arrival for the meeting. Leaders of the G20 grouping of major economies, including US President Barack Obama, agreed in Pittsburgh last September on the goal of wrapping up the Doha round of World Trade Organisation negotiations in 2010.
But there has been scant progress since then and many participants say domestic politics and the impact of the financial crisis and high unemployment in the United States and Europe have made chances of an early trade deal more remote. "All the indications are that it's an incredibly controversial matter in the US Congress and I don't think they have yet defined a sustainable approach to conclude the round," South African Trade Minister Rob Davies told Reuters on Friday.
Davies cited mid-term US congressional elections and Brazil's presidential poll as among the political obstacles. The long-running 153-nation talks collapsed in 2008 over a dispute between the United States, India and China on protection for farmers in developing countries. Other unresolved issues include cotton subsidies, trade in services and in environmental goods and services.