World Trade Organization (WTO) chief Pascal Lamy formally recommended on Monday the suspension of the Doha Round of global free trade talks, after a meeting of six key trading powers collapsed due to differences over farming and manufactured goods.

"Faced with this persistent impasse, I believe the only course of action I can recommend is to suspend the negotiations across the Round as a whole," Lamy told an informal conference of the Trade Negotiations Committee, which comprises all the 149 WTO members.

That means all work in all negotiating groups should now be suspended, and the same applies to the deadlines that various groups were facing, he later told reporters at a press conference.

The WTO chief said that negotiators clearly need serious reflection. "Time-out to review the situation, examine available options and review positions."

He did not suggest any date at which the talks might resume. Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath told reporters that it "could take anywhere from months to years" to restart the negotiations.

Some analysts indicated that the suspension could last at least for a few years. Others said, with this suspension, the Doha Round risks a complete death.

Lamy said ministers of the so-called G-6, namely the United States, the EU, Japan, Australia, Brazil and India, held lengthy and detailed negotiations on Sunday and Monday, but "the gaps remain too wide."

He said the main blockage was on agriculture, with the United States and the EU trading accusations of inflexibility on the key stumbling block of farm subsidies.

Top officials from the EU, Brazil and India lined up to accuse the U.S. of not cutting deeper handouts to U.S. farmers, while Washington insisted that developing countries had to offer much more on industrial access.

Because the gaps in agriculture were so wide that the issue on industrial market access, which mainly involve major developing nations such as Brazil and India, was even not discussed during the two-day meeting.

"It is now clear that it will not be possible to finish the Round by the end of the year, as mandated by the WTO ministerial meeting in Hong Kong last December," Lamy said.

He said there was no "winners and losers" in such a situation, (and) actually all WTO members were losers.

He indicated that the economic impact of the current failure would not be felt immediately. But the targets of eliminating

trade-distorting subsidies and realizing tariff-free and quota-free market access for least developed countries would obviously be affected.

"Failure, in my view, would also send out a strong negative signal for the future of the world economy and the danger of a resurgence of protectionism at a time when the pace of globalization is weighing heavily on the social and economic fabric of many countries and when geopolitical instability is on the rise," he said.

Canada expressed disappointment Monday at the suspended WTO talks.

"This is very disappointing for Canada and for all developed and developing countries, given the significant economic benefits that could have been achieved through an ambitious outcome to these negotiations," Canada's International Trade Minister David Emerson said in a statement.

"Although this is a serious setback, Canada remains committed to pursuing opportunities and seeking a fairer international trade environment for our agricultural producers and processors," Canada's Agricultural Minister Chuck Strahl said in a statement.

U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab said that even though the Doha talks are now on life support, U.S. officials would continue their own contacts "to see if there's a way of salvaging the round going forward. "

But Schwab insisted that aside from Australia, none of the other players have come up with enhanced offers to open their markets to foreign goods.

"The United States cannot be in a position of negotiating with ourselves," she said, calling the U.S. offer to reduce its domestic farm payments by an average of 60 percent "the most ambitious out there, full stop."

Lamy promised that he would continue to defend the integrity of the WTO system and to continue to assist WTO members in reaching agreement.

Source: Xinhua