British Prime Minister Tony Blair told President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in a telephone call on Friday that he is counting on Brazil's help to "save" the Doha round of the World Trade Organization (WTO) talks.

According to the Brazilian president's spokesman Marcelo Baumbach, Blair stressed in the 20-minute call that the next 48 hours will be decisive for the negotiations and reinforced the offers presented by the United States. and the European Union at the meeting held in Potsdam, Germany, this week.

Blair also urged Brazil to reduce its maximum tariffs on industrial imports from 35 percent to 12.73 percent. Lula said that he will continue to favor a less drastic cut on the tariffs, from 35 percent to 16 percent.

Disagreement with offers from the U.S. and the EU led the representatives of the other two parties, Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim and India's Commerce Minister Kamal Nath, to abandon the G4 Summit, aimed at reaching an agreement on the Doha round talks, two days before its deadline.

Baumbach said that Lula insisted, in his conversation with Blair, that the lack of equilibrium between what the Round requests and what developed countries actually offered was the main reason for the failure of the talks in Potsdam.

The president took the opportunity to resume his proposal of a meeting relying on the participation of world leaders, so that political decisions were made in favor of the accomplishment of Doha.

President Lula argued that there is nothing left to be discussed regarding the technical aspects, and that, at the current stage of negotiations, only political will to move forward would lead to a final agreement.

"The key is now in the political dialogue and the improvement of offers from wealthier economies," said the spokesman.

Source: Xinhua