Hopes rose yesterday for a last-ditch deal on global trade talks after the world’s leading negotiators said that an outline settlement could be agreed at a ministerial meeting this Easter.

Fuelled by an urgency to avoid yet more bad news for the world economy, trade envoys talked up their drive to limit protectionism. Negotiations began in Qatar in 2001 and have been on life-support since 2004, when they were intended to conclude.

A fresh negotiating text on agriculture, one of the key stumbling blocks, is expected to be issued by the World Trade Organisation in Geneva this week, followed by similar new proposals on industry, services and antidumping rules.

Peter Mandelson, the European Trade Commissioner, said: “We have agreed that, if the round is going to be done successfully, it needs to be done this year. It needs to be done on President Bush’s watch. But if we are going to do a deal in that timescale, that points to a necessary breakthrough, which only ministers can do, at Easter or thereabouts.”

The Easter target was vital not only because of the need to steady nerves in financial markets but also because broad agreement would have to be followed by up to eight months of technical work on a final text. With American jobs becoming a key issue in the US elections, there are concerns that the next US administration will not be as well-disposed to signing up.

Susan Schwab, the US trade envoy, said that Mr Bush was committed to signing a deal before he left office, blaming other countries for holding back. “Hopefully they will become more enthusiastic when they see the tremendous potential for a vote of confidence in the global economy that a successful global round would bring, and the very real dangers and lost opportunity that a failed Doha round would mean for the global economy,” she said.

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