A group of seven key WTO members made some progress in overnight negotiations on a new global trade deal, sources said on Thursday.
The marathon meeting, which started Wednesday afternoon and lasted till early Thursday, focused on the major topics of the so-called Doha Round negotiations, including farm subsidies and agricultural and industrial tariffs.
Those topics have been the major hurdles of the talks since they were launched in 2001.
Some progress has been made on part of the topics, according to sources close to the overnight negotiations, which was chaired by WTO chief Pascal Lamy and participated by trade ministers from the United States, the European Union, Japan, Australia, Brazil, India and China.
Intensive negotiations will continue on Thursday.
(Xinhua News Agency July 24, 2008)
