WTO's Lamy - Doha still "doable" but no meeting set

By Gordon Bell

PRETORIA (Reuters) - A Doha trade deal can be done but ministers will only be called to a meeting to discuss a text if the moment is right, the head of the World Trade Organisation said on Saturday.

A six-year push for a global trade deal hangs in the balance with rich and poor countries still unable to reach agreement on how markets access should be restructured.

"I have never said the deal is done or it will be done. What I said is my own view, for what it is worth, is that a deal is doable," WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy told Reuters in Pretoria after meeting South African President Thabo Mbeki.

For agricultural markets, he said, negotiators were working on technical matters to get the final numbers within already agreed ranges, but on industrial tariffs, more precision on the formula to cut barriers was required.

Lamy said he hoped the parties would become closer to agreement so a ministerial meeting could be called.

"We are not there as of today, but we may get there in the coming weeks. Again, it is doable. I am not saying I am sure it will be done, but I believe that a number of technical issues can be closed," he said.

"If I convene a small ministerial meeting, it is obviously with the notion that the moment is right. It is a question of judgment."

The WTO was expected to summon top trade officials to Geneva in late March or early April as it strives for a breakthrough in the negotiations.