Doha ministerial talks may happen in May - Lamy

By Barry Malone

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ministers might not meet until May to hammer out a Doha trade deal, the head of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) said on Thursday.

"I would be surprised if I needed the ministers in town before the end of April," Pascal Lamy told Reuters. "But I wouldn't be surprised if the meeting happened by the end of May."

Lamy, speaking on the sidelines of a conference of African Union trade and finance ministers in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, said negotiations in Geneva were moving "day to day, night to night".

The WTO had been expected to summon ministers to Geneva in late March or early April to reach an outline deal as it tries to conclude negotiations that have stalled since 2001.

But detailed talks on technical agricultural issues such as how to shield politically sensitive farm products from the full force of tariff cuts are taking longer than expected.

Lamy added that a deal was still possible before the end of the year.

"The deal is still do-able," he said.

Earlier the European Union's top trade negotiator Peter Mandelson said he hoped trading nations could reach broad agreement on a trade deal over the next month and a detailed accord in the following six to eight months.