Doha progress next week tough but possible - Brazil

BRASILIA (Reuters) - A breakthrough in the Doha round of global trade talks next week will be difficult to achieve but is possible, Brazil's Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said on Thursday.

"We think it's possible to reach an accord. We know it's difficult. There's no magical formula," he told reporters in Brasilia.

U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab said earlier on Thursday that senior trade officials will meet in Geneva next week to explore options for reviving world trade talks two months after the negotiations collapsed.

The main reason for the July collapse was a sharp disagreement between the United States and India over the terms of a safeguard mechanism to allow developing countries to raise tariffs on agricultural imports in response to a surge.

Amorim said he had spoken to the Indian Commerce Minister Kamal Nath earlier on Thursday and would talk to World Trade Organization Director General Pascal Lamy later in the day about the Geneva meeting.

He said the conditions for talks were now better than when they collapsed because countries had been poorly prepared to tackle the safeguard issue in July and negotiators had been exhausted after days of non-stop talks.

Brazil has been a key player in the Doha round, trying to forge a common front among developing countries.