His comments came a day before some 30 trade ministers were to convene here in yet another bid to preserve the Doha negotiations aimed at reducing global trade barriers.

"It is time for all WTO members to move the talks forward. All parties should be ready to give according to their capacity, so that we can meet the needs of the most vulnerable," Mandelson said in a statement.

In a column in the Financial Times newspaper, Mandelson acknowledged the "growing scepticism about the outlook for further liberalising international trade."

"I understand the anxiety but I think the pessimism in misplaced. There is still time -- just -- to deliver on the original development-through-trade agenda envisaged in the World Trade Organisation's Doha round of talks before negotiating fatigue takes over."

The Doha talks were launched at a WTO ministerial meeting in the Qatari capital in November 2001. But they have been dogged ever since by disputes between rich and poor countries over such questions as agricultural export subsidies and tariffs on industrial goods.

The goal now is to reach "a rough approximation" by July, according to Mandelson, of what a final agreement would look like before the next WTO ministerial meeting in Hong Kong in December.

EU agriculture commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel also stressed the urgency of progress in talks ahead of the looming deadlines.

"We must make progress soon if we are to have a draft agreement on paper by this summer. This is vital if we are to reach an all-embracing deal in Hong Kong in December," she said in a statement.

A day after holding his first official talks here with his newly confirmed US counterpart, Trade Representative Rob Portman, Mandelson wrote in the FT: "I am looking to fellow ministers this week for political engagement".