Senior trade ministers and officials from Australia, Brazil, the European Union, India and the United States are scheduled to meet in London on November 7 before regrouping the following day at the Geneva headquarters of the World Trade Organisation, European trade diplomats told AFP.

The 148 governments in the WTO are struggling to prepare for a December conference in Hong Kong, where they hope to approve the broad outlines of a multilateral accord cutting customs duties, subsidies and other barriers to commerce.

The WTO aims to start drafting documents for the Hong Kong meeting by mid-November.

Although all members must approve the deal, an agreement between the five trading powers is seen as crucial because they epitomise many of the diverging interests at the WTO.

EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, US Trade Representative Rob Portman, Australian Minister for Trade Mark Vaile, Brazil's Foreign Minister, Celso Amorim, and India's Commerce Minister, Kamal Nath, are due take part in the London meeting, diplomats said.

The EU is currently under fire from the other four, who claim Brussels has failed to offer deep enough cuts in import duties on farm produce.

But the 25-nation EU has also faced internal splits. France, which regards agriculture as a matter of vital national interest, has vowed to oppose any deal worked out by the EU executive commission that goes too far.

The EU is pressing other members in turn, saying they need to offer more on trade in industrial goods and in services, such as banking.

WTO members launched their Doha Round of trade talks in the Qatari capital in 2001. But progress has been slim since then, notably because of splits over the farm trade.