World Trade Organisation head Pascal Lamy insisted late Tuesday that negotiations were "moving ... maybe not at the sort of speed that we would like to see, but it is moving."

"We have negotiations that are beginning to give us pre-commitments. What remains to be done is to work as studiously and as hard as possible on the drafts that have been put on the table."

Indian Trade Minister Kamal Nath said talks were "moving forward from a standstill" in what he called "a good sign."

"The US signals have been positive. We're waiting for them to be turned into numbers."

Talks aimed at reduucing global trade barriers worldwide were launched in the Qatari capital Doha in 2001 but have foundered ever since, principally on trade in agricultural products.

Rich traders, the United States and the European Union in particular, are under pressure to slash trade-distorting farm subsidies and to lower customs duties on agricultural goods from the developing world.

Emerging market powers such as India, China and Brazil, have for their part been pressed to make their markets more accessible to industrial goods and services from developed nations.

Lamy said the time had come for the major players "to go the extra mile -- the United States on subsidies, the European Union, India and Brazil in tariffs China in services for instance."

Ministers from 30 WTO members will later Wednesday meet here on the sidelines of an OECD ministerial conference, attended notably by European Union Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, US Trade Representative Susan Schwab, Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim and Nath of India.

The Paris gathering is to be followed on Thursday and Friday in Brussels by a further meeting of the Group of Four -- the European Union, the United States, Brazil and India.

But prospects for agreement appeared remote. A detailed proposal on agricultural trade by WTO chief farm negotiator Crawford Falconer, committing the parties to specific numerical targets, has received a lukewarm response.

The proposals, said one EU source, "didn't help matters very much."

"No one is happy, not the Europeans, not the Americans."

EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel said earlier this week she was not expecting a breakthrough in Brussels.

Negotiators are under pressure from a key date, June 30, when US President George W. Bush's "fast track" trade authority expires. Under current legislation, the US Congress is entitled to approve or reject trade deals signed by the administration but cannot amend them.