WTO director general Pascal Lamy said he would send a "strong message" to the leaders of the G8 nations not to let a deal "slip through our fingers" when he addresses the "extended meeting" at the Baltic resort of Heiligendamm on Thursday.

"My intention is to send them a strong message that we need their active support to achieve the successful and balanced outcome everyone is seeking," Lamy told the 150 member states of the WTO at a meeting in Geneva.

Lamy also attended last year's G8 meeting in Saint Petersburg, when leaders declared that "urgent progress" was needed in global trade talks. But just two weeks later back in Geneva, Lamy was obliged to suspend talks in the absence of any breakthrough.

On Wednesday, Lamy warned that the future of the whole multilateral trading system was at stake if no deal were reached on the WTO's Doha Round of trade talks.

These talks are currently mired in an impasse over disputes on tariffs and subsidies, notably for agriculture.

The G8 leaders and counterparts from developing economies, who will also attend the meeting, "should look at the big picture, which is the fate of the multilateral trading system," Lamy said.

The Doha round "represents a very significant package of trade opening and rule-making, and a strong commitment to work for a more development-friendly world trading system."

The WTO restarted technical negotiations in April, and Lamy said these talks have "really taken off," but stressed that little time remains to resolve differences and secure a deal.

"Time is really not on our side now, and we must make every day count," he warned.

He added that he may seek to bring trade ministers to Geneva to try to hammer out a deal.

The WTO hosts a general council for all member states on July 25-26, during which time ministers may meet to discuss headline figures, sources close to the world trade body said.

The four key players in the WTO -- the European Union, the United States, Brazil and India -- are expected to hold talks in Germany in the middle of June, although Lamy will not attend the meeting himself, trade sources said.

Last week, Brazilian Foreign Minister and chief trade negotiator Celso Amorim said he would meet three other G4 counterparts -- EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, US Trade Representative Susan Schwab, and Indian Commerce Minister Kamal Nath -- in a European city over June 19-22 for a "decisive" meeting.