Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said after meeting counterparts and officials from other developing nations here that they were maintaining a united front.

"We all know that we are in a negotiating phase but we don't want to sacrifice basic positions just for a speedy result," he said.

Monday's encounter at the World Trade Organisation in Geneva involved about 100 representatives from the G20 group of developing and emerging nations in the WTO, as well as members of other developing nation groups.

The groups reiterated in a statement that "agriculture lies at the centre of the Doha Development Agreement," which launched the global trade negotiations in the Qatari capital in 2001.

The meeting of ministers from Brazil, the European Union, India and the United States in Potsdam, Germany next week is due to make another attempt to unlock the floundering five year-old WTO talks.

The four countries represent a range of poor and rich country interests at the WTO. An agreement among them on the concessions needed to reduce barriers to trade in agriculture, industrial goods and services is regarded as essential to draw in the rest of the 150 members.

Indian Trade Minister Kamal Nath, a key ally of Amorim's, underlined that the Doha Round was aimed primarily at using trade to help poor countries.

"We are united in our resolve to attain the goals of this development round," Nath told journalists.

"The content of this round is more important than the timeline. We believe that this is a historic opportunity to correct the structural flaws in agriculture trade," he added.

The Group of Eight industrialised nations called Friday for swift progress in the Doha round.

The 150 WTO members are hoping to conclude a deal by the end of the year, but they have set similar deadlines in the past and missed them.

Developing countries and wealthy nations are largely at loggerheads over the degree of state support for agricultural markets along with the level of protection against imports, primarily in the EU and the United States.

Rich nations are also looking for more concessions from developing nations on access to their markets for industrial goods or for services companies.

"In the process of negotiation, all of us make concessions, it's natural. We know that we have to do our part, everyone knows that," said Amorim.

But the developing countries underlined that they wanted more concessions from the United States.

Washington has offered to reduce domestic support for farmers to about 22 billion dollars a year, but the nations meeting here want that amount cut to around 12 billion dollars.

A group of countries led by Indonesia also want to maintain high import duties on some special products that are regarded as essential for the survival of subsistence farmers at home.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, meanwhile, warned shortly after he won election last month that France would veto negotiations at the WTO if French farming interests were threatened.

Technically France, which relies heavily on agricultural subsidies, is represented by the EU in the global trade watchdog.