Pascal Lamy, director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), yesterday urged members to narrow differences over agriculture, industrial tariffs and development before ministers hold trade talks in Hong Kong in a fortnight's time.

He told a meeting of WTO ambassadors, called to discuss the draft ministerial declaration presented at the weekend, that they should focus on the most difficult issues in the Doha round of global trade talks,where wide divergences remained.

Negotiations will continue over the coming days. Ministers from the Group of 90 poor countries are meeting in Brussels today, and a five-strong core group of ministers from the US, EU, Brazil, India and Japan will meet in Geneva at the end of the week. However, no major breakthroughs are expected. - (Financial Times service)