The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is on the verge of an agreement to get stalled global trade talks back on track after key members struck a hard-won deal on the pivotal issue of agriculture.
Following an all-night negotiating marathon, key countries agreed on a package of proposals for future reform of global farm trade, including an elimination of export subsidides, caps in rich nations' support for their farmers, and tariff cuts.
"Agriculture is not a real stumbling block anymore, the feeling is that it's done even if there are some loose ends," said Mr Gregor Kreuzhuber, a spokesman for EU Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler.
Agreement on the sensitive issue of agriculture would open the way for freer trade in other goods as well - the next item on the WTO's agenda - which could help boost global growth and potentially lift millions out of poverty.
Mr Fischler himself said the EU could "broadly accept" the farm deal. "I think we can live with the package as it is," he told reporters at the WTO's headquarters.
A delegate from Mauritius, which has taken a leading part in the WTO talks on behalf of African nations, said it could also live with the proposals worked out overnight.
Any deal would have to signed off by the full 147-member body of the WTO.
Success in Geneva would restore momentum to the Doha Round of talks, which have languished for months but hold out the promise of a multi-billion dollar boost to the world economy.
Failure would mean a virtual rerun of the collapse of world trade talks in Cancun, Mexico last year, with the risk that further trade liberalisation would be delayed for years.