Trading nations made no progress in WTO talks which had been billed as a way to revive the stalled Doha Round negotiations on harnessing freer global commerce to boost growth in poor countries.

A crucial World Trade Organisation meeting has wound up without a deal, leaving members of the 149-nation body with a tough task ahead if they are to resolve bitter differences on trade concessions before a looming deadline.

"The gap is as wide as the Grand Canyon," warned Shoichi Nakagawa, the agriculture minister of Japan.

WTO chief Pascal Lamy said that even though the "panic" level was yet to come, negotiators must "face the fact that we are now in a crisis situation."

European Union Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson was similarly gloomy after three days of fruitless talks: "If we don't turn things around in the next two weeks, we will not make a breakthrough this summer and then we will be facing defeat."

The Doha Round has swung back and forth from near-collapse to revival since it was launched in the Qatari capital in 2001.

The round was originally meant to wrap up in 2004, but the deadline was pushed back to December 2006 and there is mounting pressure to stick to that revised goal.

The specific aim of the latest gathering was a deal on the mathematics for cutting farm subsidies and import duties on agricultural and manufactured goods, a crucial step towards a final trade treaty.

After failing to bridge the gaps, negotiators on Saturday mandated Lamy to act as a "catalyst" ahead of further talks at the end of this month.

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