Brussels, 13/04/2007 (Agence Europe) - Although no significant breakthrough in negotiations on liberalising world trade was recorded at their meeting in New Delhi on 11-12 April, the four big WTO players agreed, nonetheless, to increase their efforts to conclude the Doha Round towards the end of this year. US, Indian and Brazilian ministers and EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, joined by their counterparts from Australia and Japan, said after the meeting on Thursday that they believed that “by intensifying our work, we can reach convergence and thus contribute to concluding the round by the end of 2007”. In a letter, dated 13 April, to WTO Secretary General Pascal Lamy, the members of the G4 (EU, US, India and Brazil) said they were “conscious of our responsibility to facilitate consensus among the wider WTO membership, and we will work with a view to contributing to the decision-making process of the negotiating groups in Geneva in a timely manner”. To this end, “we have agreed to hold a series of Senior Officials and Ministerial meetings in the weeks ahead. We have also instructed the Senior Officials to expedite their work and to meet as often as required to achieve the above goals” and so conclude the Round within the timescale. In their letter, the G4 also said they had “agreed to meet in mid-May to assess the progress made and to give further direction to the Senior Officials on the negotiations”. If work was not stepped up, the chances of concluding the Doha Round by the end of the year were non-existent, was, in effect, what Mr Mandelson said, indicating that the New Delhi meeting had resulted in a “course correction”. (ol)