United Nations: Describing as a "positive development" the determination shown by developing countries at the Cancun ministerial, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has appealed to all parties to make determined efforts to reach an agreement within 2004.

Expressing "regret" over failure of the trade talks, Annan, however, commended the determination of the developing countries to act in concert to defend their interests, notably on the issue of agricultural protection and subsidies.

"This development holds great hope for the future," Annan said in a statement on September 16.

"I must admit, I knew it was going to be a difficult session," Annan said of the five-day meeting of trade ministers of the 146-nation World Trade Organisation (WTO), which ended on September 14 in Cancun, Mexico, deadlocked over issues ranging from agricultural subsidies by rich countries to investment policies in poor countries.

But Annan said he had expected that the talks would achieve much more than they did. "I had hoped all along that we would try to retain some of the spirit of Doha and really try and come up with an agreement that would be beneficial to developing countries as they try to improve their own situation," he said.

However, he expressed the hope that it is not the end of the road and that the parties would go back and reflect and then "come back in a determined fashion to try and fashion an agreement within the next year or so".

PTI