Sunday, March 12 2006 10:42 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

London: Six World Trade Organisation (WTO) powers, including India, which are meeting in London have failed to clinch a breakthrough on trade liberalisation, despite achieving some progress, trade ministers said.

European Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said last evening, "There was no major breakthrough today but we made progress in a number of areas."

Mandelson and his counterparts from India, Australia, Brazil, Japan and the United States were wrapping up two days of talks in the British capital.

India was represented by Commerce Minister Kamal Nath.

"We had a good meeting so far, testing both the possibilities and the limitations of these negotiations," Mandelson told a press conference, describing the meeting as 'constructive'.

The six WTO heavyweights want to find a way to break a deadlock over the stalled Doha round of trade negotiations.

An initiative by the United States and Canada, which provides a numerical simulation of the effect tariff cuts would have on imports and exports in 10 main WTO members was explored for the first time at the meeting.

"We've had a very helpful discussion because we had numbers," said US Trade Representative Rob Portman, referring to the initiative.