New Delhi: The US yesterday said it is willing to move forward on multilateral trade negotiations but expects the European Union and India to show flexibility as well.

"We are ready to move... But we will not move alone. We look forward to a response from the EU and India," US Under Secretary for International Trade Franking Lavin said at a CII interactive session here.

Asked whether there was a possibility of resuming WTO talks, which have been suspended since July, he said it was "hard to be overly optimistic" about the Doha Round.

"(But) there is a window, which will last several months. We can get to the finish line," he said.

The most sensitive issue in negotiations was agriculture, he said, adding the US was prepared to cut farm subsidies.

Lavin said all countries had some distortions in their markets and it was important that every country showed some flexibility to move forward in WTO talks.

The Doha Round of talks were originally scheduled to be completed by December this year so as to finalise a global trade agreement covering all 149 WTO member countries. But, negotiations were suspended in July after the world's six key trading nations - the US, EU, India, Brazil, Japan and Australia - failed to arrive at an agreement over cutting farm subsidies and gaining market access.

However, indications have emerged in the past few days, especially after the US congressional elections, that talks could resume by the end of January next year. Commerce Secretary G K Pillai had last week said even a deal was a possibility by March 2007.