Long-running talks to open up world trade face a crucial few weeks, but a deal can be done by the end of the year if major trading powers really want it, a top US trade official said on Saturday.

US Trade Representative Susan Schwab told Reuters the United States was among several key players which were pushing for a deal, but she feared that some countries were still looking for excuses to stall.
The Doha round of talks, launched in late 2001, have been deadlocked for years over differences among rich and poor countries over cutting farm and industrial tariffs and subsidies.

But Ms Schwab said negotiators had succeeded in narrowing many of the gaps in the complex technical issues underlying world trade in the past eight months. “It’s doable. The next couple of weeks and months will be decisive in terms of whether we're able to pull it off or not,” Ms Schwab said in an interview. Trade ministers from several countries have held bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos this week.

They are due to gather for a lunch on Saturday with World Trade Organisation (WTO) Chief Pascal Lamy at which they will discuss the chances of getting a breakthrough in the Doha round.

“The talks here in Davos this week could prove significant in terms of regaining momentum. There is a sense of urgency about what is going on in the world economy. We’re going to be quietly optimistic,” she said. Ms Schwab said she was concerned that talks on opening up trade in services, from banking to express delivery of packages, was lagging other sectors.