The unity seen in Cancun is proving hard to maintain

Brazil's ambassador to the WTO said he was keen to reach a deal on reforming world farm trade.

And he dismissed suggestions by some rich trading powers that the so-called G22 grouping, headed by Brazil, China and India, was an obstacle to progress.

"It is a misrepresentation to say that it (the group) is an obstacle.

"It was formed precisely to help push the negotiations forward," ambassador Luiz Felipe Seixas Correa told Reuters.

Common stance

Mr Correa added: "Call a meeting, and in 15 minutes we will be there, negotiating on agriculture."

G22 foreign and trade ministers, along with their counterparts from China, South Africa and Egypt, are meeting in Buenos Aries.

The group is trying to hammer out a common stance to oppose the high agricultural subsidies paid to European and American farmers.

The Cancun failure was sparked by the WTO's failure to address the issue, and one of the countries that led the uprising was Brazil.

Crusader

But this assesment was vigorously rejected by Luiz Felipe Seixas Correa.

"As I see it, Cancun was not a failure or a collapse.

WINNERS AND LOSERS Who gained and lost from the trade talks' failure

It was a meeting that did not finish. We never put farm negotiations to the test, we never put negotiations on industrial goods to the test," he said.

A wave of national pride swept Brazil in the wake of the Cancun revolt.

Commentators observed that for the first time developing countries had stood up to their richer neighbours, and Brazil's government had helped lead this historic revolt.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was more than happy to be cast as a crusader.

At the time, he boasted that at Cancun, Brazil had called the bluff of wealthier nations.

And he described the subsidies paid to American and European farmers as a form of social apartheid which discriminated against farmers in developing countries.

Fresh concerns

But harsh criticism of the country following the Cancun talks has raised fears that the trade talks will be remembered for a historic but short-lived revolt.

Ahead of the Buenos Aires meeting, there was a mixture of optimism and concern there as to what may happen next.

In the last few weeks, it has emerged that the United States blames Brazil for the collapse of the trade talks.

In newspaper articles and interviews, senior US officials have accused Brasilia of indulging in the politics of confrontation.

It has also become clear that maintaining the unity of this group of developing nations will not be easy.

The United States is tempting many Latin American countries with the promise of bilateral trade deals.

And although most governments in the region are critical of US farm subsidies, it is not clear how many of them have the stomach for a prolonged fight with Washington.