The deal clears the road for further talks, Mr Mandelson said

Ministers from 30 WTO members gave broad backing to the tariff structure proposed by the European Commission.

It allows tariffs to be converted into a percentage of a goods' price rather than a flat rate of euros per tonne.

The talks, taking place in Paris, aim to push forward the talks in time to reach an agreement by 2006.

Hurdle cleared

"Our proposal has now been accepted by the countries, which have the greatest stake in the agricultural negotiation," EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson said.

"The road is now clear for rapid and substantial progress of the DDA (Doha development agenda) across the board, including manufactured goods and services."

Doha ... will boost jobs and prosperity and can help lift literally millions out of poverty if we do the right thing Robert Portman, US trade representative Q&A: World trade in crisis

The US, EU, Australia, Brazil and India agreed on the deal, which was accepted by a larger group of nations including Japan.

However, the 148 WTO member countries must vote on whether they formally accept the compromise when they meet at the organisations Geneva HQ later in the year.

Unfinished business

EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel hailed the agreement as the first step toward a comprehensive deal on farm goods trade. "We're not finished yet but I think we've given an important push to the negotiations," she said.

Agricultural trade and farming subsidies have long been a sticking point of the talks, with individual countries and groups of nations not always keen to give up the benefits they receive from them.

For example, at the same talks last year France attacked the then EU trade minister Pascal Lamy, accusing him of giving away too much.

And while countries may be keen to cling onto any benefits current restrictions allow them, the World Bank says that lowering trade barriers, particularly between developing nations, could boost global incomes by $500bn a year.

Step forward

"Doha ... will boost jobs and prosperity and can help lift literally millions out of poverty if we do the right thing," Robert Portman, the new US trade representative said.

"Agriculture is the engine to push these negotiations forward, and as I see it that engine needs a jump start."

The current talks are intended to lay the foundations for agreement on an outline deal by July, ahead of a full-scale WTO summit in December in Hong Kong.

The WTO had hoped to complete the Doha talks - intended to focus on the needs of developing countries - by the end of 2004.