Hopes that G8 states have given stalled global free trade negotiations a shot in the arm will be put to the test at next weekend?s meeting of trade powers, said the US chief negotiator.

United States Trade Representative Susan Schwab said the July 23-24 gathering of the so-called Group of Six at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) would show whether the declared readiness of government leaders to be flexible had translated into new negotiating positions. ?We should see the impact of the G8 leaders? commitment by this weekend,? she told journalists after the six ? the United States, the European Union, Japan, Australia, Brazil and India ? held a brief session at the WTO. They met hurriedly after the G8 ? the world?s top seven industrial powers plus Russia ? gave negotiators a further month to reach a trade deal at their annual meeting held in St Peterburg, also attended by some leading developing states.

On Monday the six states, which have taken the lead in the search for a deal because of the wide range of trading interests they represent, agreed to meet on successive weekends at the WTO?s Geneva headquarters in an attempt to forge an accord.

But Schwab said the first session should show whether there was any new willingness to bridge the long-standing differences in farm and industrial goods, the core areas of the WTO?s Doha trade round.

Without an understanding here, officials say that there is no chance a full trade treaty can be achieved by the end of the year, the widely accepted deadline.

The trade round, which also includes complex issues such as services, anti-dumping rules and help for poorer states, was launched in late 2001 to boost growth and lift millions out of poverty. It is already well behind schedule.

WTO chief Pascal Lamy, who was in St Petersburg, has been working the phones to try and fit together the so-called ?magic triangle? ? the trade-off over farm and industrial policy between rich and poor countries that could clinch a pact.

The United States must make deeper cuts to its farm subsidy programme, while the EU needs to lower farm tariff barriers and the richer developing countries to open up their markets for manufactured goods. But the tone of recent exchanges between the United States and the EU do not augur well for a deal.

A spokesman for EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson accused Washington of indulging in ?a running commentary of insults? against Brussels and other capitals.