G8 plus G5 agree to conclude Doha in 2010: draft

(Reuters) - G8 leaders plus Brazil, India, China, Mexico and South Africa will agree at a summit on Thursday to

conclude the Doha round of world trade talks successfully in 2010, according to a draft communique seen by Reuters.

"Leaders commit to reaching an ambitious and balanced conclusion to the Doha round in 2010, consistent with its mandate, building on progress already made on modalities," the draft prepared for Thursday's meeting of the so-called "G8 plus G5" said.

The Doha talks have been effectively on ice since a meeting of ministers last July failed to clinch an outline agreement, although Lamy said it had completed 80 percent of a deal.

A separate draft statement to be issued by the Group of Eight industrialized nations -- the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and Canada -- on Wednesday will commit to concluding the talks as soon as possible.

But it stops short of setting a date for reaching a deal to boost dwindling trade suffering from the worst economic slump since World War Two.

"This is merely technical. The G8 statement will feed into the G8 plus G5 statement the next day," a G8 source involved in preparing the summit in the Italian town of L'Aquila told Reuters.

"The G8 alone cannot achieve Doha, they need the agreement of the G5 to have any realistic chance of success and this is why the second day's statement is so important."

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