Overnight WTO talks among most difficult negotiations: Mandelson

(GENEVA) - The EU's trade commissioner said on Thursday that overnight trade talks between seven main players of the WTO counted among the "most difficult and confrontational negotiation" of his term.

In a blog, Peter Mandelson, commissioner for the last four years, described the 12 hours of negotiation between the EU, United States, Australia, China, India, Brazil and Japan as "tense."

"We are finally addressing the crunch issues. Everybody knows it, and the atmosphere in the Green Room is tense," he wrote in reference to a room where ministerial meetings are held.

Ministers from about 35 nations are meeting in Geneva in a bid to break the impasse in stalled global trade talks.

But WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy convened a smaller group meeting on Wednesday in the hopes to speed up progress, which has been little to date.

Describing the meeting, Mandelson wrote: "Almost twelve hours of intense negotiation follow -- some of the most difficult and confrontational negotiation of my time as European Trade Commissioner."

He also attacked Indian Trade Minister Kamal Nath over his criticism of an anti-concentration clause which developed nations want included in a final global accord, saying that Nath was "playing to the gallery".

The clause would prevent countries from exempting certain sensitive sectors from tariff cuts.

But countries such as India which have significant interests concentrated in particular sectors, for example automotive components and textiles, are against the inclusion of such a clause.