A six-year push for a global trade deal faces a high risk of failure, EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said.

"Let me say emphatically on Europe's behalf, we will work all hours to achieve a fair and balanced outcome," Mandelson said in a speech to trade ministers from some of the world's poorest countries meeting in Lesotho.

"But I now fear that Doha is facing a high risk of failure - the first failure ever for a multilateral trade round." The World Trade Organisation is expected to call a meeting of top trade officials in March or April to press for a breakthrough in its Doha round of negotiations, which risks running out of time ahead of the U.S. presidential elections.

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