The World Trade Organisation members on Monday missed the deadline for relaunching the stalled Doha round of trade talks, but officials said most were confident they would do better in the New Year.
Delegations from many of the 146 member states also maintained the current target date -- end of 2004 -- to wrap up the round, although privately most trade diplomats said it was already far out of reach.
India stuck to its demand for dropping three of the four Singapore issues, which include trade facilitation, investment, competition policy and transparency in government procurement, from the agenda.
On agriculture, India said any movement on the issue would depend on the "depth of agriculture reform" proposed to be carried out by the developed nations along with adequate safeguards to address livelihood and food security concerns of billions of farmers in the developing world.
"There has been a good atmosphere and constructive debate, but we have not been able to go the extra step and find the common ground that is needed. We need political will for that," Carlos Perez del Castillo, current chairman of the talks, told a news conference.
WTO Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi said he had seen "flexibility from all sides".
Senior officials from capitals had been due to attend to try to repair damage done when the round was all but derailed by the collapse of ministerial talks in Cancun in September.
However, mediators had ruled out any quick resumption of the negotiations, as ministers had initially wanted, so the senior officials stayed at home and the meeting was largely aimed at confirming the will to push on early in 2004.
"Our collective aim for today, as instructed by ministers at Cancun, was to arrive at a point where the negotiations can resume full momentum," Supachai told trade envoys during the session.
"We are not yet at this point but we should not be disheartened," he added.
Perez del Castillo told reporters that the meeting saw "reconfirmation that the member countries wanted to end the round in 2004". Supachai said he also had seen evidence of this.
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