Berlin - There is a "clear determination" to seek a deal in the Doha round of world trade talks by the end of this year, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday.

Merkel's remarks to Germany's lower house of parliament added momentum to a high-level push for a breakthrough in the negotiations, which aim to repeal subsidies and tariffs on traded agricultural and industrial goods, and barriers to cross-border services such as banking.

Heads of state from the Group of 20 leading economies and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum have singled out a Doha accord as a means to infuse confidence in the shaky world economy and help bolster exporters and importers.

Catherine Ashton, the European Union's trade chief, said on Tuesday that a ministerial meeting should occur at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in the next three weeks to pursue a core agreement in farming and manufacturing.

Diplomats and senior trade officials are seeking to clear the ground in Geneva this week for such a meeting by resolving tricky issues such as how certain sensitive farm products are treated under a Doha accord.

The chairpersons of those talks have signalled that advances have been slow so far, raising concerns that there may still be too many issues on the table for ministers to resolve.

Talks on Thursday about the workings of a special safeguard for subsistence farmers - an issue that caused deadlock in a July meeting of ministers at the WTO - are expected to give a pointer to how close negotiators are to a deal.

If that session and parallel talks on manufacturing trade go well, diplomats say a ministerial meeting on around December 12-19 could be called by WTO chief Pascal Lamy by Friday.