The Irish Independent reports that farmers have been warned everything will be on the table in the next EU review of its budget spending.

The Common Agriculture Policy, which will be at the centre of negotiations, faces a radical shake-up.

The clear signal from Commission President Jose Manuel Barosso, that nothing will be "taboo" comes amid growing domestic criticism of the weekend World Trade Organisation deal in Hong Kong.

Ireland should remain a net recipient of EU funds for an extra couple of years because of the new deal on the EU budget. The claim was made last night by Internal Market and Services Commissioner Charlie McCreevy.

Speaking in Dublin, Mr McCreevy said it had been calculated that, sometime between 2007 and 2009, Ireland would begin to pay more in EU contributions than it received in structural funds and farm payments.

The Irish Farmers Association warned that the impact of ending export refunds in 2013 will be dwarfed by price reductions for EU foodstuffs and increased imports set to be agreed at the WTO early next year.

The IFA warns that the total package of WTO reforms will add up to €800m in lost income for farmers, cutting output by a third, and threatening 50,000 jobs particularly in the beef and dairy sectors.

IFA President John Dillon said last night his organisation can't find a single gain from the deal.

Agriculture Minister Mary Coughlan criticised "exaggerated" reaction to the WTO deal as export refunds were lasting three years longer than intended.

The Irish Independent also reports that Russia's second-richest man, Vladimir Lisin, saw $213m flow through an Irish company he controlled in a single year.

The 49-year-old former welder used Irish metals trading firm Worslade Trading to generate the huge volume in turnover in 1998 during a particularly turbulent time for Russian business.

With costs of sales booked at $211m, the company booked a relatively tiny profit of $2m in Ireland.

During the mid-to-late 1990s, Worslade was used to secure Mr Lisin's grip on his iron and steel interests in Russia.

Last week, Mr Lisin raised $609m on the London Stock Exchange by selling just 7pc of his company, Novolipetsk Iron & Steel, which is reported to be the most profitable steelmaker in the world, earning first-half pre-tax profits of $1.13bn on sales of $2.38bn this year.

A note by the auditors of the Irish company, Edinburgh-based Turnbull & Co, for the year 1998 states: "Because of the possible effect of the limitation in evidence available to us, we are unable to form an opinion as to whether the financial statements give a true and fair view of the state of the company's affairs as at 31 December 1998 and of its profit for the period then ended."

The company, set up in late 1997, saw its turnover dramatically fall in 1999 to $22m. Turnover fell sharply again, to $600,000, in 2000 prior to the company being wound up in 2002. Worslade was ultimately controlled by Lincolnwood Holdings in the Bahamas, which lists as its directors Sark, in the Channel Islands, based John Trevor Greer Donnelly and 24-year old company administrator Tetanya Skakun with an address in Kiev in the Ukraine. The company lists a number of other directors during the five years it was active before being dissolved, including solicitor Alexandre Goldine of Goldine & Gous Nominee Services Ltd.

A keen sportsman, Mr Lisin had been a member of a tough group of ferrous metals traders known as the Trans-World Group which ruthlessly took control of the Russian export market.

By 2000 Mr Lisin had parted ways with the Trans-World Group but managed to hold onto a stake in the country's third-largest steel mill Novolipetsk which formed the basis for his vast fortune.

The Irish Times reports that the continuing losses at the Great Southern Hotel chain are to be examined by the group's local board, although a closure plan will not be implemented in the short term.

Last night the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) described the hotel's losses as "unsustainable" and said the group's local board needed to "urgently address" the issue. The DAA denied it was abdicating its responsibilities.

The DAA is the ultimate owner of the hotel chain, although the group has its own board of directors. Declan Collier, chief executive of the DAA, sits on both boards. The local board is effectively presented with two choices: a limited disposal plan or the full sale of all nine properties. If a partial sale plans goes ahead, the two properties most likely to be sold are the Galway Corrib and the Rosslare hotel.

Most observers believe some action will have to be taken as the chain will shortly run out of cash. Losses for 2005 are going to come to at least €3.5 million.

The board of the DAA met yesterday, but it is unclear how much time was devoted to the subject. It is understood the DAA has still not made a decision on whether it will provide further financial support. A spokesman said last night the proceedings of the board were confidential.

It is understood there was some discussion concerning potential overruns on the terminal at Cork airport, however.

The main contractor Rohcon is expected to present an updated estimate of its costs next year. This may increase the budget for the terminal significantly beyond the original €165 million.

However, Rohcon last night declined to comment on what it might ultimately submit. It said it did not comment on dealings with clients. Some additional expenditure on the roof of the terminal is expected. The chairman of the Cork Airport Authority, Joe Gantly, told The Irish Times last night he was not aware of overruns and the terminal would still open on schedule.

The other pressing issue is where Cork airport's debts will end up. The previous minister for transport, Séamus Brennan, favoured these being passed to Dublin airport, but the current Minister, Martin Cullen, has yet to decide on the issue. Dublin airport already has a significant debt profile and is believed to be reluctant to exacerbate this situation.

It is likely to spend €250 million on a new terminal and it is also facing a potential pension deficit over the next few years. Ratings agency Standards & Poor's is expected to review its credit rating. This could lead to its borrowings becoming more expensive.

The main call coming from food processors and producers yesterday was for new policies to prevent huge losses of jobs and exports.

The Irish Farmers' Association (IFA), which claims Ireland will lose €1.2 billion because of the deal and up to 50,000 jobs, called for the immediate establishment of a high-level working party to co-ordinate the handling of the vital technical negotiations with the WTO, which have to be completed by April, 2006.

However, the Irish Exporters' Association said that "gains will outweigh losses in long term".

"Overall, Ireland's export trade and general welfare will increase as a result of the further trade liberalisation stimulated by the Hong Kong agreement, with particularly strong gains for Ireland's services exporters," according to John Whelan, the association's chief executive.

The WTO talks and the emerging agreement must be taken together to determine the long-term impact on Ireland's welfare and Irish exports, he said.

The reductions in agricultural tariffs, domestic support and export subsidies must be balanced against reductions in manufacturing tariffs, barriers to service trade and improvements in trade facilitation, said Mr Whelan.

But IFA president John Dillon said: "Irish farmers have paid a heavy price. It is a case of all losses and not a single gain. One of the lowest-income sectors in Ireland has been forced to bear the full cost of the deal.

"The deal will destroy one-third of Irish farm output that will mean a loss of €1.2 billion to the country.

"Farm incomes will fall by 35 per cent, with a knock-on loss of €800 million to the rural economy."

Meat Industry Ireland (MII), which represents the €1 billion beef processing industry, expressed "deep concern" at the ending of export subsidies, but said the EU was already implementing these.

"In the last six months, the EU Commission has cut beef export refunds by almost 30 per cent, equivalent to approximately 30 cent/kg on the carcass. Unless there is some reversal of these cuts in the immediate future, Irish beef will remain uncompetitive on international markets," said Cormac Health of MII.

"Our ability to maintain important trade channels to markets in Russia and north Africa has already been compromised by recent refund cuts," he said.

"What is now vital is that Minister for Agriculture Mary Coughlan ensures that the commission operates the export refund regime in a manner that facilitates exports over the phase-out period. Beef export refunds must be set at a meaningful level," he said.

Denis Naughten, Fine Gael's spokesman on agriculture, said the agreement would put tens of thousands of Irish farmers out of business and would see substantial volumes of food imports coming into the EU from outside the union. Dr Mary Upton, Labour's agriculture spokeswoman, said the Government must develop and implement long-term policies which would ensure the survival of Ireland's rural and farming communities.

"What has now, in effect, been created, is a situation whereby 2013 has become a pivotal and transforming year for Irish agriculture. In that year, both the export subsidies and the current Common Agricultural Policy [ CAP] round will conclude," she said.

Martin Ferris, Sinn Féin's agriculture spokesman, said there was no evidence the WTO deal would boost the livelihoods of farmers in developing countries, but it would put EU and Irish farmers under pressure with the undermining of the CAP.

The Irish Examiner reports that Swedish telecoms operator Tele2 quit the Irish market yesterday when it offloaded its business here to The Carphone Warehouse group just a year after setting up.

The company, which had signed up just 36,000 residential phone customers in Ireland, sold its combined British and Irish operations for €12.6 million. It blamed the decision on unattractive conditions for new entrants in both markets.

“The decision to divest our UK and Ireland operations has not been taken lightly and is a result of thorough analysis of the market and our various options,” said Tele2 chief executive Lars-Johan Jarnheimer.

“The way the market for alternative operators in the UK and in Ireland looks today, we can get significantly better returns by reallocating its budget to other markets.”

The group’s British operations had also failed to set the market alight, recruiting just 188,000 customers over the last two years.

“As with every new country launch, Tele2’s aim in the UK and Ireland was to become one of the leading alternative operators by offering cheap and simple telecom services,” the company said.

The Financial Times reports that leading industrial nations reacted with resignation on Monday amid recriminations over the failure of the World Trade Organisation to hammer out a formula to reduce tariffs worldwide and establish rules to relax foreign investment limits during six days of talks in Hong Kong.

Max Baucus, ranking Democrat on the US Senate Finance Committee, said while the US had offered significant concessions on agriculture, these had not been met by the US’s trading partners. “Unless the dynamics of the Doha [trade] round change soon, members of Congress may find it difficult to continue offering their support,” he said.

German business leaders said they were “very disappointed” with the meeting’s results and criticised developing countries for not being willing to provide greater access to their markets.

The BDI federation of German industry said the European Union could not be blamed for the meagre results in Hong Kong. Rather, developing countries “showed no willingness to compromise regarding the reduction of tariffs on industry goods and the liberalisation of their service sectors.”

 In South Africa, Africa’s largest economy, commentators also expressed disappointment over the outcome. However, few were surprised, as expectations had generally been low before the talks began.

“The situation will remain that it would be better to be a cow in Japan being subsidised for $7 (€5.80, £4) per day, than a human being living in Africa,” said Cosatu, the trade unions federation and a governing partner of President Thabo Mbeki’s African National Congress.

The National Association of Manufacturers, the US industrial trade lobby group, said the WTO had delayed tough decisions but cleared out some of the “underbrush” that had diverted attention from the big trade issues. “Basically, the ministers just kicked the can down the road and pushed the tough decisions out to April 2006,” said John Engler, NAM president.

But he said the meeting had heightened pressure on the EU to move further in opening up access to its agricultural market.

Henri Brichart, president of France’s National Milk Producers Federation, said the Hong Kong deal was a blow for European agriculture, “even if the worst was avoided by delaying until 2013 the removal of subsidies for the export of certain agricultural products”.

Chuck Grassley, chairman of the US Senate Finance Committee, said the best hope for a successful Doha round lay in private negotiations among the most important trading nations in the next few months.

“The world was watching Hong Kong for progress, and some WTO members took advantage of that spotlight to divert the attention from the toughest issues more than negotiate...smaller sessions without so much media attention might grease the wheel for more progress,” he said.

The FT also reports that José Manuel Barroso, European Commission president, on Monday hinted that he would support an EU tax to overcome the bloc’s inter-minable budget negotiations.

Speaking only two days after the EU’s 25 member states struck a deal at 3am on Saturday on a €862bn ($1,040bn, £585bn) seven-year budget, Mr Barroso said the bloc could not continue to bargain in the same old fashion – a “zero sum game”.

At present the EU is financed by a combination of member countries’ import duties, VAT and direct contributions.

“We have to find a way of avoiding such a direct link between national budgets and the European budget,” he said. “We have to think about some reform of the resources of the EU...We should look at a system...that would go beyond negotiations between countries.”

He added that the Commission had a strong mandate for such an exercise, since last week’s summit had asked it to review the budget by 2008-09. “We are going to look at it without taboos,” he said.

At a meeting of EU Christian Democrat leaders just before the summit, Wolfgang Schüssel, Austrian chancellor, Edmund Stoiber, Bavaria’s chancellor, and Nicolas Sarkozy, leader of France’s centre-right UMP all supported the idea of an EU tax. Angela Merkel, Germany’s new chancellor, also expressed interest.

However, Britain, Ireland and several central European countries resolutely oppose any such scheme and have the power to veto it. Previous Commission presidential support for an EU tax has come to nothing.

Mr Barroso added that, after the budget deal, “we have every reason to look at 2006 with more optimism”. This year has been marked by discord, notably the rejection of the EU’s draft constitution by Dutch and French voters.

But at a separate briefing on the incoming Austrian and Finnish presidencies of the EU, which will occupy respectively the first and second halves of 2006, Ursula Plassnik, Austrian foreign minister, tried to play down expectations about the coming year. Ms Plassnik added that Austria – known for its reservations about Turkey’s possible membership of the EU – would be open during its presidency to beginning practical negotiations with both Turkey and Croatia. The two countries’ accession process began in October but until now they have only been “screened” for their readiness to begin talks.

The New York Times reports that the low point of the World Trade Organization conference here came on Saturday evening, as ministers were despairing of progress, while outside, protesters' steel pipes rained down on the shields of police officers and tear gas grenades spewed choking clouds.

But 30 hours later, Pascal Lamy, the W.T.O.'s director general, jubilantly handed John Tsang, the conference chairman, a ceremonial gavel. Mr. Tsang tapped the gavel once, closing the conference and approving the Hong Kong Declaration, calling for changes in trade barriers including subsidies for European farm exports and industrial nations' tariffs on imports from countries like Bangladesh and Zambia.

To be sure, the document papered over divisions on some of the most difficult issues in world trade, notably tariffs and quotas on such politically weighted products as apples, beef and rice.

While the agreement requires the elimination of agricultural export subsidies, mostly used by the European Union, it leaves untouched even larger domestic subsidies to farmers by the United States and the Europeans that can also distort trade.

Negotiators did not agree on how quickly industrial and farm tariffs should be cut, and they set rules for how to negotiate the opening of developing countries to service industries like banking without actually agreeing on any services.

But the declaration does require the elimination of industrial nations' tariffs and quotas on almost all exports from the world's poorest countries and does resolve disputes over cotton and other issues among developing countries that had led to the collapse of talks at the last W.T.O. conference two years ago in Cancún, Mexico.

The lengthy document produced here showed significantly more progress than anyone had expected when ministers from the 149 nations and customs territories in the W.T.O. convened here last Tuesday. It also allowed the ministers to avoid another collapse of talks.

What changed in the 30 hours over the weekend was the weaving of a series of deals - all night, in marathon talks.

The European Union, faced with blame for a collapse in negotiations, changed course and put forward a crucial proposal on agriculture.

India, a champion of the developing world since the days of Mohandas K. Gandhi and now a computer programming power as well, played an important intermediary role in persuading poor countries to accept portions of the agreement calling for freer trade in services like telecommunications and banking.

And Venezuela, forced to decide whether it would bring the negotiations to a dead halt over its objections to the provisions on services, backed down at the last moment and allowed the Hong Kong Declaration to be approved by consensus.

"Real progress was made," said a cheerful Susan Schwab, a deputy United States trade representative, on Sunday night as the ministers prepared to give final approval. Just a day earlier, Ms. Schwab was decidedly unhappy about the state of the conference. Talks with the European Union were going nowhere and acrimonious disputes were developing that pitted rich countries, especially the United States and the Europeans, against poor countries, many of them in the Southern Hemisphere.

"There are a range of points where this could go off the rails," Ms. Schwab said over lunch. "The obvious dynamic everyone is worried about is this turning into another Cancún, with a North-South dispute."

The most contentious issue was an effort by a group of developing countries to restrict negotiations on the opening of international competition in services. Beginning Thursday evening, a coalition led by South Africa, Kenya, Jamaica, Venezuela and Cuba had been demanding changes in a proposed text to make it easier for countries essentially to opt out of the talks on services and shield domestic industries like hospital management, insurance and education.

By Friday, those countries had persuaded the broadest caucus of poor countries here, known as the Group of 90, to endorse their threat to block a consensus on the entire agreement. W.T.O. rules require unanimity for any agreement like Sunday's declaration; it was the first time in the six ministerial conferences since the formation of the W.T.O. in 1995 that services had turned into an issue that could bring broader negotiations to a halt.

At the same time, the poor and the rich were struggling over the two issues that sank the Cancún talks: cotton and a broad category called trade facilitation that includes the likes of foreign aid and a streamlining of customs regulations.

Among the world's poorest nations are five in West and Central Africa that depend on cotton for two-thirds of their meager exports, and that blame American cotton subsidies for depressing global prices. Another deputy United States trade representative, Karan Bhatia, spent most of the week negotiating a complex plan for phasing out subsidies and providing American technical assistance to African farmers who have had much lower crop yields than farmers elsewhere.

In the trade facilitation talks, rich countries offered to eliminate tariffs and quotas on 90 percent to 95 percent of all categories of imports from the poorest nations and to increase foreign aid. But Zambia's trade minister, Dipak Patel, the leader of the W.T.O. caucus of least-developed nations, said in an interview on Friday that his group wanted a deadline for 100 percent coverage.

Even the cotton-growing nations, who stood to gain from all the programs being offered here, were adamant that no matter what the United States offered them on cotton, they would still side with other poor countries on many other issues.

Chad's trade minister, Odjimbaye Soukate Ngarmbatinan, remarked, "I don't think anyone should get the impression we would take what we can get and abandon our friends."

That stance underlined a vexing problem for American officials at these and other W.T.O. negotiations: their lack of influence in talks that require a consensus, yet can be derailed by a single country with a strongly held position. By contrast, the United States has much more influence in two-party pacts - like recent free trade agreements with Morocco and Bahrain - and regional accords like the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The United States trade representative, Rob Portman, and his senior aides had been warning in the weeks leading up to the Hong Kong conference that if these talks did not produce progress soon, the Bush administration might start putting more of its negotiating energy into the pursuit of such regional and two-party deals.

While the negotiators wrangled inside the hall, the situation in the streets was deteriorating. Demonstrators armed with steel bars and pieces of plywood outflanked lines of helmeted riot police officers with shields. They began fighting less protected officers in the street in front of the convention center, and tried to push over a police van that blocked their path.

The Hong Kong government said late Monday that 137 people had been injured in the fighting, including 67 police officers, and more than 1,000 people arrested, all but 14 of whom were released without charges on Sunday and Monday.

Inside the center, though, the negotiations were turning around, and Mr. Portman said in an interview on Saturday evening that he was beginning to see progress. The first big change was that after days of insistence by the European Union that it would not accept any deadline for phasing out farm export subsidies, European officials did just that.

In Brussels, European Union leaders had approved a new budget through 2013 on Saturday morning. Hours later, Peter Mandelson, the European trade commissioner, and Mariann Fischer Boel, the agriculture commissioner, gave a proposal to Mr. Portman and other negotiators that would set 2013 as the deadline as well for an end to subsidies.

While the United States, Brazil, Australia and other farm exporters had been pressing for 2010, they accepted the deal.

The services talks were beginning to shift as well, a result in part of energetic efforts by India, a nation with enormous influence in the developing world.

With weary delegates negotiating all night, Kamal Nath, India's minister of commerce and industry, spoke strongly in favor of the services agreement at 5 a.m. on Sunday.

"It was music for the ears of the E.U. and the U.S.," he said in an interview.

When the conference chairman, Mr. Tsang, asked all the ministers on Sunday night if anyone objected to the text of the declaration, leaders of the delegations from Venezuela and Cuba rose to say that they reserved the right to limit their countries' participation later in the talks on opening services. But neither official blocked the consensus.

Mr. Tsang tapped his new gavel and it was over.

The NYT reports that the low point of the World Trade Organization conference here came on Saturday evening, as ministers were despairing of progress, while outside, protesters' steel pipes rained down on the shields of police officers and tear gas grenades spewed choking clouds.

But 30 hours later, Pascal Lamy, the W.T.O.'s director general, jubilantly handed John Tsang, the conference chairman, a ceremonial gavel. Mr. Tsang tapped the gavel once, closing the conference and approving the Hong Kong Declaration, calling for changes in trade barriers including subsidies for European farm exports and industrial nations' tariffs on imports from countries like Bangladesh and Zambia.

To be sure, the document papered over divisions on some of the most difficult issues in world trade, notably tariffs and quotas on such politically weighted products as apples, beef and rice.

While the agreement requires the elimination of agricultural export subsidies, mostly used by the European Union, it leaves untouched even larger domestic subsidies to farmers by the United States and the Europeans that can also distort trade.

Negotiators did not agree on how quickly industrial and farm tariffs should be cut, and they set rules for how to negotiate the opening of developing countries to service industries like banking without actually agreeing on any services.

But the declaration does require the elimination of industrial nations' tariffs and quotas on almost all exports from the world's poorest countries and does resolve disputes over cotton and other issues among developing countries that had led to the collapse of talks at the last W.T.O. conference two years ago in Cancún, Mexico.

The lengthy document produced here showed significantly more progress than anyone had expected when ministers from the 149 nations and customs territories in the W.T.O. convened here last Tuesday. It also allowed the ministers to avoid another collapse of talks.

What changed in the 30 hours over the weekend was the weaving of a series of deals - all night, in marathon talks.

The European Union, faced with blame for a collapse in negotiations, changed course and put forward a crucial proposal on agriculture.

India, a champion of the developing world since the days of Mohandas K. Gandhi and now a computer programming power as well, played an important intermediary role in persuading poor countries to accept portions of the agreement calling for freer trade in services like telecommunications and banking.

And Venezuela, forced to decide whether it would bring the negotiations to a dead halt over its objections to the provisions on services, backed down at the last moment and allowed the Hong Kong Declaration to be approved by consensus.

"Real progress was made," said a cheerful Susan Schwab, a deputy United States trade representative, on Sunday night as the ministers prepared to give final approval. Just a day earlier, Ms. Schwab was decidedly unhappy about the state of the conference. Talks with the European Union were going nowhere and acrimonious disputes were developing that pitted rich countries, especially the United States and the Europeans, against poor countries, many of them in the Southern Hemisphere.

"There are a range of points where this could go off the rails," Ms. Schwab said over lunch. "The obvious dynamic everyone is worried about is this turning into another Cancún, with a North-South dispute."

The most contentious issue was an effort by a group of developing countries to restrict negotiations on the opening of international competition in services. Beginning Thursday evening, a coalition led by South Africa, Kenya, Jamaica, Venezuela and Cuba had been demanding changes in a proposed text to make it easier for countries essentially to opt out of the talks on services and shield domestic industries like hospital management, insurance and education.

By Friday, those countries had persuaded the broadest caucus of poor countries here, known as the Group of 90, to endorse their threat to block a consensus on the entire agreement. W.T.O. rules require unanimity for any agreement like Sunday's declaration; it was the first time in the six ministerial conferences since the formation of the W.T.O. in 1995 that services had turned into an issue that could bring broader negotiations to a halt.

At the same time, the poor and the rich were struggling over the two issues that sank the Cancún talks: cotton and a broad category called trade facilitation that includes the likes of foreign aid and a streamlining of customs regulations.

Among the world's poorest nations are five in West and Central Africa that depend on cotton for two-thirds of their meager exports, and that blame American cotton subsidies for depressing global prices. Another deputy United States trade representative, Karan Bhatia, spent most of the week negotiating a complex plan for phasing out subsidies and providing American technical assistance to African farmers who have had much lower crop yields than farmers elsewhere.

In the trade facilitation talks, rich countries offered to eliminate tariffs and quotas on 90 percent to 95 percent of all categories of imports from the poorest nations and to increase foreign aid. But Zambia's trade minister, Dipak Patel, the leader of the W.T.O. caucus of least-developed nations, said in an interview on Friday that his group wanted a deadline for 100 percent coverage.

Even the cotton-growing nations, who stood to gain from all the programs being offered here, were adamant that no matter what the United States offered them on cotton, they would still side with other poor countries on many other issues.

Chad's trade minister, Odjimbaye Soukate Ngarmbatinan, remarked, "I don't think anyone should get the impression we would take what we can get and abandon our friends."

That stance underlined a vexing problem for American officials at these and other W.T.O. negotiations: their lack of influence in talks that require a consensus, yet can be derailed by a single country with a strongly held position. By contrast, the United States has much more influence in two-party pacts - like recent free trade agreements with Morocco and Bahrain - and regional accords like the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The United States trade representative, Rob Portman, and his senior aides had been warning in the weeks leading up to the Hong Kong conference that if these talks did not produce progress soon, the Bush administration might start putting more of its negotiating energy into the pursuit of such regional and two-party deals.

While the negotiators wrangled inside the hall, the situation in the streets was deteriorating. Demonstrators armed with steel bars and pieces of plywood outflanked lines of helmeted riot police officers with shields. They began fighting less protected officers in the street in front of the convention center, and tried to push over a police van that blocked their path.

The Hong Kong government said late Monday that 137 people had been injured in the fighting, including 67 police officers, and more than 1,000 people arrested, all but 14 of whom were released without charges on Sunday and Monday.

Inside the center, though, the negotiations were turning around, and Mr. Portman said in an interview on Saturday evening that he was beginning to see progress. The first big change was that after days of insistence by the European Union that it would not accept any deadline for phasing out farm export subsidies, European officials did just that.

In Brussels, European Union leaders had approved a new budget through 2013 on Saturday morning. Hours later, Peter Mandelson, the European trade commissioner, and Mariann Fischer Boel, the agriculture commissioner, gave a proposal to Mr. Portman and other negotiators that would set 2013 as the deadline as well for an end to subsidies.

While the United States, Brazil, Australia and other farm exporters had been pressing for 2010, they accepted the deal.

The services talks were beginning to shift as well, a result in part of energetic efforts by India, a nation with enormous influence in the developing world.

With weary delegates negotiating all night, Kamal Nath, India's minister of commerce and industry, spoke strongly in favor of the services agreement at 5 a.m. on Sunday.

"It was music for the ears of the E.U. and the U.S.," he said in an interview.

When the conference chairman, Mr. Tsang, asked all the ministers on Sunday night if anyone objected to the text of the declaration, leaders of the delegations from Venezuela and Cuba rose to say that they reserved the right to limit their countries' participation later in the talks on opening services. But neither official blocked the consensus.

Mr. Tsang tapped his new gavel and it was over.