Ministers from the 135 World Trade Organisation member countries hastened to get on with their programme of detailed negotiations on the terms and timing of a new trade round after losing precious time Tuesday when massive protests delayed proceedings by half a day. Sporadic protests continued Wednesday against the background of a massive police presence and an overnight curfew, but inside the convention centre it was back to business as usual.

WTO ministers continued to take turns to give brief public speeches in plenary session, but the real work was going on outside the main hall as a series of working groups met to discuss in detail thorny issues ranging from agriculture to market access. But differences in some areas actually seemed to be widening, as US President Bill Clinton came out strongly in favour of trade sanctions against countries using child labour or abusing labour rights, sparking the immediate anger of developing countries. And the European Union went on a charm offensive seeking support for a draft agenda for a new trade round that rejected calls for it to end agricultural export subsidies and accept that farming is an industry like any other and should be subject to the same kind of trade rules.

British trade minister Stephen Byers, who had been trying to broker a compromise agreement on labour standards, was beginning to fear that the issue could lead to this week's talks failing, a British source said. Months of preparatory talks in Geneva have failed to produce anything like agreement on a draft final text to be issued at the end of the four-day meeting Friday, although nobody is actually being asked to make any specific new market opening promises here. All they have to come away with is an agreement on the scope and timetable of a new round of global trade talks, but even that is not guaranteed, French finance minister Christian Sautter said. "I am unable to say this morning what the outcome on Friday will be," he told a news conference.