The threat of a US-Iraq war and sharp differences over farming subsidies are hampering the World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks targeted for completion by the end of 2004, Malaysia warned today.

Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz also lashed out at rich economies for using non-tariff barriers to "circumvent" existing WTO free trade rules.

Rafidah said "old-timers" such as the European Union (EU) and the United States had brought their own political agendas into the WTO and often resorted to unilateral trade actions to protect their markets.

She said next September's WTO ministerial conference in Cancun, Mexico designed to act as a mid-term review would just be a "nice holiday by the sea" amid sharp differences and economic uncertainties.

"With a looming war over our head... people are now much more cautious about market opening. I don't believe that in Cancun, we are going to see any more (development) beyond what we see today," she told the World Economic Forum's East Asia Economic Summit here.