Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said he was not optimistic that the Doha round of global trade talks would be concluded this year.

Abdullah said major trading powers such as the United States, European Union and Japan had not shown enough flexibility for the negotiations to reach a successful conclusion as hoped for this year.

His comments came after he and fellow leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit issued a statement calling for the "political will, flexibility and ambition" to push the talks into their final phase before year's end.

"I hope it could be (successful), but I find it very difficult unless we have some good signs, positive signs from these countries that they really want to ... be flexible," Abdullah told reporters as the summit ended in Sydney.

The World Trade Organisation's Doha round of talks, which started in the Qatari capital in 2001, was primarily aimed at helping developing nations to take advantage of expanding global trade.

Negotiations have stalled over differences on farm subsidies and import tariffs between rich and poor nations.

Richer nations in better position

The talks restarted in Geneva on Sept 3 in a last-ditch effort to save the round, aimed at giving developing nations better access for their goods in global markets.

Abdullah said large trading nations "are not sufficiently flexible in order to help to push forward" the talks.

While there have been calls from developing nations for the major powers to be flexible, "their positions are very, very strong," he said.

Abdullah said he was not blaming any particular country but richer nations were in a better position to give concessions than developing states.

"We have our position, they have their position. But we think that as developed countries which have enormous wealth they could make some concessions," he said.

"Smaller countries with smaller wealth cannot even make any concessions. If you make concessions, you are left with nothing else."