BRUSSELS, Belgium (Reuters) -- EU trade chief Peter Mandelson, preparing for talks in Washington on how to save world trade negotiations, urged Europe and the United States during the past weekend to show political leadership to get a deal by April.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, leading a delegation to the U.S. capital, is to press the trade issue with President George W. Bush on Monday.

He also will urge Bush to do more on climate change, work more closely on securing energy supplies and the two will discuss Middle East peace efforts.

Mandelson is to meet U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab, with whom he has swapped blame for July's suspension of the World Trade Organization's Doha round of talks to boost global trade. He said it was an opportunity to revive the process.

Mandelson said "quiet, constructive bilateral contacts" recently showed a possible outline of a final deal which must be reached in the coming months after which the round, already into its sixth year of talks, risks long delays.

"We have now entered a narrow window of opportunity lasting until Easter during which success for the world trade talks is possible," Mandelson said in a statement. "We now need the added momentum of political leadership from the highest level. Europe and the U.S. have a shared responsibility to make this happen."

U.S. officials say a breakthrough is unlikely on Monday.

But Brussels hopes it could allow for some progress when trade ministers from leading WTO states meet at the World Economic Forum from Jan. 24 in the Swiss ski resort of Davos.

Bush's "fast-track" powers to approve trade deals without Congress being able to pick them apart expire on June 30.


                                                                       [REFER FROM THE CNN(CNN.COM)]


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