Progress has been made at global trade talks and a deal might be possible, negotiators have said.
Earlier, the head of the World Trade Organization warned that the long-running Doha round would fail unless a compromise could be reached.
EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson and WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell both said there were encouraging signs.
A meeting of the world's biggest trading nations finished "in a spirit of cooperation", Mr Rockwell said.
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"There are very encouraging signs and we will see what the reaction is in the coming hours," he said.
Mr Mandelson said progress had been made in most areas but that the group had "not reached a final deal".
'Last throw of the dice'
Before the meeting of the US, European Union, Australia, Brazil, India, China and Japan, Mr Mandelson called the talks "the last throw of the dice".
"Fatigue is setting in and I think people are coming to the conclusion that, if the inflexibility of some is such that we cannot strike a deal now, we're not likely to be able to do so at any time in the near future," Mr Mandelson said.
Trade ministers from around the world began talks on Monday aimed at saving the Doha round, which began in 2001 and aims to liberalise world trade rules by reducing tariffs on imports and industry subsidies.
"The situation is critical edging between success and failure," WTO boss Pascal Lamy said earlier.
If negotiators failed to find common ground after this week's meeting, many think the Doha round would be doomed.
African worries
African nations called on the seven trading powers to deal with issues that concern all 153 members of the WTO rather focus solely on their individual concerns.
"This is not an opportunity for a small group to thrash out issues that are pertinent to them but rather for a small group to help the world move forward," Kenya's deputy prime minister and commerce minister Uhuru Kenyatta said.
Developing countries like Brazil and India say the US and EU are failing to offer big enough cuts in subsidies and import tariffs, particularly in agriculture.
However, Washington and Brussels both say they have ceded ground and want emerging economies to further open their markets to imports of manufactured goods and services.
But it is not clear that any pledges made by the Bush administration at these talks would be honoured by the new US President who will be elected in November - especially if the Democratic candidate, Barrack Obama, wins.
(BBC)
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