A crucial WTO ministerial conference to spur momentum toward a new global trade pact collapsed in failure, a setback that could jeopardize the future of the multilateral trading system. "It's over," said a Canadian delegate here after five days and nights of fruitless and sometimes bitter bargaining among trade ministers from the 146-nation World Trade Organization. The failure of the Cancun talks now threatens to postpone implementation of the Doha Development Agenda, a roadmap for multilateral trade liberalization adopted by the WTO in the Qatari capital Doha in 2001. The program called for an end to the negotiating process by January 1, 2005, after which a new global trade regime was to be established under which goods and services would flow smoothly across national boundaries, raising incomes and living standards along the way. A Latin American delegate said the five-day conference, which was due to have concluded later Sunday, finally foundered over what are known as the Singapore issues. "There was no agreement on whether we were going to launch negotiations on the four issues or not," he said. Developing countries were adamantly opposed to proposed WTO negotiations on the four matters -- cross-border investment, competition policies, trade facilitation and government procurement. They feared in particular that a new international investment regime would benefit multilateral corporations at the expense of their own industries. The European Union and Japan by contrast had urged a prompt start to talks on the Singapore issues, known for the venue where they were first raised in 1996. But the conference was also riven by deep divisions on agriculture, with developing countries clamoring for an end to trade-distoring subsidies offered to farmers in rich counrtries. The European Union agreed that export subsidies on certain products deemed critical by developing countries could be removed but balked at the elimination of all such assistance by a specific date. The United States went along with demands for an end to export subsidies but demanded concessions in return. Ugandan delegate Yashpal Tandon blamed rich countries for the impasse. "They should have been faithful to the promise they made at Doha to talk about development," he said. "As they did not stick to the promise made in Doha, what is the reason for us to be here? "The whole point is that Western countries utilised this meeting in order to push their issues." But Argentine Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Minister Martin Redrado insisted that "when there is a failure one has to blame everybody." The breakdown here could weigh heavily on the future of the multilateral trading system, notably as it will likely postpone talks on a new global trade deal to the end of 2005 while spurring a spate of bilateral accords. With a global deal on hold, the United States and the European Union can be expected to go their own ways, trade officials and analysts have warned. "We have a long line of people at our door seeking bilateral trade agreements," said a senior member of the EU delegation who asked not to be named. He said inquiries had come from countries in southeast Asia, Latin America, Central America and even Canada. US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick earlier this month warned that the United States would go it alone by seeking one-on-one pacts if the WTO failed to secure an accord by January 1, 2005. "We will find countries that want to open up markets with the United States," Zoellick told a press conference in Washington, noting that President George W. Bush had signed legislation to implement free trade deals with Chile and Singapore. "I hope they will be in the WTO. But if they are not, we are not stopping. We are moving ahead with the countries that are willing to go." During consultations that went on into the early hours of Sunday, Zoellick, according to a European delegate, warned that failure here would mean no further action on implementing the Doha agenda before the end of 2005. US presidential and legislative elections in November 2004 and the departure at the same time of the present European Commission, the EU's executive arm, would render nearly useless the scheduled WTO ministerial meeting in Hong Kong in December 2004. **PHOTO CAPTION*** A hooded anti-globalization protester carries a flower to give to the riot policemen during a rally against the Fifth WTO Ministerial Conference in Cancun, Mexico.(AFP/Ali Burafi)