They will form the basis for discussions when ministers meet in Geneva in the week of July 21 to try to agree the outlines of a Doha deal, named for negotiations launched in the Qatari capital in November 2001 to free up world trade.

"These revised texts set the stage for a decisive moment in the Doha round," WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy said.

"A deal to open trade in agriculture and goods means more growth, better prospects for development and a more stable and predictable trading system. We must not let this opportunity slip through our fingers," he said in a statement.

Lamy, a former European Union trade chief, called the make-or-break meeting, which is the last opportunity to reach a deal before change in the U.S. administration in January 2009 that could see the talks put on ice for years.

In Brussels, the European Commission said on Thursday it welcomed positive steps made in the new negotiating texts but said that "important gaps" still needed to be bridged.

"We are committed to this negotiation, but we need serious efforts from our negotiating partners to reach a balanced agreement," a spokesman for European Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said in a statement.

In Washington, US trade representative spokeswoman Gretchen Hamel said that the Bush administration would be reviewing the texts in coming days.

But the United States said it was time leading developing countries made market-opening offers "commensurate with their increasing participation and role in the world economy."

Both mediators, New Zealand's WTO ambassador Crawford Falconer for agriculture, and Canadian ambassador Don Stephenson for industry, told reporters they hoped to narrow the gaps further next week before ministers arrive.

Falconer said he was confident agreement could be reached reconciling the interests of tropical product exporters in Latin America with less developed growers in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries seeking to maintain their preferential access to the European Union.

Brazil, one of the world's leading agricultural producers and a major player in the trade talks, voiced misgivings about the new texts.

"The WTO papers will only produce a deal if the rich countries improve their offer, showing leadership and reducing trade barriers," said Roberto Azevedo, Brazil's chief trade negotiator.

RULES FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

Trade experts say a deal is needed to counter rising protectionist pressures that threaten prosperity, and would be a shot in the arm for the ailing world economy.

The aim is to rewrite the rules of world trade, last codified in 1994, for the 21st century and remove distortions that developing countries say put them at a disadvantage.

Agreement on agriculture and industrial goods -- the most sensitive chapters -- could open the way for deals in other areas such as services like banking and telecoms as well as trade rules on subsidies and unfairly priced imports.

A deal would see rich countries like the United States, Japan and the EU's members open up their food markets by reducing protection for their farmers.

In return they will get greater access to developing country markets for industrial goods and services, especially in emerging nations like India, Brazil, China and South Africa.

Any outline deal by ministers will be followed by months of detailed work translating it to individual goods and services, before ministers can sign off on a final agreement.

Over the past 10 months negotiators have edged closer on a range of technical issues, mainly in agriculture, but differences between rich and poor countries remain wide, particularly in industrial goods, and the services talks have not moved for nearly three years.

The texts issued by mediators on Thursday made no changes to current proposed ranges for tariff and subsidy cuts for both agriculture and industrial goods -- a political decision that only ministers can take.

The new farm text set a tariff cap of 100 percent for developed countries -- a key demand of poor countries -- as part of complex technical arrangements, still under negotiation, of how countries shield sensitive farm products from tariff cuts.

It also refined proposals for developing countries to shield their farm sectors from sudden import surges or price collapses, and promote food and livelihood security and rural development.

In industry the paper responded to rich-country concerns that new WTO members such as China were getting too long to implement any tariff cuts. China would now have up to 14 years.

The industrial goods text reaffirmed that developing countries should not use waivers to tariff cuts to shield entire sectors from market opening, and proposed that ministers should negotiate a minimum number of tariff lines or percentage of imports in each sector that would be subject to full cuts.