WTO delegates were still searching on Thursday for an agreement to allow new international trade negotiations to get underway, trade sources said.

Although they seemed close to an accord on who should take up the influential role of chairing the talks, other thorny issues remain and consultations are continuing, the sources said.

Since Monday, the 144 members of the Geneva-based World Trade Organisation have been trying to hammer out details on how to arrange the negotiations, officially

launched by WTO ministers in Doha last November.

As well as the chairmanship of the trade negotiations committee (TNC), they must also focus on how to split up the negotiations into different bodies and who should chair these groupings.

Some countries, especially Bulgaria, are keen to have negotiations on the registering of geographical brand names extended beyond just wines and spirits, sources said.

They want explicit reassurances that the negotiations will also incoporate other items such as Gruyere cheese or Bulgarian yoghurt for example.

Members were initially blocked over the question of who should chair the TNC.

Some developing countries were worried that if a member of the secretariat, namely the WTO's director general, took up the role, it would put them at a disadvantage. They favoured a Geneva-based ambassador having the job instead.

But proposals taking developing countries' concerns into account, while suggesting the "directorgeneral in an ex officio capacity" chair the talks seem to have brought the delegates close to an accord on that issue, sources said.