Ministers from 135 members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Friday failed to launch a new round of global trade talks as the third ministerial meeting of the organization closed here.

Speaking at the final plenary session of the meeting, US Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky, chairperson of the meeting, announced that trade representatives of the WTO will continue their negotiations in Geneva starting January 1, 2000 in an aim to launch a new round.

"We don't lose the work, we got a built-in agenda, and we got the mandate to continue doing some of this work," Mike Moore, director-general of the WTO, told the 10-minute session.

The meeting even failed to issue a brief statement. Diplomats say the failure is a heavy blow to WTO, which was set up five years ago, as well as an embarrassment to the United States, which hosted the conference.

Prior to the opening of the meeting, Barshefsky said failure is not an option, saying she was confident that the meeting will succeed and a new round will be launched.

Reasons leading to the failure include heavy controversies over the agriculture between the European Union and the US, and differences between the developed countries and developing countries over a wide range of issues.

The meeting has been overshadowed by protests outside the meeting. Thousands of protesters gathered each day in downtown Seattle to protest against the meeting. An opening session has to be canceled on November 30.

A Costa Rican diplomat told Xinhua that the big losers of the failure are developing countries. (Xinhua)