The joint statement of December 17 called for the new trade negotiating round to be focused on agriculture, services and market access, and for the WTO to address the concerns of developing countries.

The United States and the EU pledged to move forward with an initiative that would provide the poorest nations duty-free access to world markets for most of their products.

Over objections from developing nations including India, the United States and the EU said they would continue to press the WTO to focus more on labor standards -- an issue that scuttled the Seattle talks.

"Both sides note their disappointment at the failure to reach agreement on a new round of trade negotiations at Seattle, but they agree it is now important to find a way forward," the joint US-EU statement said.

It was the first summit meeting between the United States and the EU since Seattle. Those talks ended in failure on Dec. 3 with the United States and the European Union deeply divided over farm export subsidies and other thorny trade issues.

The statement of December 17 included few specifics about a new round, and officials conceded that major differences remained over the agenda. "On a number of these issues we are quite far apart," EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy told reporters.

Barshefsky said agriculture was the defining issue that would determine whether a new round was possible. "If you can't reach agreement on agriculture text, there's no reason to move forward," she told reporters.

The United States wants the EU to abolish farm export subsidies, but EU members have steadfastly refused.

After talks collapsed in Seattle, many diplomats said a new round of trade negotiations might have to wait until after US presidential elections in November 2000.

But Lamy said the EU delegation was assured by Clinton that a new round was a top priority despite the election. "The president and the US administration are committed to launch a new round," Lamy said.

During the summit, Barshefsky pressed Prodi to endorse a proposal by Caribbean nations to reform the European Union's banana import rules.

Negotiators planned to meet next month on the proposal, which US officials said would bring the EU's banana regime into line with WTO rules and could lead to the lifting of almost $200 million in sanctions imposed on EU products by the United States this year.

Negotiators said they also hoped to settle a dispute by the end of March over an EU data protection law which guarantees people broad rights to control how personal information about them is used.

But Washington and Brussels failed to defuse a dispute over an EU law which would restrict the use of older aircraft fitted with noise mufflers, or "hush kits," used by US carriers. Washington said it would ask the International Civil Aviation Organization to intervene and seek dispute resolution.