Hopes of a global trade deal remain low as WTO meets in Nairobi

Trade ministers have their work cut out to solve the 14-year impasse between the developed and the developing world in the Doha round of talks

Fourteen years of tortuous global trade talks will end in failure this week unless there is a sudden and unexpected end to the impasse between developed and developing countries that has bedevilled negotiations.

Hopes are low of a breakthrough at the World Trade Organisation ministerial meeting that begins in Nairobi on Tuesday, with the US openly calling for time to be called on the Doha round of talks that began in the Qatari capital in November 2001.

Related: World Trade Organisation: 20 years of talks and deadlock