No deal on bananas, and there would be no deal on Doha Round, Mandelson said.

Following intensive negotiations among relevant parties in the first four days this week, diplomats said little progress had been made.

Dacio Castillo, the ambassador of Honduras, said the Latin American countries were holding out for an EU tariff on their bananas of 76 euros with a quota of 200,000 tons.

They were also outraged at Lamy's proposed "peace clause".

"To say this is 'take it or leave it' means you are not negotiating, and that is very dangerous when you are trying to reach an agreement," said Ronald Saborio, Costa Rica's ambassador to the WTO.

"The Latin Americans will not leave here empty-handed," Saborio said.

Gerhard Otmar Hiwat, the ambassador of Surinam at the EU, warned the whole Doha Round could fail if a solution is not found.

"If it is necessary to block the Doha negotiations, we will do it," said Hiwat.

With just one day left for further discussion according to the schedule, fears were growing that the Doha Round may become a victim of the banana row.

After Thursday's meeting, Brazil's Foreign Minister Celso Amorim told reporters that the talks had not broken up so far but time was running out.

"Tomorrow is the day in which we must know whether it is possible or not (to reach an agreement). Maybe we cannot finish everything but you must have an idea on whether it is possible or not," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency July 25, 2008)