The EU will not retreat from a multilateral approach to trade negotiations even if the current Doha round of World Trade Organisation talks fail, a leading EU official has said.

Addressing the Institute for European Affairs in Dublin yesterday, the Commission's director general for trade, David O'Sullivan, described the present situation in the round as "difficult indeed", but added that there was some chance of agreement. Mr O'Sullivan said that the Global Europe strategy paper - agreed by the Commission two weeks ago and which outlines the EU's policy towards its trading partners - should not be seen as a "Plan B" for the Doha development round.

The EU will next week publish a paper outlining how it hopes to gain bilateral acceptance of its rules and standards for trading among key trading partners.

A series of free trade agreements (FTAs) will be pursued with key trading partners such as China, India and Russia. But he added that achieving job creation and economic growth in Europe would play a "primary role" in determining the choice of future FTAs. "The big losers if Doha fails will be the developing countries because they are not prime targets for bilateral deals."

He said that some hope of agreement on Doha remained, but he added that this was slim. Referring to a visit to Washington by EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson in September, Mr O'Sullivan said Mr Mandelson had encountered strong opposition to cuts in support for US farmers proposed as part of a deal. "He found a strong determination to do a deal but in Congress he found very negative attitudes."

This year's US mid-term elections, followed by presidential elections in 2008, are expected to further compound the difficulty in concluding a deal. "To be honest with you, at the moment it's more an optimism and a hope . . . but it's not impossible and we are all committed to continuing."

The Doha round has been plagued by disagreement over agricultural issues since it began in 2001. Last December a high-level so-called "ministerial round" of negotiations in Hong Kong concluded successfully as participants agreed on the outline of a compromise. But a subsequent meeting of WTO officials in Geneva last March failed to agree on the details of tariff reform, with US negotiators accusing the EU of intransigence.