Geneva - Brazil should further reduce barriers to trade in order to boost its economy, particularly given the global economic downturn, the World Trade Organization (WTO) said in a report released Monday.

The report was prepared in February ahead of Brazil's trade policy review, which goes on for three days and will conclude on Wednesday.

Moscow  - Russia said Monday it would scale down WTO accession talks and pull out from trade agreements concluded with a mind toward membership, the news agency Interfax quoted Premier Vladimir Putin as agreeing with top ministers.

"We should pursue negotiations and working groups on Russia's WTO accession, but we will inform our partners of the need to exit some agreements which currently oppose the interests of the Russian Federation," first deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov was quoted by the agency as saying.

Putin approved the plan as "sensible."

Oslo/Stockholm - Nordic countries Wednesday expressed disappointment over the collapse of the World Trade Organization (WTO) talks over farm import rules.

Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store, who attended the nine-day talks in Geneva and was also assigned to help broker some issues on patent matters by WTO Director General Pascal Lamy, said he was "disappointed over the failure to reach an agreement."

"We came a long way towards a new agreement. But on critical issues the gaps between the key nations was too big," Store added.