CEBU, Philippines, Dec 7, 2006 (AFP) - Southeast Asian leaders will call next week for a revival of global trade talks and will press nations to cut disputed farm subsidies that ran the talks off the rails, an official said Thursday. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), holding its annual summit in the Philippine island of Cebu, will echo a similar call issued by Pacific rim leaders last month, said the official who asked not to be named. That statement from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum said there was an "urgent need" to restart the Doha round of World Trade Organization (WTO) talks and declared the APEC nations were prepared to offer concessions beyond current positions. The official said the proposed ASEAN statement was expected to toe a similar line but would add two new elements. It would encourage WTO director general Pascal Lamy to persist in trying to revive the talks and stress the need for "substantial reductions in farm support" by wealthy countries, the official told AFP. Lamy is expected to meet with ASEAN leaders on the sidelines of their annual summit in the central Philippine island of Cebu on Monday as part of his efforts to revive the negotiations. The Doha round began in the Qatari capital at the end of 2001, aiming to reduce subsidies, tariffs and other barriers to commerce and raising living standards in developing countries. But talks became bogged down in July due to a dispute over agricultural subsidies, which distort the prices of products in the global market against those produced by developing countries. A compromise among trade heavyweights is seen as the key to breaking the deadlock. ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The bloc has a population of more than 500 million people. mba/mc/jw