CANCUN: World trade talks near the half-way stage on Friday with rich and poor nations expected to be presented with a first attempt at compromise although they remain divided over the core issue of how to slash billions of dollars of subsidies to Western farmers.

The meeting of World Trade Organization ministers aims to wrap up an accord by Sunday to revive talks on a new trade deal, which the World Bank says could lift millions of people out of poverty and boost the flagging global economy.

Ghana's trade minister, Alan Kyeremateng, said rich countries would not be able to speak with moral authority about helping poor states unless they slashed farm subsidies.

"For us in Ghana, the important thing is with agriculture because that fundamentally affects the majority of our population," he told reporters.