* Says Doha may not be concluded in 2010, could be 2011
* G20 leaders have pledged Doha deal this year
* India also expresses doubts on 2010 target
By Darren Ennis
BRUSSELS, Jan 12 (Reuters) - The European Union's trade commissioner-designate said on Tuesday he was unsure whether world leaders would achieve their pledge to complete the Doha round of global trade talks this year.
The G20 group of rich and emerging economies pledged last year to conclude the Doha talks, aimed at liberalising global trade, in 2010 in a bid to kickstart dwindling trade flows hit by the worst financial crisis in nearly 80 years.
"I'm personally confident that we are going to conclude the Doha round -- whether it will be in 2010 or 2011 ... I am quite confident about it," Karel de Gucht told a European Parliament hearing.
"We are agreeing on 90 percent of the topics we have to address in Doha ... there is no alternative to Doha," he told the assembly, which votes on Jan. 26 on whether to approve a new European Commission line-up for a five-year term.
India said on Monday that countries at the 153-member World Trade Organisation would have to agree on a formula for the deal by June in order to sign an agreement by the year-end, and it was too early to say whether the stated target would be met.
The talks have stumbled since their inception in 2001 but G20 leaders, buoyed by a new U.S. administration under Barack Obama and facing pressure from a global economic downturn, reignited hopes of reaching a deal last year.
Estimates of the value of a Doha deal, which would be phased over several years, vary. Major trading powers, however, see the conclusion of the talks as a major step towards reinvigorating global trade and injecting some energy into the world economy.
Washington's Peterson Institute for International Economics says a deal could raise world gross domestic product by $300-700 billion a year.
A sticking point is a demand from the United States for developing countries such as India and China to abolish tariffs in some industrial sectors. Such cuts are voluntary in the Doha negotiations.
Washington has said it cannot agree to a Doha deal unless big emerging economies do more to open their markets.
UNDER PRESSURE
"The WTO is under pressure. Its flagship project since 2001, the Doha round, is making little headway," de Gucht said.
"All the same, building an open, rules-based and transparent multilateral trading system, where members subject themselves to the rules of dispute settlement, has been one of the major achievements of the 20th century."
De Gucht also said climate change should be part of Doha negotiations under the WTO. (Editing by Dale Hudson)