* Developing countries call for quick Doha deal
* Deal must remove distortions to farm trade
By Jonathan Lynn
GENEVA, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Developing countries called on Sunday for a quick deal in the World Trade Organisation's Doha round to help poor nations by removing unfair distortions in the global trading system.
Trade ministers from Brazil, India and Indonesia issued the call for an early and successful Doha deal after a meeting of developing countries on the eve of a WTO conference.
"We want to keep this round alive and we want to conclude it early and successfully, and by successfully we mean friendly to development," Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim told a news conference.
Indian Trade Minister Anand Sharma and Indonesian Trade Minister Mari Pangestu echoed his words, while ministers from other developing nations from Trinidad to Argentina to China sat with them.
"The developing countries ... have much at stake, most to gain and much to lose," Sharma said.
A deal is not just for poor countries, Pangestu said.
"We are still in a fragile process of recovery and we should not underestimate the dangers for the negative effects that could prevail if protectionism should increase," she said.
NOT ON THE AGENDA
The Doha round was launched eight years ago to open markets and help developing countries prosper through more trade.
WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy says the agreement is 80 percent there, but big disagreements remain on exactly how the WTO's 153 members will cut agricultural and manufacturing tariffs, slash farm subsidies and open trade in services.
Because Lamy and negotiators feel the deal is not ripe for a final political push, negotiations on Doha are not on the agenda of the three-day conference, which will review the WTO's work, but are certain to be discussed on the sidelines.
Brazil had originally intended to host a meeting of ministers from key players, rich and poor, to nudge the negotiations forward ahead of the conference.
But with no major progress on Doha recently, it held a meeting of the G20 group it coordinates, that campaigns to open markets for farm produce and eliminate subsidies, joined by ministers from other developing countries.
A communique from the G20 -- unrelated to the G20 group of rich and emerging countries steering the world economy -- said agriculture must be central to any Doha deal because of the way subsidies from rich countries currently squeeze farmers in poor nations out of the market.
Around 3,000 demonstrators called in Geneva on Saturday for agriculture to be taken out of the WTO talks, in a protest that turned violent when masked groups rampaged through the city smashing windows and setting cars on fire.
But Amorim said the activists, even if the peaceful ones were acting in good faith, appeared to be misinformed.
"A fair deal in agriculture which protects the interests and livelihood concerns of subsistence farmers is important," Sharma said.
Many negotiators blame the United States, which has been focused on other issues from healthcare to Afghanistan, for slow progress in the Doha talks.
Amorim said the bilateral contacts sought by Washington with major emerging powers were making no progress, because the United States had demanded more but had not been precise about what concessions it was seeking.
U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said the meeting would be an opportunity to take stock of the global trading system.
"The United States engages with other economies and plays a leadership role at the World Trade Organisation in order to boost American exports and grow the well-paid jobs Americans want and need," he said in a statement on arriving in Geneva.
The lack of movement in the Doha talks is also frustrating businesses. The EU lobby EuroBusiness is expected to issue a call during the conference for WTO members to speed up work on the deal. (Editing by Tim Pearce) ((jonathan.lynn@reuters.com; +41 22 733 3831; Reuters Messaging: jonathan.lynn.reuters.com@reuters.net ))