* EU farm chief confirms banana deal very close
* Draft could be published this week
* Resolves oldest trade dispute
* Latin American growers, U.S. and Irish distributors gain
* Poor African, Caribbean countries get aid, concessions
GENEVA, Dec 2 (Reuters) - A deal to reform the trade in bananas, which would end the world's longest-running trade dispute, is close and a draft agreement could come this week, the EU farm chief said on Wednesday.
Agriculture Commissioner Fischer Boel's comments, at a news briefing during a World Trade Organisation conference, confirmed a Reuters report on Tuesday that a deal was imminent.
Fischer Boel said agreement on the contentious issue had been reached between the two main parties -- Latin American producers and less efficient growers in the former European colonies of the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries who current enjoy preferential access to the EU market.
The deal will cut the tariff paid on bananas from Latin America and shield the European Union from further legal action at the WTO, which has condemned its current import regime.
"We have the two big players on board," she said.
Agreement now requires a "yes" from the United States, Fischer Boel said, adding she was confident this would happen as U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk had promised he would facilitate a deal.
"I'm sure that we would be able to have the text ready before the end of this week," she said.
Although the United States does not export bananas, it is a party to the deal because several big distributors and processors such as Chiquita, Dole and Del Monte are U.S. corporations. Another big distributor is the Irish company Fyffes.
The deal -- removing an obstacle to an eventual agreement in the WTO's long-running Doha round -- is linked to a broader pact in trade in tropical products, such as rum, tobacco, sugar, arrowroot and cut flowers, exported by both Latin American and ACP countries.
Concessions by Latin American banana exporters like Colombia and Ecuador here, plus an aid package from Brussels, will have persuaded the ACP countries to sign up to a deal that erodes their competitive market in the lucrative European market. (Reporting by Jonathan Lynn; Editing by Matthew Jones) ((jonathan.lynn@reuters.com; +41 22 733 3831; Reuters Messaging: jonathan.lynn.reuters.com@reuters.net ))