BRUSSELS, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Europe's trade chief said on Friday she regretted the lack of progress in world trade talks, saying Europe should engage with the next U.S. administration in January with a view to calling a new WTO ministerial meeting.
"We have achieved real convergence building on the July package. We need to safeguard what has been agreed and not abandon our efforts to conclude this agreement soon," a European Commission statement quoted EU Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton as saying.
"We should continue the work and engage with the new U.S. administration in January to see how quickly a ministerial meeting can be called in 2009," Ashton said. (Reporting by Jeremy Smith, editing by Dale Hudson)