The World Trade Organisation's marathon-running chief has urged his staff to eat bananas to sustain themselves through long negotiating sessions -- in which tariffs on the fruit are among the most contentious issues.

Pascal Lamy asked the WTO's roster of economists and lawyers to work "enthusiastically" and with "team spirit" during a high-stakes meeting of trade ministers that began on Monday.

"We will be asked to work long hours, to do work on all sorts of potentially unexpected assignments that may crop up, but such is our fate!" the normally staid Frenchman wrote in an e-mail to staff.

"What do I recommend during your long work hours in the next two weeks? Bread and bananas, or any other high energy diet at your disposal!" he said in the e-mail sent out last week.

About 30 trade ministers and 800 government officials are in Geneva seeking a long-sought deal on cuts to import tariffs and subsidies that skew trade in goods from cotton to cars.

Among the hot-button issues being discussed are the European Union's import duties on bananas which are higher on Latin American imports than those from other former European colonies.

Ecuador, Panama, Costa Rica, Colombia and Peru want those rules overhauled before accepting a new global trade pact which requires consensus among the WTO's 153 members to be clinched.

Bananas for sale in the WTO cafeteria during the talks carry Chiquita stickers from Costa Rica.

世界贸易组织总干事日前敦促（参加贸易部长级会议的）会务人员做好打“持久战”的准备，让他们备好香蕉补充体力。香蕉关税将成为本次谈判最具争议的议题之一。

“世贸组织”贸易部长级高端会议于本周一开幕。酷爱马拉松运动的世贸组织总干事帕斯卡尔•拉米在会上要求世贸组织的经济学家和律师们要带着“团队精神”“充满热情”地工作。

这位平日里以严肃形象示人的法国人在给全体工作人员的一封电子邮件中写道：“会议期间，我们可能会被要求加班，要处理各种随时可能出现的情况，但这就是我们的任务！”

他在这封于上周发出的邮件中说：“接下来的两周大家就要投入到紧张的工作中去了，我能给大家点什么建议呢？那就是随时备好面包和香蕉，或者其它高能量食品！”

约30位贸易部长和800名政府官员目前正在日内瓦举行磋商，讨论降低从棉花到汽车等各类商品的进口关税以及导致贸易失衡的相关补贴等历史性问题，期望达成共识。

此次会议的热门话题之一是欧盟的香蕉进口关税问题，欧盟对拉美地区进口香蕉所征的关税高于其他前欧洲殖民地。

厄瓜多尔、巴拿马、哥斯达黎加、哥伦比亚和秘鲁等国希望在接受新的全球贸易协定之前先废除这些旧条约，新的全球贸易协定需得到世贸组织153个成员国的一致同意才可生效。

会议期间，世贸组织自助餐厅所售的香蕉上都贴着哥斯达黎加的“金吉达”商标。