Global trade, in volume terms, is expected to grow more than 10 percent this year, Pascal Lamy, director-general of the World Trade Organisation, said on Thursday. The forecast is up from an estimate of 9.5 per cent in March.

'It will probably pick up 10 to 10-plus percent this year depending on what happens in the second half of the year,' Lamy said speaking at the UN pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo.

'Trade is picking up as vigorously as it decreased in 2009,' he said, cautioning that the outlook for the second half of the year remained shaky.

When asked about countries resorting to protectionist measures during the crisis, Lamy said China had complied with its WTO obligations.

'If we had a wave of protectionism during this crisis, China would have been victim number one and because we had nothing of this kind, China is winner number one.'

Lamy said negotiations on the Doha round of trade talks were ongoing and it was not clear when a resolution could be expected. 'There still remains a question whether WTO members can conclude the negotiation and we only have the answer to this question at the very last minute.'

The Doha talks, launched in late 2001, are deadlocked largely over differences between the United States and the big emerging economies of China, Brazil and India.-Reuters