The meeting of the so-called "G-4" group will take place in Potsdam, outside Berlin, but the precise date has yet to be fixed, the diplomats said on condition of anonymity.
Germany currently holds the presidency of both the G8 group of industrialised countries, and-until June 30 -- the European Union.
Last week, Brazilian Foreign Minister and chief trade negotiator Celso Amorim said he would meet three other G4 counterparts-EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, US Trade Representative Susan Schwab, and Indian Commerce Minister Kamal Nath-in a European city over June 19-22 for a "decisive" meeting.
After nearly six years of tough negotiations, the Doha round of free-trade talks is again reaching a pivotal moment. Many participants regard June as a make-or-break chance for real progress.
The US president's authority to negotiate international trade deals expires at the end of the month and Congress is in no rush to renew it, raising the prospect that it will become even harder for the world's top trading power to reach a compromise with the 149 other WTO members.
Persistent disagreements, notably on trade in agricultural products, have blocked progress in the so-called Doha Development Round, launched to great fanfare in the Qatari capital in late 2001.
Meanwhile, Washington report says: The United States called on the WTO yesterday to strengthen rules on subsidies during the current Doha Development Round of international trade negotiations.
"The subsidies we want to prohibit maintain inefficient production capacity in industries ranging from steel to semiconductors," US Trade Representative (USTR) Susan Schwab said in a statement.
"Stronger rules for these types of subsidies would address significant trade-distorting practices of many of our trading partners that often lead to unfair trade," she said.
The US proposal would prohibit five types of subsidies if they are "specific," that is only given to a particular company or industry, and benefit a product that is exported or competes with imports, the trade office said.
The proposed new subsidy rules were not intended to apply to the agriculture sector, the trade office said.
The US proposal comes ahead of key talks this month in Germany between the four major WTO powers-US, the European Union, Brazil and India-in a bid to energize the Doha Round.
Another message adds: The WTO said yesterday it would rule on a dispute between the European Union and the United States over the way Washington assesses anti-dumping duties.
The WTO's disputes settlement body automatically set up a panel at a meeting here following a second request by the European Union, which launched its complaint last October.
The European Union accuses the United States of using a method known as "zeroing" to calculate dumping margins, the financial penalty on imported goods sold on the US market at prices that are regarded as excessively low.
The calculation allows the United States to artificially inflate the fines on importers, according to the EU.
The WTO has ruled in other similar cases involving Washington before that zeroing violates world trade rules.
The EU said in a statement for the meeting that the WTO bodies involved had "established a consistent line of interpretation of the provisions at issue here, from which the United States has refused to draw the inevitable consequences."
The United States called the EU's move "premature" and said it was reviewing zeroing in connection with another dispute, which is unlikely to come to fruition before late December.
Under WTO rules, dumping occurs when an exported good is priced at a lower level than the price of the product in its home market.
Importing countries are allowed to counter by imposing anti-dumping duties, but under strict conditions.
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