HONG KONG, December 14, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The "aid-for-trade" grants offered by the industrialized nations to the world's poor countries during the World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial meeting in Hong Kong are seen as a bid to put the developing countries on "tranquilizers."

"One of the long-standing WTO practices is to offer 'smoothers' to poor countries to reach an agreement serving best the interests of the rich," said Tanim Ahmed, a WTO observer and expert in the development process in the Least Developed Countries (LDCs).

The EU, Japan and the United States have agreed to make billions of dollars available for the poor countries.

The United States said Wednesday that it would double its aid-for-trade grants to developing countries to $2.7 billion per year by 2010.

US Trade Representative Rob Portman said the money, meant to help developing countries build trade infrastructure and other services to better compete in world markets, must accompany substantial progress in slashing trade barriers across a wide array of sectors.

Japan has already promised to provide $10 billion to help poor countries develop their export capacity.

NGOs, however, said "these grants, if they see light, could push poor countries to drop some of its demands."

Aid group Oxfam also questioned the sincerity of the offers.

"Most of the money would come from existing aid budgets, forcing poor countries to decide between trade and spending on basic essentials like medicines and education," the relief agency said in a statement.

"Aid for trade is needed ... but it must not be a substitute for fairer trade rules."

WTO opened Tuesday, December 13, in Hong Kong to discuss over the next six days means to galvanize the Doha Round of trade liberalization negotiations, currently deadlocked in sharp regional disputes over agricultural subsidies and import tariffs.

The meeting also probes into cutting the massive subsidies paid by developed nations to their farmers as well as an agreement to slash agricultural import duties.

The United States and the European Union have been at odds over duty-free and quota-free access to the world's biggest economies.

"There is some resistance, there are points of disagreement among some WTO members concerning the scope of duty-free and quota-free access," EU trade representative Peter Mandelson said, Reuters reported.

The United States and the G20 alliance of developing countries led by Brazil and India are pressing the EU to set a date at the conference for an end to farm export subsidies.

But the EU insists that Washington reform its food aid before discussing end-dates for export subsidies.

The 25-nation bloc stressed that food aid benefits US farmers by guaranteeing them a market for their crops and wants all aid to be in cash.

However, there was little prospect of a breakthrough in the row over market access for farm goods.

The euro bloc says that it will not budge until developing nations offer more access to their markets for industrial goods and services.