He said most of the LDCs went to WTO negotiating table with little understanding of the implications of the rules that they were endorsing.

"But things have changed now. The LDCs have a clearer understanding of issues that they will face in the next round of talks," Deputy Director General Kipkorir Aly Azad Rana said in an exclusive interview with The Daily Star on Saturday.

He said the Dhaka meeting of the trade ministers of the LDCs reflects their interest and awareness about the core issues, ahead of the fifth WTO ministerial meeting to be held in September this year at Cancun, Mexico.

Rana said Singapore, Malaysia and many other countries have expanded their share in the global market by adopting pragmatic polices and visionary leadership which rightly addressed their problems.

When pointed out that the LDCs were not benefiting from the rule-based multilateral trading system and that the share of the LDCs' trade in the world market has been declining over the last few decades, Rana said the LDCs had been wrongly demanding quota and special concessions.

"Good governance, necessary legislative changes and a good investment environment will attract investment and help small economies to grow large," Rana said.

He said protectionism and quota do not offer the real solution in the long run. "Market access and special concessions are only temporary measures which do not contribute in improving trade competitiveness of the LDCs."

"Rather than asking for market access, the LDCs should think of the future, understand the issues and challenges ahead and work out the ways and means which will help them tap their due share in the global trade," he said.

Rana said the poor nations should work out the comparative advantages of their products and promote South-South trade by lowering tariff structure. "Reduction of tariff will open up opportunities for the LDCs to strengthen their economies."

He said the poor economies should eye the regional markets, which can improve trade among the countries in the region. "ASEAN countries, for example, conduct most of the trade among themselves and their economies are growing. Bangladesh, being a member of SAARC, should also opt for such trade with other members of the regional grouping."

When pointed out that many countries, unlike Bangladesh, still practise protectionism to protect their own economies, Rana said: "Such problems should be solved by 'fighting it out' like what other developing countries did."

Asked why the WTO was suffering from an image crisis, Rana said there is misconception about the organisation.

"The LDCs need to negotiate hard to press their demands. Today's meeting (Dhaka Meeting) is something in that line. This type of coordination is what is required," he said.

Another factor, the deputy director general said, was that the rich countries, mostly European, had run the WTO. The secretariat of the WTO did not reflect representation of the members. " But presently we are heading towards solving that problem."

Rana said there was a lack of participation by the poor countries in the negotiation meetings. "The negotiations were not transparent, but everyone was endorsing them. A small group of countries were participating in the negotiating rounds."

"But with greater participation of the members now, we hope things will improve."