"The program is designed to support progress on the Doha Development Agenda and will increase assistance to countries that take on development-promoting trade reforms," World Bank Managing Director Shengman Zhang said.

He was addressing a press conference on the opening day of meeting here of World Trade Organization ministers aimed at spurring progress toward a new global trade liberalization accord, which was outlined at WTO meeting in the Qatari capital Doha in November 2001.

Bank officials said the initiative was drafted in the realization that poor countries can be disrupted when far-reaching trade reforms are put into effect and will need additional funds to make new investments to improve competitiveness.

It noted that developing countries might lose preferential access for their exports to industrialized markets while reduced subsidies in rich countries could raise prices for nations that are net food importers.

"For most countries this will mean new investments to improve competitiveness and expand exports," the Bank said in a statement.

A second component of the initiative could increase lending by as much as 800 million dollars annually to help developing countries improve trade-related infrastructure such as ports, roads and customs facilities.

Uri Dadush, head of the Bank's international traded department, said the project was designed to transport costs.

"Whether these are costs in getting goods to ports, getting them through customs, or getting them through the harbor, reducing these overheads by 10 per cent has the same effect as reducing a tariff by 10 per cent," he said.