The EU announced it would boost its annual contribution for so-called "Aid-for-Trade" by euro1 billion (US$1.18 billion) by the year 2010, bringing its total to euro2 billion (US$2.4 billion) a year.

"Europe did not come to Hong Kong empty-handed on 'Aid-for-Trade,"' EU trade chief Peter Mandelson said.

US Trade Representative Rob Portman was also to unveil additional U.S. measures Wednesday as part of an effort by the World Trade Organization to provide money for poor countries to build trade infrastructure and other services to help them better compete in world markets.

Developing countries say they need rich-world aid so they can strengthen their ports, roads, schools and bridges. It would also help them implement new WTO rules, which are often expensive, and help compensate for the loss of the preferential trade access of their products into rich world markets.

The United States contributed US$1.34 billion (euro1.13 billion) in fiscal year 2005 to help developing countries build trade capabilities - up 45 percent from the previous fiscal year.

Portman said aid-for-trade would make poorer countries "stake-holders in the global economy," but he said the money should complement, not be a substitute for, an overall WTO deal that cuts trade barriers that keep poorer countries from gaining access to rich world markets.

The current "Doha round" of WTO talks, begun in Qatar's capital in 2001, have reached a stalemate over how deeply to cut the trade protections rich countries give their farmers. Developing countries say their economies are hurt because they're blocked from access to rich markets.

Aid-for-trade "is incredibly important to making sure countries have the tools to take advantage of trade," Portman said. "But if the round doesn't come together in the end, I think it's lost."

Mandelson said: "The answer to the needs of the poorest developing countries, and developing countries as a whole, lies in an ambitious outcome of the Doha round. There's no alternative to it, there's no substitute for it; that's what we've got to work for." Developing countries say the aid must be in the form of grants, not loans, so governments don't fall further into debt. They also insist that the aid can't be used as leverage in overall WTO trade liberalization negotiations.

Recent aid-for-trade pledges include US$4 billion (euro3.4 billion) from the world's richest countries and Japan's US$10 billion (euro8.5 billion) in development assistance over three years.

Critics say these pledges are only a small part of what's needed to reform poorer countries' trade systems.

"Even if all these trade promises are paid, it still won't be enough to help these countries fully engage in world trade and will be no substitute for reform of unfair global trade rules," said Amy Barry, a trade spokeswoman for the aid group Oxfam.