Often deeply divided about the best way to reform global trade, NGOs contacted by AFP unanimously urged developing countries to resist pressure from rich trading superpowers to open up their economies in return for concessions in the crucial area of agriculture.

"No deal at all is better than a bad deal," the head of Greenpeace's delegation at the Hong Kong talks, Daniel Mittler, told AFP.

"There's a real danger that developing countries will get peanuts if they agree to a deal now, then have to pay later in other areas, which would be a complete outrage."

ActionAid International director for the Americas Adriano Campolino Soares echoed that sentiment, saying that existing trade offers from the United States and the European Union were inadequate and should be rejected.

"If developing countries accept this then they will see increasing poverty and inequality," the Brazil-based Soares said.

NGOs, a diverse spectrum of advocacy groups ranging from aid organisations to single-issue farm lobbyists, are concerned about how the WTO will resolve the latest round of global trade negotiations.

Named the Doha Round after they were launched in the Qatari capital four year ago, the negotiations aim to tear down barriers to trade and use commerce to help boost the economies of developing countries.

But critics say the goal of making Doha a "development round", which mainly helps poor countries, is being undermined because the US and EU refuse to reduce agricultural protection while they demand more access to developing countries' markets for their industrial goods and services.

"They are not giving very much at all and they are demanding a great deal," said Jeremy Hobbs, the head of Oxfam International.

Under the Doha agenda, developing countries are supposed to benefit from "special and differential treatment" on trade barriers, which would allow them to nurture manufacturing and service industries while still protecting vital agricultural products.

The NGOs accuse the US and EU of ignoring the agreement by seeking to dump surplus agricultural products on poor countries, while also hampering fledgling manufacturing industries by flooding them with cheap subsidied exports.

"This was meant to be a development round, this was meant to be something that would re-balance trade in favour of poor countries and very little has been given on agriculture," Hobbs told AFP.

Soares and Mittler said developing nations need to maintain the resolve shown at the 2003 WTO ministerial meeting in the Mexican city of Cancun, when they rattled the major powers by walking out of the talks, which then stalled.

"They dared to say no," Mittler said. "There's a message there for developing countries not to be hoodwinked and to remember the lessons of Cancun and stand up."

Some NGOs have differing views on the ideal outcome for the Doha round, with Oxfam and World Growth advocating trade liberalisation while ActionAid says some trade barriers are necessary to protect developing countries.

But Soares said they were united in their desire for poor countries stand up for themselves

"We know the EU and the US use bully tactics," he said. "They threaten, they twist arms, they give a millimetre and they want a kilometre.

"Developing countries must realise though that they are in a strong position because right now the US and the EU desperately want to be seen to be doing something to help them.

"They must examine any offers with a magnifying glass and not be rushed into a deal."

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