Rich countries have been urged to open their markets to exports from world's poorest countries.

"The rich world has been nothing short of hypocritical. They have prised open poor countries' markets for their exports but have kept their own markets tightly shut" Oxfam said in a statement

issued Nov. 8.

Oxfam said that the continued rich countries' refusal to seriously address developing countries' needs at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) meeting in Qatar next month will scupper chances of the poor working their way out of poverty.

"Rich countries have rigged the rules of trade in their own favour and acted as a battering ram for the narrow interests of global corporations," the statement said.

Intense debates at the WTO over the last few weeks reveal that the industrialised countries are no closer to make significant concessions to poorer countries than they were at Seattle in 1999.

They urge rich countries to stop dumping subsidised agricultural exports, which destroy rural livelihoods among others.