Geneva: Admitting that the World Trade Organisation (WTO) was tilted towards the developed world, the multilateral trade body's deputy director general Roderick Abbot said issues of concern to developing countries should be given due importance.

"It is true…the perception (that WTO is biased towards developed world) is there, but it is a changing one. It has become much broader since Uruguay round till Doha," Abbot said.

He said with the number of developing countries increasing in the organisation, it was becoming all the more important to look at the development side.

"We have 147 members now. If there are 100 developing countries then we've got to look at the development side. To get the consensus, you have to solve the problems of the developing countries also," he said.

To arrive at a consensus, their issues also have to be addressed, he said.

Explaining the inclination of the multilateral trade organisation towards the developed world, he said the biggest countries US, European Union (EU), Canada, Japan had the largest share in global trade so their stakes were higher.

"The biggest countries US, EU, Canada, Japan are still doing most of the world trade. So they obviously had the biggest interest historically, which is true even now," he said.

However, Abbot said things were changing and developing countries like China figured in the top 10 trading nations.

He said if you go to the top 20 trading countries, you have plenty of developing countries like Singapore, Malaysia Thailand, Brazil and India.

Their problems will also have to be looked into, though there cannot be a generalisation as developing nations like India and Brazil have different problems, Bangladesh and Vietnam have others.

Abbot said that is the reason why Doha round is called the development round.

PTI