The world’s poorest countries say they are not ready for the upcoming World Trade Organization (WTO) summit in Qatar, international media are reporting.

Trade ministers from the forty-nine Least-Developed Countries (LDCs) met in Zanzibar, Tanzania from July 22-24 to develop a common strategy ahead of the WTO’s November summit.

Delegates didn’t offer an outright rebuff of the November ministerial, although the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development reports the LDCs’ discussions were “widely taken to be a rejection of the launch of a new round of multilateral trade negotiations.”

“Most of us are not ready – psychologically, materially and technically – for a new round,” said Tanzanian trade minister Iddi Simba.

African media outlets suggest many of the LDCs feel excluded from the WTO.

“The scope of the WTO multilateral obligations, the technical complexity, the volume of issues covered and the administrative burden have placed most developing countries in a situation where their participation in the system is almost beyond their means,” Kenya’s trade minister Nicholas Biwott told Nairobi’s The Nation.

S. Rahama, the chief delegate from Bangladesh, told South Africa’s The Independent that developing countries are growing poorer despite wealthier nations’ push toward globalization.

“Our 49 countries are generally facing marginalisation, our share is declining in the global market, the economies in the [developing] countries are becoming impoverished by each passing day,” Rahama is quoted as saying.

WTO officials concede some countries are apprehensive about launching a new round of trade negotiations.

Speaking at the organization’s General Council meeting on July 30, director-general Mike Moore acknowledged WTO members “are still far from agreement.”

“Not all members are convinced of the need for new negotiations,” he said.

Moore nonetheless called for unity among members to ensure development of a “balanced draft declaration” before the Qatar summit.

Critics of the WTO are again demanding no new round be initiated. Mass demonstrations stalled negotiations during the last WTO summit in Seattle in 1999.