KUALA LUMPUR Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has urged developing countries to keep up the fight for fairer global trade and told rich countries to help them grow.

Southeast Asia's longest-serving leader criticised what he called the unfair trading environment which lumped rich and developing nations together without rules or regulations.

"Cities do not compete with villages, nor adult athletes with children. To compete fairly, the competitors must belong to distinct categories," he told a business seminar here.

"It does not take a genius to see that the dice is loaded against the weak and the poor."

Mahathir said poor countries must be given more time to adjust to competition.

"We expect poor and weak countries to be given some protection. We should perhaps have some categories when it comes to competition. We shouldn't ask a tiny bank in Nepal to compete with Citibank in the US.

"It's not fair," he said.

World tax

He repeated a call for rich multinational corporations to "pay a world tax" to help build infrastructure in developing nations.

For example, he said, the fund could help landlocked countries in central Asia build railways so they could cut transportation costs and be more competitive.

"They will be prosperous and then we can move in with our banks but when they are poor, they are of no use to anybody."

Despite "rule-based trading" under the World Trade Organization (WTO), Mahathir said there was still no fair competition as rules were skewed in favour of big and rich corporations.

"The globalised world that we have to compete in to become a world class player is not going to be a very orderly world. It is going to be a world in which fair competition is not possible, especially for the small player. They are likely to be swallowed up or just disappear."

Mahathir, who has pledged to retire in October after 22 years at the helm, urged developing nations to stand together to prevent unfair trade rules from being adopted in the WTO.

"It is going to be difficult but that is how life is. We have to resign ourselves to this, work hard and make use of whatever competitive advantage that we may have," he added.

Own niches

Asked at a dialogue session about China's rising economic stature, Mahathir said developing countries must find their own niches to service China and grow with it.

"You have to live with the fact that China is there. It is going to be more prosperous, it is going to be very powerful and we have to find out what we can do to service China," he said.

"In the future, the world will look at China more as a market and also as a competitor but only in certain areas."

On his retirement in October, the outspoken 77-year-old premier said he would not be "abdicating completely".

"I will hold no seats in the government or even in the party but I will be available if my humble opinion is required." AFP