The World Trade Organization (WTO) has received a donation from the European Union that will aid its efforts to integrate poorer countries into the global trade community.

More than €1 million has been pledged by the EU to the WTO's Doha Development Agenda Global Trust Fund, which was established in 2001 to help developing and least-developed countries participate effectively in global trade.

The money will be used to provide trade-related technical assistance and capacity building activities for officials in Geneva and elsewhere to help them better understand and implement WTO agreements, as well as enhancing their negotiating skills.

More than 2,400 training and capacity-building activities have been organized by the WTO since the formation of the fund.

WTO deputy director-general Yonov Frederick Agah said: "This donation from the EU is very important to sustain the WTO's work in supporting the effective participation of developing and least-developed countries in multilateral trade talks so that they can better integrate into the world economy."

Around €20 million has been contributed by the EU to WTO trust funds over the past 15 years, a figure that does not include the significant contributions made by individual EU member states.