GENEVA. Sept 8: The new head of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Mike Moore, vowed yesterday to fight for the "small guy" at the forthcoming international trade conference in Seattle, says AFP.

Speaking less than a week after taking office. Moore said rich nations in Europe and America needed to understand it was in their own interest to allow poorer countries greater access to their markets.

"The big guys can only move as fast as the small guys, we are interconnected," he said in an interview with AFP.

The WTO will host a four-day ministerial conference in Seattle starting at the end of November. Delegates from 150 governments will attend the talks, which are to set the agenda for trade liberalisation into the next century.

Moore said he saw it as his duty to fight the corner of less developed nations.

"My worry Is that there are some countries that don’t have the capacities to argue for their interests ... I have to be their spokesman. We have to fight in Seattle ... so that the small guy can not only negotiate but implement." he said.

He said that a total opening up of the richer countries' markets to produce from less developed nations would represent only 0.5 per cent of world trade.

"That is a small price for the Europe and the United States to pay," he said.

Asked about plans to admit China as a WTO member for the first time. Moore said this would be a historic moment.

And he said he had no worries that China’s socialist ideology was incompatible with

the organisation's aims because "we have rules, and countries join according to our rules, which are profitable for all."

He spoke as a senior US' trade representative was in Beijing negotiating Chinese entry to the WTO In time for the Seattle conference.

"Of course China is not just, another country. It is huge.' That’s a challenge, a historic moment in trade history," Moore said.

Moore said one of the most difficult themes at the forthcoming conference would be France's insistence on keeping cultural rights separate from other trade negotiations. 'This will be an exciting one to work on." he said. 'There are profound differences."

Asked about the‘effects of uncontrolled commerce on the environment.