World Trade Organization (WTO) Director General Pascal Lamy said on Saturday that trade openness is the solution to the current global financial crisis.

Developed countries can inject money into their banking systems to address the financial crisis, but developing ones have to resort to trade, which requires openness, Lamy said as he attended a panel discussion of "Doha Round: Leading Out of Crisis" at the Boao Forum for Asia in China's southern island province of Hainan.

What the WTO needs to do is to have more trade supervision against protectionism, he said.

"If you protect, your neighbors will probably do the same," Lamy said, noting that what needs to be done is to push back protectionism and push forward the Doha Round of trade talks.

Overall the financial crisis is an opportunity for the completion of the Doha Round talks which the negotiators have finished nearly 80 percent, he said.

The completion of Doha Round of trade talks will help fight protectionism, Lamy said.

WTO's Doha Round of trade talks, which started in the Qatari capital Doha in 2001, has stalled repeatedly mainly due to the splits between developed and developing countries on key issues such as agricultural subsidies, tariffs, liberalizing services and improving workers' rights.

(Xinhua News Agency April 19, 2009)