London-based charitable organisation Christian Aid, has rubbished the European Union's recent trade agreement with Jamaica and other developing countries and is calling on the British Government to intervene in the accords it says developing countries were forced to sign.

In a release issued by the more than 60-year-old charitable organisation, which fights poverty in more than 50 countries around the globe, it urged the Gordon Brown-led administration "to push for a comprehensive review of serious, damaging flaws in trade agreements forced upon a number of developing countries in recent weeks by the European Union".

"Countries were pressurised to agree the deals by threats that they would otherwise face stiff tariffs when accessing European markets," said Tzvetelina Arsova, Christian Aid's Africa economic policy officer.

Poor countries to get poorer

The release outlined that Caribbean countries signed up en bloc to comprehensive agreements covering trade, investment and the provision of services. However, Christian Aid pointed out that a number of African and Pacific countries refused to sign, saying they needed more time to negotiate, while others have signed interim deals covering trade only.

Christian Aid did not mince words in describing the impact that the so-called trade agreements would have on already poor countries.

"As they stand, poor countries will simply get poorer," read a section of the release.

Christian Aid said nearly 80 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries were put under enormous pressure to sign Economic Partnership Agreements, to replace trade deals dating back to the colonial era, that are not in accordance with World Trade Organisation rules.