General Director of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Pascal Lamy said in Buenos Aires on Wednesday that "protectionism just seeks a short-term solution, but in the long term it worsens things."

Lamy urged increased trade among countries in order to boost development.

"The exchange of products is the only engine of the economic growth," he said.

"If the commercial policy is trapped by protectionism, the growth is at risk," Lamy told a conference at the Argentine Council for the International Affairs (CARI).

The global financial crisis has showed that "keeping open trade has been crucial," he said. "That is a reason of the joint efforts to try to finish the Doha Round (world trade) negotiations."