Bali Declaration: Breathing Life into the Doha Round Corpse

Two years ago, it was officially announced that the Doha Round had reached an impasse after 10 years of negotiations. Pascal Lamy, who was then Director-General of the WTO, admitted this publicly. It is encouraging, therefore, that the world’s Trade Ministers were able to agree on a package of measures, even if it was very limited, at their meeting in Bali recently. It is important to stress that the outcome is a far cry from the ‘single undertaking’ that one normally expects from a Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations. This was recognized by the Ministers who have agreed that work on a number of important outstanding issues should commence immediately at the WTO in Geneva.