The World Trade Organization must resolve political differences...
The World Trade Organization must resolve political differences “now or never” and agree to a deal on broad trade package, said WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo at the outset of the WTO ninth ministerial summit in Bali Tuesday. The summit lasts…
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through Friday and comes after Azevêdo had conceded negotiations failed, saying the Bali summit is an infeasible environment to strike a package. “What’s at stake is the cause of multilateralism itself,” said Azevêdo, according to a WTO news release (http://bit.ly/IEAyve). “The multilateral trading system was never the only option for trade negotiations. It always co-existed with, and benefited from, other initiatives -- whether regional or bilateral,” he said, in reference to other trade pacts under negotiation globally. The U.S. is negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CD Dec 3 p12), a pact administration officials have aimed to seal this year, and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. The developing world would suffer the most from failure in Bali, said Azevêdo. U.S. Ambassador to the WTO Michael Punke has said negotiations failed due to weak political will to reach a deal.