GENEVA: The World Trade Organisation adopted the first worldwide trade reform in its history yesterday, after years of stalemate, months of deadlock and a final day’s delay following an eleventh-hour objection.
The agreement means the WTO will introduce new standards for customs checks and border procedures. Proponents say that will streamline the flow of trade around the world, adding as much as $1 trillion and 21 million jobs to the world economy.
“It’s all agreed,” a WTO official said outside the closed-door WTO meeting in Geneva, after trade diplomats applauded the end of their 19-year wait for a deal.
Still, the agreement is just a fraction of the original Doha Round of trade talks begun in 2001, which eventually proved impossible to agree on. The WTO cut back its ambitions and aimed for a much smaller deal.
Even that was blocked by a four-month standoff caused by India, which had vetoed adoption of the reform package as the original deadline passed at midnight on July 31. India demanded more attention be given to its plans to stockpile subsidised food, in breach of the WTO’s usual rules. A compromise on wording reached by the US and Indian governments broke the deadlock.
Reuters
