December 04, 2013
BALI, Indonesia – The World Trade Organization (WTO) kicked off its 9th ministerial conference, or the MC9, yesterday in the Indonesian resort island of Bali, struggling to revive the long-stalled Doha Round by reaching a possible trade deal at the four-day meeting.
Trade chiefs of the WTO’s 159 members will work to break trade impasses and finalise a package of global trade agreements that mainly cover trade facilitation, development and agriculture, in a bid to pave the way for future completion of the Doha Round.
“It is our hope that over the course of the next few days ministers will be able to send a message to the world that the multilateral trading system still works,” says Gita Wirjawan, chairman of the ministerial conference, at the opening session.
“We are on the cusp of an accomplishment that has eluded us for 12 long years,” said Gita, who is also Indonesia’s trade minister.
“It feels like the WTO has been through a long dark night,” said WTO director-general Roberto Azevedo, who has been urging all-out efforts ton ensure a successful outcome in Bali since taking up his position in September.
The WTO’s chief yesterday warned it was “now or never” as trade ministers opened a conference tasked with salvaging long-stalled efforts to liberalize trade and ensure the body’s continued relevance.
Roberto Azevedo implored delegates to reach a modest agreement on key trade issues on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, in hopes it will keep alive the stumbling 12-year-old drive to slash international trade barriers.
“We cannot put this off for another day,” he told trade ministers from around the world shortly after the four-day meeting opened.
Despite a failure to finalise the trade deal documents before the Bali meeting, trade leaders are showing strong determination to seal the package.
Issues of importance to developing countries like agriculture subsidies are not fully completed, according to Azevedo, who has stated earlier that he has not given up on securing the Bali package and will be working with all delegations in Bali to get an agreement that secures a successful outcome.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono also called for substantial achievements at the meeting, saying that failing to claim a Bali package is to lose a giant opportunity.
“We are close to an historic agreement,” said Yudhoyono in his speech at the opening ceremony.
Should the deal be signed in Bali, it could not only boost global gross domestic product by US$960 billion, but also an increase of $570 billion in exports and 18 million jobs for developing countries, according to an earlier report from the International Chamber of Commerce.
A rules-based multilateral trading system that works for developed and developing countries alike is needed, and helping the weak grow strong will bring benefits and contribute to regional and global stability, said Yudhoyono.
Firstly launched in 2001, the Doha Round of trade talks was launched by the WTO with an aim to help poor nations hurdle barriers in global trade and prosper through the free flow of goods.
In 2008, the Doha Round talks came to a stall over wide disparity in opinions on farm subsidies, tariffs, and non-agricultural market access between developed countries and developing ones, and little progress has been made at WTO negotiation table ever since.
(XINHUA/AFP)