“The Bali package struck today is a win of multilateralism and would go a long way in the history of trading system”, said Pradeep S Mehta, the Secretary General of CUTS International and former member of the WTO High Level Panel on the Future of Trade in the 21st Century. He stated that the Bali deal has restored confidence in the multilateral trading system and it is not just a win for the WTO but the entire developing world.
“The Bali package struck today is a win of multilateralism and would go a long way in the history of trading system”, said Pradeep S Mehta, the Secretary General of CUTS International and former member of the WTO High Level Panel on the Future of Trade in the 21st Century. He stated that the Bali deal has restored confidence in the multilateral trading system and it is not just a win for the WTO but the entire developing world.
After four days of intense negotiations leaving the outcome of this “last opportunity” unclear, many had lost hope that Bali could achieve an acceptable deal. From the first day, India had made it clear that its food security programme, that keeps millions of its population alive, is “non-negotiable” and that it could not agree on a text where these programmes could be challenged in the WTO by other members.
This was strongly opposed by the US among other developed countries, who were themselves facing opposition by India and others on the trade facilitation agreement and did not seem ready to compromise. In fact, the US commitment to multilateralism has been questioned since it has launched negotiations on several mega-regional agreements.
Things have been moving fast since yesterday, with India publicly re-emphasising in a press conference that “no deal is better than a bad deal”, followed by intense consultations in closed rooms between the WTO Director General and all major coalitions, culminating in a late night meeting between India and the US.
Today, by afternoon the news of an imminent deal emerged propelling positivity in the ambience. On the food stockholding issue, the interim mechanism is agreed to be set in until a permanent solution is reached and recognises current food security programmes. While the agreement on trade facilitation will now sail to the benefit of economies both developed and developing.
“The deal on trade facilitation will bring help to not only businesses but also the consumers at large, both in developed and developing countries, will be benefitted.” Mehta said. “CUTS stands ready to play its part as a technical cooperation partner.” he added.
The Bali deal is depicted to be a milestone in the history of trading system and as pundits have said would accrue approximately $1 trillion to the world trade.