Will 9th Ministerial Conference in Bali Advance the WTO's Doha Round?

Photo: Roberto Azevedo, Director-General of the WTO

Comprehensive and far-reaching are the news reports describing the most recent bilateral free trade agreement, signed by Singapore and the European Union's trade bloc of nations. There seems to be a lot of bilateral and multilateral trade agreements being signed in the global market, but not much within the Doha Round.

Nations are entering into all types of agreements to help facilitate global trade. The EU has made entry into global trade agreements a key part of its global economic strategy for its member nations. In 2013, Iceland and China entered into a Free Trade Agreement. Japan joined the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade talks this summer. The African Union elected its first woman leader in 2012 and soon announced that increasing intra-African trade would be at the center of its agenda. In March 2013, the BRICS -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- reached a deal to establish a global trade development bank to rival the IMF.

The question for those still watching the Doha Round, especially as trade leaders head to the World Trade Organization's 9th Ministerial Conference in Bali, Indonesia, December 3-6, 2013, is whether the Doha Round concept is keeping us from fully participating in something more dynamic and multifaceted -- agreeing and acting on global trade opportunities.

On September 1, 2013, Roberto Azevedo became Director-General of the WTO. Before Azevedo entered office, the WTO cut its 2013 global trade growth forecast from 3.3 percent down to 2.5 percent. What does this mean for the 159 members of the WTO, which now even includes Russia? Are its resources being wasted by continuing to create agendas for the Doha Round talks. The talks started in 2001 and have continued to meet in gorgeous city after city, with each ending in impasse after impasse. Not one agreement.

Contrasts this with the significant bilateral and multilateral trade agreements by and between nations and trade blocs of nations. Smaller global trade deals between nations constitute and govern the greatest activity governed by the global agreements of nations which, in theory and practice, should help their respective national citizens. Maybe global trade is best facilitated by national synergies, the laws of supply and demand, and the ability of global business leaders to broker deals and influence policy-makers to enter into agreements that help secure favorable and fair global trade opportunities.

The host nation for the MC9 has said that the beautiful setting of Bali, Indonesia could just be the magic the Doha Round needs. The best thing that can happen to the Doha Round talks in Bali, if it ends with no productive advancement, is that the Doha Round be acknowledged as an inefficient model of global trade facilitation by the WTO.  Maybe then, global trade leaders can focus their energy on meeting under trade models that work.