MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Following marathon negotiations WTO reaches global deal to boost commerce

“For the first time in our history, the WTO has truly delivered,” said WTO chief Roberto Azevedo

The World Trade Organization has agreed its first ever global deal aimed at boosting commerce. The agreement reached in Bali, Indonesia, simplifies trade procedures and also makes it easier for the poorest countries to sell their goods.

 The deal could add nearly 1tn dollars to the global economy, analysts say. It is seen as an important step for the WTO which has struggled to make new trade agreements. However, the deal was earlier criticized by development campaigners, who said it was not going far enough.

“It is so agreed,” Indonesian Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan said at the Bali meeting, following marathon negotiations between trade ministers from 159 nations that lasted well into the early hours of Saturday morning.

Cuba had been threatening to veto the package, because it said it did not do enough to press the United States to lift its trade embargo on the island, but was eventually agreed to accept the wording of the agreement.

“For the first time in our history, the WTO has truly delivered,” said WTO chief Roberto Azevedo, as the organization reached its first comprehensive agreement since it was founded in 1995.

“This time the entire membership came together. We have put the 'world' back in World Trade Organization,” he said.

The deal reduces barriers to exports from the poorest countries. It also gives developing nations more scope to use subsidies to safeguard food supplies. Food security had been one of the most-hotly debated issues before the agreement was finally clinched.

The US trade representative, Michael Froman, had urged the WTO's member economies to work past their differences.

“Leaving Bali this week without an agreement would deal a debilitating blow to the WTO as a forum for multilateral negotiations.

”If that happens, the unfortunate truth is that the loss will be felt most heavily by those members who least can afford it,” Mr Froman said