They said the package was needed
because of the benefits it would give
directly, but also because it would
bolster the WTO and its trading
system, and provide the impetus to
conclude the Doha Round, which
was launched in 2001 and has seen
little progress since 2008 until work
intensified on the Bali Package this
year.
However a small group of countriesCuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua, and
Venezuela
recorded
serious
reservations about what they
considered to be imbalances in the
package in favour of richer countries,
and the absence of provisions barring
discrimination in the form of trade
embargoes on goods in transit.
Their concern about embargoes
delayed consensus on the package
until a compromise was struck in the
form of a sentence upholding the
principle of non-discrimination in
goods in transit was added to the
final declaration.
Much of the rest of the package
focuses on various issues related to
development, including food security
in developing countries and cotton
and a number of other provisions for
least developed countries.
Encouraging decisions in Trade
facilitation
The trade facilitation decision is a
multilateral deal to simplify customs
procedures by reducing expenses and
getting better their speed and
efficiency. It will be a legally binding
agreement and is one of the biggest
reforms of the WTO since its
establishment in 1995 — other
agreements struck since then are on
financial
services
and
telecommunications, and among a
subset of WTO members, and
agreement on free trade in
information technology products.
The objectives are: to speed up
customs procedures; make trade
easier, faster and cheaper; provide
clarity, efficiency and transparency;
reduce bureaucracy and corruption,
and use technological advances. It
also has provisions on goods in
transit, an issue particularly of
interest to landlocked countries
seeking to trade through ports in
neighboring countries.
Part of the deal involves assistance
for developing and least developed
countries
to
update
their
infrastructure, train customs officials,
or for any other cost related with
implementing the agreement.
The benefits to the world economy
are calculated to be between $ 400
30
During those final critical hours,
almost all members said the package
should be adopted in full, even if
they were not completely happy with
some parts of it.
The package also includes a political
commitment to reduce export
subsidies in agriculture and keep
them at low levels, and to reduce
obstacles to trade when agricultural
products are imported through
quotas.
Page
sorrow at the news of the death of
former President Nelson Mandela.