Instead of a non-inclusive and nontransparent process, this time the
entire membership came together to
negotiate. Every delegation had a
chance to participate in the
negotiating process.
People all around the world will
benefit from the package delivered
here:
the
businesses
community; the unemployed
and the underemployed; the
poor; those who rely on
food security schemes;
developing country farmers;
developing country cotton
growers; and the leastdeveloped economies as a
whole.
Ambassador Omar Hilale of
Morocco said ―this package
is not an end — it is a beginning‖.
As a consequence of progress here
member states will now be able to
move forward on the other areas of
work, which have been stalled for so
long.
With the Bali package members have
reaffirmed not just their commitment
to the WTO — but also to the
delivery of the Doha Development
Agenda.
The decisions those have taken here
are an important stepping stone
towards the completion of the Doha
round. The Bali package may have
frequently seemed impossible, but
now it is done.
Sarker Partha Pratim is a development activist and an IR graduate. He can be
reached at [email protected]
32
Still a long way to go
There is still much to do. Some of the
issues discussed here in Bali remain
to be solved. In this regard,
negotiators need to prepare a clearly
defined work program on the
remaining
Doha
Development
Agenda issues. This plan should
build on the decisions taken in Bali,
particularly on trade facilitation,
agriculture, development and LDC
issues.
Developed
and
least-developed
members played their full role in
these negotiations that helped to
shape a package which strongly
serves their interests.
Page
Duty-free, quota-free access for least
developed countries to export to
richer countries‘ markets. Many
countries have already implemented
this, and the decision says countries
that have not done so for at least 97%
of products ―shall seek to‖ improve
the number of products covered.