8. Doha Round trade talks make historic breakthrough

The 159-member World Trade Organization (WTO) reached a first-ever trade package in its multilateral trade negotiations on December 7 at its ninth ministerial meeting on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.

The Bali Package marked a historic progress for the Doha Round trade talks, which were aimed at helping poor nations prosper through free global trade and had been long-stalled over wide disparity in opinions between developed and developing economies.

WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo predicted that the package would boost the world economy by 1 trillion US dollars a year.

However, the decisions made in Bali are just the beginning toward the completion of the Doha Round. The remaining Doha Development Agenda issues and the reform of the WTO itself are still a demanding task for the WTO members.

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