Commerce ministers of the WTO countries struck the first global agreement on international commerce they hailed as a "historic" boost since the trade body was founded in 1995 as Agence France-Press reported on Saturday, December 7.
The final agreement was reached after more than four days of tough negotiations on the Indonesian island of Bali. The project was developed by WTO director-general Roberto Azvedo. By the rules of WTO comprising 159 states, all the participants have to vote in favor of the reform in order to approve it.
The pact includes commitments to facilitate trade by simplifying customs procedures, policies to aid least-developed countries, and pledges to limit subsidies to farmers from emerging countries in case they support malnourished people. Economists estimate that such efforts are supposed to puff up global sales by $1 trillion.
Earlier India was considered to be the main opponent against the package approval. India’s discontent was caused by the clause cancelling a food allowance. However, on December 6, Indian trade groups welcomed the deal. However, after India had stated its agreement, Cuba, Bolivia, and Venezuela in their turn raised some objections. Talks with these countries lingered few more hours. Thus, the accord was reached only at dawn on December 7.