NGO thumbs down is latest blow for WTO

MORE than 100 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) demanded this week that the WTO round be “buried”, because it “precluded any possibility of benefiting the majority of the world’s population”.

Organisations such as Action Aid International, Friends of the Earth and Focus on the Global South, said analyses by the World Bank, the United Nations and several international think tanks show that most of the proposed gains from an agreement would flow to the developed world.

Their view is in stark contrast to many of the trade ministers meeting in Geneva today, who say lifting millions out of poverty is one of their aims in seeking agreement on slashing farm subsidies and import duties, and deep cuts in industrial goods’ tariffs.