WTO FORUM

The WTO’s decision making process — Does it need to be reformed?

Gaining consensus among 153 countries on 20 complex topics is an immense undertaking. Recent setbacks in the Doha negotiations have led some commentators to suggest that the WTO's system of decision making needs to be changed. Is the practice of deciding by consensus and principle of a single undertaking in which all issues must be agreed before any can be agreed, outdated? Or does a result with the expressed support of all members give WTO agreements greater credibility and authority? Guillermo Valles Galmés, Chair of the WTO Rules Negotiating Group, and Simon Evenett, Professor of International Trade and Economic Development, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, discuss the issues with Keith Rockwell, WTO Spokesperson.

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