Leibowitz on Trade: WTO Inches Back Toward Relevance

The World Trade Organization just concluded its 12th Ministerial Conference since the launch of the ill-fated Doha Development Agenda in 2001. The conference stayed in session past its scheduled end, and it reached agreements that surprised many WTO observers. A lot of credit goes to WTO Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of Nigeria, who kept the ministers after school and insisted on progress on issues that in the past proved intractable.

New agreements were reached on fisheries subsidies, a perennial subject of controversy between developed and developing countries. Agreement had eluded WTO members for decades. A tentative agreement was also reached on partial intellectual property waivers for Covid vaccines to permit easier and cheaper distribution of vaccines to poorer nations. That issue has eluded resolution since the pandemic broke out in early 2020.