Protectionism to rise after Doha talks fail, warns WTO

The collapse of the talks in July and the subsequent failure by WTO to secure a deal by December is a major setback to developing countries like Brazil and India, and poor nations of Africa, which were counting on gaining greater access to rich consumers in the United States, Europe and Japan, for their farm goods and products of their basic industries.

For developing countries, experts say, opening up trade has always worked better than closing trade. Those developing countries that open up their trade have more often reduced the level of poverty than those that have not, says Mr Lamy.

A good example, he notes, is Asia where, aided by well-developed infrastructure, political stability, communications and capacity to trade on the global scene, the opening of economies by countries there has lifted over 400 million people out of poverty.

“The current economic crisis makes the conclusion of the Doha Round more necessary, more difficult. But I hope this situation won’t last too long,” said Mr Lamy.