THE TTALK QUOTES 

On Global Trade & Investment

 

Published Three (Sometimes Four) Times a Week By

The Global Business Dialogue, Inc.

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No. 91 of 2013 

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2013    

 

   

Filed from Bali, Indonesia   

     

Click here for Thursday's quote from
John Magnus on implementing a Bali package.
RELATIVITY AT THE WTO

"The concept of time in the WTO is a flexible one."

Keith Rockwell
December 6, 2013

PRELUDE
Today there is an agreement.  Today's quote, however, is from yesterday afternoon (December 6) when everything was still very much in doubt.  At this point, all differences seem to have been resolved.  There are text for the signature issues of this WTO Ministerial Conference, notably "food security" and Trade Facilitation, and the last-minute Latins have been persuaded to go along with the WTO's other 155 members and say "yes" to success.  In the middle of the night, however, it appeared that Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, and Nicaragua were prepared to block an agreement.
CONTEXT
Keith Rockwell, the WTO's spokesman, held one of several press briefings yesterday afternoon (December 6).  The briefing was about an hour before the scheduled concluding ceremony but an indefinite period away from any conclusion to the Bali ministerial.  He got questions about time.  What was the real deadline?  When would the WTO have to vacate the Nusa Dua Conference Center?  Things like that.  Today's quote was part of his response.
COMMENT
This conference has been a success.  It has produced a multilateral agreement.  We'll hold any further assessments for next week and beyond.  Alas, our flight schedule is not flexible, and it time for us to leave.
 
We have been impressed with many things during our stay in Bali will talk about some of those in later entries, starting with the masterful performance of  WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo in achieving an almost impossible agreement. 
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