WTO chief grasping at straws

You know things are rough for an international organization when it touts the accession of tiny Vanuatu as a significant accomplishment. WTO chief Pascal Lamy did just that today: The chief of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Pascal Lamy, hailed on Monday the impending accession of small Pacific island state Vanuatu as a sign of ...

By , a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies.

You know things are rough for an international organization when it touts the accession of tiny Vanuatu as a significant accomplishment. WTO chief Pascal Lamy did just that today:

You know things are rough for an international organization when it touts the accession of tiny Vanuatu as a significant accomplishment. WTO chief Pascal Lamy did just that today:

The chief of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Pascal Lamy, hailed on Monday the impending accession of small Pacific island state Vanuatu as a sign of confidence in the body at a time of turbulence.

Lamy, who said last week that the WTO’s Doha round of negotiations on a new global trade pact was on the edge of failure after 10 years, was speaking after a working group approved terms for Vanuatu to join.

"Vanuatu’s accession to the WTO is a sign of confidence in the organisation and the multilateral trading system at a time of turbulence for the trading round and the WTO," Lamy told a ceremony marking the end of the entry talks.

David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist

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