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Article: Free trade's best friend; World trade.(Reforming the World Trade Organisation)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- January 22, 2005
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The WTO is worth boosting
FOR anti-globalisation activists, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) embodies the global economic integration they abhor. For insular lawmakers, notably in Washington, DC, the Geneva-based institution is a secretive, unelected bureaucracy that infringes national sovereignty. Even advocates of free trade have their doubts about the WTO's usefulness: after all, the Doha round of negotiations is hardly roaring ahead.
All these doubters would do well to read a new report on the future of the WTO by eight "wise men" led by Peter Sutherland, the trade body's first director-general. The report not only offers the rousing defence of ...