How the WTO Could Be Improved

This paper examines the impasse in the current Doha Development Round negotiations and asks how the rules of the WTO could be changed to facilitate multilateral negotiations and to increase the welfare of the Member countries. It considers possible changes to the method of negotiation. As examples of rules which are outdated, it considers the rules relating to regional trade agreements and to anti-dumping actions. Economic theory suggests strongly that changes to these rules could increase international trade and benefit member countries. Then to the rolling Heav’n itself I cried, Asking, “What lamp had destiny to guide Her little Children stumbling in the Dark?” And – “A blind understanding!” Heav’n replied. The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam by Omar Khayyam, translated by Edward Fitzgerald, First Edition, Quatrain XXXIII