WTO agreement augurs well for global governance

The international system, dominated by one power, lags behind the progress of the times. The integration of the global economy calls for a more balanced governance structure, said an article in the People’s Daily (excerpts below):

The ninth ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization finally reached agreement on Dec 6 on the island of Bali. The historical breakthrough is a milestone and injects positive energy into the construction of a fair and rational international economic order.

The WTO is trade system based on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and has won widespread support from the international community. The WTO operates comparatively better than many other global systems and helps emerging market countries to integrate into the global market.

The process of reaching the Bali agreement took 12 years and shows a new global governance system is not unreachable despite the obvious difficulties.

Globalization has not ushered the world into a time of a chaotic lack of rules. Instead, it has linked the world more closely than before as a community sharing the same destiny and also created more realistic backgrounds and powerful driving forces than before for compromise and cooperation.

All WTO members know that their economies will be affected without an improvement in the global trade system.

The world has entered an era when many issues must be solved by different countries.

The multi-polarization of the international system is an irreversible trend. A multilateral framework can care for the interests of the poorer and small countries better than a system ruled by one single hegemonic power.