New Opacity at WTO

The WTO may claim 'informally' that a decision has been reached on the technical but contentious issue of converting specific duties to ad valorem rates on agricultural products, necessary for countries to agree on duty reductions in the Doha round. But a small group of countries, including India, recently took a decision at an 'informal ministerial meeting' in Paris and this was then foisted on the rest of the WTO. From Quad decisions to green room consultations and now informal ministerial meeting decisions, the WTO keeps discovering new forms of non-inclusive decision-making. Is it any wonder then that another expansion of the WTO is 'Whose Trade Organisation?'