The World Trade Organization's Ministerial Conference opened on February 26 by welcoming two new members, Timor-Leste (East Timor) and Comoros, a small island nation off the East African coast that used to be a French colony. This seemingly small step by the WTO is significant in that it reflects the implicit recommitment of WTO members to the importance they ascribe to open global trade under an agreed system of rules.1
Deciding whether those rules are to be amended will be an important agenda item at the conference, which is taking place in Abu Dhabi, one of the United Arab Emirates. This…
