Instead, a series of bilateral trade deals would dominate global trade, giving more authority to rich countries, resulting in discrimination and perpetuating distortions, says renowned trade economist Jagdish Bhagwati.
Now 77, and a professor at Columbia University, among other distinctions, he was delivering a lecture on the issue in New Delhi.
Organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, it witnessed attendance by top-level diplomats, academicians, businessmen and the non-government sector. "If we let Doha collapse, we will be overtaken by regional trade agreements and other bilateral arrangements, which will be discriminatory, where the weaker sections would not prosper and hegemonic powers like the Americans and Europeans would establish trade deals with smaller powers and would dominate trade in their own way, which is not possible in a multilateral system," he said.
Developing markets would take a hit, he said, if the World Trade Organisation lost credibility as an institution that monitors development of trade.
The Doha round of securing a multilateral trade deal was initiated in November 2001.
Since then, several round of talks have taken place but all have failed to meet the set deadlines to successfully conclude the round.
Developed countries refused to reduce trade distorting subsidies that would allow poorer countries to export more.
"The interdependence of world economies is much more dramatic now than what it was during the Uruguay round, which took almost eight years to be concluded.
Doha is in the 10th year (of talks) but people are losing faith in it, so there has to be a date beyond which it has to be declared dead," he added.
Consequences
Bhagwati said if WTO's position diminished, then the powers exercised by its disputes settlement body to direct countries
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