People In The Know

The 10th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization has concluded in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi.After five days of intense discussions, the 162 WTO member countries reached a breakthrough agreement for the world trade system.The new Nairobi Declaration includes the elimination of agricultural export subsidies, and further tariff reductions for information and technology products.According to the declaration, developed nations will eliminate their scheduled farm export subsidies immediately, while developing countries will get rid of theirs from 2018.The conference has also approved the accession of Liberia and Afghanistan into the WTO.So how significant is the deal on agricultural exports? Is the WTO still relevant to global trade? In today's program, we are joined by David Morfesi, Principal at Morfesi Stewart Consulting, an international trade and development consulting firm based in Adelaide, Australia. Once a US delegate to the WTO, Mr. Morfesi shared with us his view