The eighth ministerial of the World Trade Organisation was on the surface an inconsequential meeting of an organisation fighting a descent into irrelevance. But there were attempts by the powerful economies to craft a plurilateral approach that would keep out the majority of WTO member countries.

Despite continuing half-hearted attempts to “conclude” the decade-long Doha Round of trade talks under the World Trade Organisation, the round is effectively dead though no country wants to say so. There have been many guilty of refusing to work out a fair package for all countries, but none are more responsible than the United States and the head of the organisation.

Climate finance or additional resources for developing countries to fight global warming was an integral element of the Copenhagen Accord drawn up at the climate summit in December 2009. But preparatory meetings for the next round of climate negotiations indicate that the sinners of climate change have already begun to backtrack.