WTO in the decade 2001-2011: The Doha round fails, China takes off and Russia joins

The World Trade Organization (WTO) encourages global trade by eliminating or reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers through successive rounds of multilateral negotiations. The multilateral Doha round was launched in Qatar in November 2001 - just two months after the 9/11 attacks in America. In the same year, in an event that would change the landscape of the international economy, China was given the green light to join the WTO. Ten years later, the Doha negotiations ended without significant progress. Following this failure of the multilateral approach, various nations are seeking to encourage foreign trade with regional or bilateral agreements. China has benefitted from its firm commitment to globalisation and is now the world's second largest economy. Its share of world trade has risen from 4.3% to 12% in ten years. At the most recent WTO ministerial summit held in December 2011, Russia, the last emerging economy that was not a member of the WTO, was accepted for membership - which will be effective in 2012 after accession is ratified by the Russian parliament.