THE WTO IS DEAD, LONG LIVE THE WTO

The World Trade Organization emerged after years of careful negotiations. No doubt it needs to change how it works and what it addresses. But dismantling it would be a grave error

- KM CHANDRASEKHAR

IT was a clear and balmy morning when I arrived in Geneva as ambassador to the World Trade Organization. I was ushered into the VIP lounge. Ambassadors visiting Geneva as representatives of their countries at any of the missions there have the privilege of using this lounge twice: once upon arrival and once before departure.

I had been working in Brussels for the previous three years as deputy chief of the Indian embassy. The gloom and incessant rain of Brussels had worn us out considerably, and it was great to see clear blue skies, the magnificent Lake Geneva, and the snowclad Alpine mountains in the distance.

My work was not easy. The counsellor in my mission, Mohan Kumar, who distinguished himself later in many key assignments in the foreign service, came to me and said that our reputation was at its nadir. This followed the single-handed crusade by former minister Murasoli Maran at the previous ministerial conference in Doha in 2001 against the introduction of new issues such as investment and competition policy into the WTO's work programme, making them subject to its powerful and rigid dispute settlement mechanism.

My first task was, therefore, to re-establish friendly links with other ambassadors, which I achieved by visiting more than 40 of them and getting on first-name terms with all. While this is not the place to describe all that transpired over the next three years, I thoroughly enjoyed my stay, loved being part of the core negotiations, and attended meetings where I pitted myself against some of the finest diplomats worldwide.