Normally, the closing session of the forum displays ritualistic expectation that the trade round will be completed in the coming year, but there was little such optimism in 2009.
Pascal Lamy, director-general of the World Trade Organisation, insisted that countries were 80 per cent of the way to completing the deal, but would only say that the economic crisis “made it both easier and more difficult to conclude the round”: easier because the crisis underlined the importance of the round, but more difficult for countries to make concessions that might harm parts of their electorates.
Speaking earlier in Davos, Kamal Nath, the Indian trade minister, blamed the US election for stymieing negotiations last year and highlighted the difficulties he faced in sensitive areas such as rice. For India, he said lives were at stake, while for the US the only issue was commerce.