Pascal Lamy's term as director-general of the World Trade Organization is likely to end without further progress on the implementation of the Doha Development Agenda. This means he will complete eight years as the head of the world's most powerful trade body without achieving its most ambitious objective.

Lamy has blamed the geopolitical repercussions of the rise of emerging economies such as China, India and Brazil for the deadlock in international trade and climate change talks. He argues that the lack of consensus on balancing benefits and contributions between the emerging economies on one hand and the advanced economies such as the United States, Europe and Japan on the other, is leading to continuation of the deadlocks.

The almost unbridgeable gap between the two groups is much more than a stumbling block in trade talks. It signals the inability of multilateralism to produce global trade solutions. It also casts a grave shadow over the effectiveness and future of the WTO.