Summary

Mike Moore's reflection on his time as Director-General of the World Trade Organization is an important addition to the great globalization debate. Moore explains how a boy, who left school at fourteen to work in a slaughterhouse, came to head an organization charged with bringing rules and order to the world's trading system. Arriving at the WTO shortly before the ill-fated Seattle meeting, Moore sought to reform the Organization, addressing the concerns of poorer countries and engaging in open debate with the often hostile NGOs. He is proud of the outcome of the Doha meeting in November 2001 which secured commitment to a new round of trade talks with a focus on development. Moore rebuts the attacks against the WTO arguing that the WTO's promise of rules-based free trade offers the best hope for lifting millions of the world's poorest citizens out of poverty.