The World Trade Organization has reached the first global trade agreement in 20 years. The pact centers around reducing trade barriers such as import duties and customs rules. Addressing delegates gathered on the Indonesian island of Bali, WTO president Roberto Azevedo praised it as historic.

Roberto Azevedo: “For the first time in our history, the WTO has truly delivered. We have achieved something very significant. People all around the world will benefit from the package we have delivered here today.”

Criticizing the WTO deal, the World Development Movement called it “an agreement for transnational corporations, not the world’s poor.” In a statement, the British group War on Want said: “The negotiations have failed to secure permanent protection for countries to safeguard the food rights of their peoples, exposing hundreds of millions to the prospect of hunger and starvation simply in order to satisfy the dogma of free trade.” As the talks continued over the weekend, hundreds of protesters marched against the WTO in Bali.

Vencer Crisostomo: “There should be no deal in Bali, and we should junk WTO with finality. And we should stop the exploitation, stop the injustice, stop the abuse being done to the poor nations. And we should end monopoly, capitalism, and we should end imperialism of the United States and the big countries.”