During a session of the IISS Geo-Economic Strategy Summit called the Bahrain Global Forum, Pascal Lamy, director-general of the WTO, said that the Doha Round and the WTO do not operate in isolation.

"They are part of the new and emerging 'triangle' of global economic governance, linking the G-20 to international organizations and to the UN system. It is vital, therefore, that we stabilize that triangle," Lamy added.

"Today we are seeing a V-shaped recovery of world trade. After a fall of 12 percent in real terms in 2009, we now forecast a rebound of world trade of about 9.5 percent this year.

"The multilateral trading system has resisted its first big "stress test" and has shown its value. But we must not become complacent. We must remain vigilant against protectionist pressures," he warned.

In a special address titled "Reshuffling the Deck of Global Economic Cards," Lamy said there was no doubt that global economic governance is undergoing a major overhaul. "The past few years have witnessed the rise of emerging developing countries, and a rebalancing of global economic power away from the developed to the developing world.

"Clearly some areas of our global governance architecture are in need of urgent reinforcement. Serious work is now underway, for example, on the issue of climate change. But international work on an issue such as migration has barely started. Looking at economic governance, taxation and currency issues are clearly lagging behind," he said.