As the World Trade Organisation meeting neared the end on Sunday, the resolve of negotiators to agree on a declaration on which the completion of the Doha round next year might be based was manifest. Six days and sleepless nights in Hong Kong characterised their determination not to fail.

As the draft agreement said: "You don't close divergences by taking time off to have a cup of tea", a metaphor rich in allusion to the magical "China drink" that the Dutch East India Company introduced to Europe in an earlier age of globalisation. The interesting questions now are: why did the meeting not end in failure and where do we go from here?