Don't get me wrong, this week's Ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation in Geneva is an important meeting. It could even deliver the much-promised breakthrough in the Doha talks.

But given that this Doha Round of negotiations began seven years ago with the view to quickly liberating the developing world of the yoke of western protectionism, I think I can be forgiven for not holding my breath for a breakthrough at this latest gathering.

The problem, as ever, comes down to communications.

The politicians and the vested interest groups talk up every such meeting as "crucial" and "time to deliver", in a bid to add pressure to their opponents to crack under the weight of public expectation.

However, the public is so tired of waiting, so tired of empty rhetoric, that its expectations have lowered to the point of no longer engaging in the debate.

Having observed a WTO Ministerial meeting up close in 2005, it is easy to see how such events become bogged down - getting 153 countries to agree to have lunch at the same time is difficult enough, let alone cutting through the complexity of a global trade negotiation.

The trouble is that it only takes one voice of disagreement to stall the talks. As long-serving former Trade Minister Mark Vaile told me at the time, the winner in any negotiation is "whoever can say no the longest".

But the risk to those employing that strategy is that they may deal the WTO out of relevance, as more and more countries opt for bi-lateral or regional free trade deals to spur economic activity while they wait for Doha to be completed. But those deals too often neglect the poorest nations - the very nations that the Doha Round aimed to lift out of entrenched poverty.

The WTO needs a big breakthrough this week to remain relevant not only to Australian farmers, but as an entity that can deliver economic advancement.

What do you think?