But, as Ms Krueger points out, the risks to the multilateral system's survival can only mount as the world is increasingly carved up into free-trade blocks.
"Connectivity and the internet are the glue to make companies increase their business opportunities", argues Antonio García Zaballos, co-author of the IDB study and head of the multilateral lender's broadband improvement programme.
While not illegal, Mastercard's multilateral interchange fees violated the EU's antitrust rules by failing to benefit consumers and not delivering technical efficiencies, the commission said.
So have government institutions, like the World Bank's multilateral investment guarantee agency and the US government's overseas private investment corporation.
China's multilateral approach in this area, however, shows China's effort to become a concerned member of the aid community, taking collective action to deal with poverty and hunger worldwide.
"Even the I.M.F. is happy with Bolivia's economy; imagine the irony of that," said Gonzalo Chávez, a Harvard-educated economist here, referring to Mr. Morales's often pointed criticism of Washington's multilateral institutions, like the International Monetary Fund.
But in order to succeed Reid as Senate Democratic leader, Schumer is going to have to pay a price: he's going to have to back President Obama's multilateral diplomacy with Iran, which Bloomberg reports could produce a "framework agreement" this weekend.
Though no data are available yet on Japan's recent spate of bilateral deals, both Ms Barshefsky and Mr Lamy cautiously welcome them as signs of further liberalisation within the context of the WTO's multilateral system.The most recent bilateral agreement to make news, last month's pact between America and Jordan, promises to create more of a stir.
Recent years have also seen an expansion in the See's multilateral diplomacy.
That, he declared, would be "good for the stability of the region," in accord with Vietnam's "multilateral" approach.
