The Doha Round

The

Doha Round is the latest round of trade negotiations among the WTO membership. Its aim is to achieve major reform of the international trading system through the introduction of lower trade barriers and revised trade rules. The work programme covers about 20 areas of trade. The Round is also known semi-officially as theDoha Development Agendaas a fundamental objective is to improve the trading prospects of developing countries. Round was officially launched at the WTOs Fourth Ministerial Conference in Doha, Qatar, in November
3/16/13

The

Contd..
The

developed countries wanted a new round of multilateral trade negotiations to be launched soon, covering what are known as the Singapore Issues (a list of seven items) which were proposed at the meeting in Singapore in 1996 for future negotiations. These included: investment, competition policy, trade facilitation, transparency in government procurement, environment, agriculture and TRIPs. countries like India, on the other hand, held that the Implementation Issues should be resolved 3/16/13 before a new round. India had almost single- handedly

Developing

Doha Round: what are they negotiating?

The

WTOs work is to help trade flow more smoothly and predictably, for the benefit of all. The work is two-pronged: lowering trade barriers where they can be lowered, and writing rules for maintaining trade barriers and for other trade policies. Both are the result of rounds of negotiations among governments since the 1940s.
Agriculture

THE SUBJECTS

The aim:More market access, eliminating export subsidies, reducing distorting domestic support, sorting out a
3/16/13

Contd..
Services

The aim:To improve market access and to strengthen the rules. Each government has the right to decide which sectors it wants to open to foreign companies and to what extent, including any restrictions on foreign ownership. Unlike in agriculture and NAMA, the services negotiations are not based on a modalities text. They are being conducted essentially on two tracks:
bilateral and/or plurilateral (involving only some WTO

members) negotiations

3/16/13

Contd..

Rules

These cover anti-dumping, subsidies and countervailing measures, fisheries subsidies, and regional trade agreements. The aim:Clarifying and improving disciplines under the Anti-Dumping and Subsidies agreements; and to clarify and improve WTO disciplines on sheries subsidies, taking into account the importance of this sector to developing countries.

The environment

These are the first signicant negotiations on trade and 3/16/13

Contd..

Geographical wines

indications: multilateral and

register for spirits

This is the only intellectual property issue that is denitely part of the Doha negotiations. The objective is to facilitate the protection of wines and spirits in participating countries. The talks began in 1997 and were built into the Doha Round in 2001.

Dispute settlement
3/16/13

Contd..

Other intellectual property issues

Some members want negotiations on two other subjects and to link these to the register for wines and spirits. Other members disagree. These two topics are discussed in consultations chaired by the WTO DirectorGeneral (sometimes a deputy):

GI extension. Extending the higher level of

protection for geographical indications beyond wines and spirits

3/16/13

Doha Ministerial declaration Adopted on 14 November 2001

1.

The multilateral trading system embodied in the World Trade Organization has contributed significantly to economic growth, development and employment throughout the past fifty years. We are determined, particularly in the light of the global economic slowdown, to maintain the process of reform and liberalization of trade policies, thus ensuring that the system plays its full part in promoting recovery, growth and development. International trade can play a major role in the promotion of economic development and the alleviation of poverty. We recognize the need for all our peoples to benefit from the 3/16/13 increased opportunities and welfare gains that the multilateral

2.

Contd..
3. We recognize the particular vulnerability of the least-developed countries and the special structural difficulties they face in the global economy. We are committed to addressing the marginalization of least-developed countries in international trade and to improving their effective participation in the multilateral trading system. 4. We stress our commitment to the WTO as the unique forum for global trade rule-making and liberalization, while also recognizing that regional 3/16/13

Contd..
5. We strongly reaffirm our commitment to the objective of sustainable development, as stated in the Preamble to the Marrakesh Agreement. We are convinced that the aims of upholding and safeguarding an open and nondiscriminatory multilateral trading system, and acting for the protection of the environment and the promotion of sustainable development can and must be mutually supportive. 6.We reaffirm the right of members under the General Agreement on Trade in Services 3/16/13 to regulate, and to

The Doha Round after Doha

Because they are complex, the negotiations have progressed in stages, each stage narrowing down differences through interim agreements that represent the acquis what has been acquired or achieved so far. The starting point was the Doha Declaration, which had set broad objectives for the round, reflecting the memberships divergent positions. The task of the negotiations was to find common ground and ultimately consensus. Cancun, 2003

The 2003 Cancun talksintended to forge concrete agreement on the Doha round objectivescollapsed after four days during 3/16/13

Contd..

Geneva 2004The General Councils decision of 1 August 2004 narrowed the gaps, focused the negotiations and raised them to a new level. This July [2004] Package decision included a number of annexes. Two of them are Frameworks for the negotiations in agriculture and non-agricultural market access, a term that is sometimes used for the entire package. (The 2004 decision sorted out disagreements that caused the 1014 September 2003 Cancun Ministerial Conference to end in deadlock.) Kong 2005The next
3/16/13

Hong

major

agreement

was

the

Contd..

Related negotiations took place inParis, France (2005),Potsdam, Germany (2007), andGeneva, Switzerland (2004, 2006, 2008). TheJuly 2008 negotiationsbroke down after failing to reach a compromise on agricultural import rules. After the breakdown, major negotiations were not expected to resume until 2009.Nevertheless, intense negotiations, mostly between the USA, China, and India, were held in the end of 2008 in order to agree on negotiation modalities. The impasse was not resolved and, in April 2011, director-generalPascal Lamy"asked members to think hard about 'the consequences 3/16/13 of throwing away ten years of solid multilateral work. Though

Development: the heart of the Doha Development Agenda

When

they launched the Doha Round, ministers placed development at its centre. We seek to place developing countries needs and interests at the heart of the Work Programme adopted in this Declaration, they said. We shall continue to make positive efforts designed to ensure that developing countries, and especially the least-developed among them, secure a share in the growth of world trade commensurate with the needs of their economic development. In this
3/16/13

3/16/13