Impasse at the WTO:A Development Perspective

At the end of July 2006, the negotiations at the World Trade Organisation on the Doha work programme (DWP) were suspended across the board. The immediate cause was the failure of six major WTO members (the US, the European Union, India, Brazil, Japan and Australia) to bridge the gaps among themselves on the modalities of negotiations on two key areas, agriculture
and non-agricultural market access (NAMA).

The suspension of talks are said by many commentators to threaten the development prospects of developing countries as it is assumed the completion of the Doha programme would benefit these countries.

After all, the negotiations were termed the Doha Development Agenda and the Development Round of the WTO. However, an objective analysis of the
frameworks that have been developed up to now (including the August 2004 Framework agreement and the December 2005 Hong Kong ministerial statement) and the major proposals that are on the table would indicate that there is little development content. On the contrary, there would be few benefits for most developing countries, and many costs (including the
loss of policy space) in many areas.

Therefore, the suspension of the negotiations should lead to a review, rethinking and revision of the frameworks of the DWP, instead of a resumption of talks along the same lines.

This paper provides a summary of the state of negotiations before the suspension of talks, and some implications for developing countries. It takes a development perspective. It is only appropriate to use the yardstick of development concerns to assess the status of the negotiations, especially
in view of the proclamation that this is a Development Round. The Doha
ministerial declaration adopted in Doha in 2001 provides the mandate for the negotiations.

Source: EPW More

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