In November 2001 ministers from over 140 World Trade Organisation (WTO) member governments launched a new effort at multilateral trade liberalisation and law-making called the Doha Development Agenda. This negotiation, set to conclude at the end of next year, faces a critical mid-term review by WTO Ministers at their fifth conference in Cancun, Mexico in September. Having missed virtually every deadline so far, ministers need desperately what the recent summit of G-8 leaders in Evian, France called “an agreed framework for finalising the negotiations”.
There are many elements in the Doha round of negotiations. The central focus is improving market access for agriculture, services and industrial products. In agriculture, the objectives include further reductions in trade-distorting farm-support programmes and the elimination of export subsidies. For industrial products, the US, with some support, has proposed the elimination of all duties. Others, led by India, are arguing for a minimalist approach, partly for tactical reasons.
