The Development Round

Abstract

The failure of the Ministerial Conference in Seattle led to a lot of hand-wringing and soul-searching at the World Trade Organization (WTO). In particular, questions were raised about internal and external transparency about meetings at the WTO. There were also issues relating to the effective participation of all countries, especially least developed countries (LDCs), in the negotiations. The WTO General Council which considered this issue in detail came to the conclusion that while the member-driven nature of WTO should not be changed in any way, attempts must be made to ensure that all countries, especially LDCs, are involved in the decision-making. Attempts were also made to rope in the LDCs by tempting them with technical assistance and by holding out hope of market access. But there still remained the issue of how developing countries can be got on board to a new round of negotiations. This did not prove to be easy, since this group of countries was quite insistent that “Implementation Issues” must be resolved first, something the developed countries were not willing to concede. It was against this backdrop that the idea of a “development round” was thought of by proponents of a new round. The idea was to suggest that development will be mainstreamed in future negotiations and, therefore, try and make it more palatable to the developing countries opposed to the very idea of a new round. This Chapter explains in detail how things came together in Doha in such a way that a round was launched. The one issue that really unblocked the impasse at Doha was the agreement on Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) and Public Health which was crucial for a host of developing countries led by India, Brazil and the African Group. Following this breakthrough, everything else gradually fell into place for a round to be launched in Doha. Attempts by the EU to launch a comprehensive round with Investment being the subject of negotiations ran into predictable opposition from India which momentarily held up a consensus in Doha. It required assurance by the WTO membership that no new negotiations would be launched without “explicit consensus”, for India finally to agree to the launching of a new round in Doha. At the end of the day, Doha succeeded because every WTO member could take away something from the round. Indeed, the Doha Ministerial Declaration said for the first time that the needs and interests of the developing countries will be placed at the heart of the future negotiations. It must also be said that the New York 9/11 terror attacks also provided a justification for all WTO Members to come together and agree to the launch of a new round in Doha.