University of Ottawa

Telfer School of Management

ADM 3318-C: International Business

Professor Mark Freel

The Doha Round ­

Ambitious Aims, Enduring Impasse

Lukas Geise

Due date: November 16th, 2007

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 Introduction 3

2

The Aims of the Doha Round 4

2.1 Agriculture 4

2.2 Services 4

2.3

Non-Agricultural Market Access (NAMA) 5

2.4

Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) 5

2.5 Singapore

Issues 5

3

The Development of the Doha Round 6

4

Evaluation of the Aims and Discussion of Further Problems 7

4.1

Agricultural Liberalization and the Blocs 7

4.2

Being a Trade Round and a Development Round 9

4.3

Regional Trade Agreements 10

4.4

Increased Negotiating Power of Developing Countries 11

4.5 WTO

Complexity 12

5 Conclusion 12

6 Reference

List 14

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1 Introduction

During the Fourth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization, which took place

from November 9th to 14th, 2001 in Doha, Qatar, a new round of WTO trade talks was

initiated and became known as the Doha Round. Against the background of the September

11th terrorist attacks that had just occurred, a powerful message of stability and prosperity to

the international community was to be delivered (Cho, 2007). Therefore, the aim was to boost

growth, alleviate poverty, deliver more relevant trade rules and thus help to establish a more

stable and certain foundation for today′s dynamic global marketplace, as WTO Director-

General Pascal Lamy puts it.1

The round was set to be concluded by December 2006 but to date, the parties involved have

still not been able to reach a consensus on a large proportion of the issues that were planned to

be resolved. After the negotiations were suspended temporarily in July 2006 and resumed in

February 2007, the final outcome of the Doha round is still in the air and there are no realistic

prospects of reaching an acceptable compromise in the near future (Baldwin, 2007). This

became obvious when the latest attempt to reach agreements on the opening of agricultural

and industrial markets and on farm subsidy cuts in developed countries failed with the

collapse of negotiations at a conference in Potsdam, Germany, in June 2007.

The goal of this paper is to evaluate the aims of the Doha Round under the aspect of their

feasibility, and then, to discuss the reasons for the enduring impasse of the negotiations.

In order to evaluate the aims of the Doha round, these aims will primarily be summarized in

part 2. In part 3, there will be an overview over how the negotiations progressed.

The evaluation of the aims of the Doha Round will follow in part 4. This part will also include

a discussion of the compatibility of trade and development aims as set forth in the Doha

Development Agenda and of the implications that the conception of the Doha Round as a

`development′ round had on the expectations of the participating countries and the effect on

the progress of the negotiations. Furthermore, it will include other relevant issues that have

hampered the progress of the talks. A short conclusion will follow in part 5.

1 http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/pres07_e/pr472_e.htm (accessed November 2007).

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2 The Aims of the Doha Round

The original aims of the Doha Round were summarized in the Work Program of the

Ministerial Declaration2 adopted on November 14th, 2001 and in the Doha Development

Agenda (DDA), which was named this way in an attempt to reflect trade′s active role in

development and poverty reduction. It states that in order to maintain the process of reform

and liberalization of trade policies (initiated by the acceptance of the General Agreement on

Tariffs and Trade in 1947) and to ensure that the system plays its full part in promoting

recovery, growth, economic development and the alleviation of poverty, the negotiations were

going to especially focus on the following areas:

2.1 Agriculture

In the agricultural sector, one of the most contentious areas in international trade, the main

aim is to negotiate substantial improvements in market access for all member countries

trading in agricultural products. Further improvements are sought by aiming to negotiate

substantial reductions in trade-distorting domestic supports such as farm subsidies and a

reduction and eventually, the phasing out of export subsidies, with special and differential

treatment for developing and the least developed countries.

2.2 Services

The main goal concerning the trade in services is to continue the negotiations initiated in

January 2000 to achieve the objectives of the General Agreement on Trade in Services

(GATS). The GATS pursues essentially the same objectives for the international trade in

services as its counterpart agreement for merchandise trade, the GATT: ensuring fair and

equitable treatment of all participants (principle of non-discrimination), stimulating economic

activity through guaranteed policy bindings, and promoting trade and development through

progressive liberalization. Even though services currently account for only about 20 per cent

of total trade, new technologies and the opening up in many countries of long-entrenched

monopolies (e.g. in the telecommunications sectors) have enhanced the tradability of services

and thus the need for trade regulations.3

2 http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/minist_e/min01_e/mindecl_e.htm (accessed November 2007).

3 http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/serv_e/gatsqa_e.htm (accessed November 2007).

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