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Twelve Years of Doha Trade Talks: Where Do We Stand?
By Antoine Bouet and David Laborde
We commit ourselves to comprehensive negotiations aimed at: substantial improvements in market access; reductions of, with a view to phasing out, all forms of export subsidies; and substantial reductions in trade-distorting domestic support. We agree that special and differential treatment for developing countries shall be an integral part of all elements of the negotiations.
—Declaration from the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference. Doha, Qatar, November 14, 2001
Thinking Outside the Agricultural Support Boxes
By Luca Salvatici
Lost in Translation: Why WTO Negotiations Seem to Go Nowhere
By Eugenio Diaz-Bonilla
I will first provide a brief summary of where the WTO negotiations currently stand along the Road to Bali, based on a summary given by Director-General Roberto Azevêdo at the Informal Trade Negotiations Committee meeting of October 25, 2013.
The Ministerial Meeting in Bali will be the ninth ministerial meeting held since the WTO was created. Prior to December’s meeting, WTO members are currently negotiating on the “Bali deliverables,” which include: 1) Least Development Countries and Development issues; 2) Agriculture; and 3) Trade Facilitation.
The Role of ICTs in Poverty Reduction
In early October, the WTO held its Public Forum in Geneva, Switzerland. The Public Forum is an annual event providing a platform for public debate about a wide range of global topics and issues being discussed by the WTO.
Putting Food Security on the Long-Term Agenda
Global trade policies have the potential to significantly impact food security, for better or for worse. With the ninth WTO Ministerial Conference upcoming in Bali in December, some developing country leaders are pressing negotiators to keep this connection in mind and fast-track talks on proposed changes that would give developing countries greater flexibility in following the new WTO agricultural trade rules.