2004 Reports

The Doha Round of Trade Negotiations: An Agenda to Promote Development and Facilitate Adjustment

Stiglitz, Joseph E.; Charlton, Andrew H.

The development focus of the Doha Round emerged from a renewed spirit of collective responsibility for the challenges faced by poor countries, and also as a response to the perceived inequities generated by previous rounds of trade negotiations. Unfortunately, in the years since it was launched, the Doha Round has not delivered on its development mandate in several important respects. First, there has been little progress on the issues of interest to developing countries (especially agriculture, labor mobility, and labor-intensive manufactures and services). Second, the new issues on the agenda, the so-called 'Singapore Issues', primarily reflect the interests of the advanced industrial countries and have been strongly opposed by many developing countries. Third, the domestic and bilateral actions of several OECD countries have led to questions about their commitment to the multilateral development agenda. Finally, there has been only limited reform to the culture and procedures of the WTO.