Questioning the Doha Round
Joseph F. Purugganan | Focus on the Global South/Stop the New Round! Coalition
When the Doha Round was launched in November 2001, Members vowed to put the issue of ‘development’ at the center of new trade negotiations. This was the reason why developing countries who opposed the launch of new negotiations two years earlier in Seattle (which led to the collapse of the 3rd Ministerial) even agreed to launching a new round at Doha. But four years on, the implementation issues raised by developing countries are hardly been discussed and the issue of ‘development’ has been relegated to the background.
A number of questions need to be raised against the Doha Round’s development claims.
Is the negotiations moving closer to achieving the development objectives promised by the Doha Round? How are the implementation issues being addressed, if at all?
NO. The development objectives of the round have been placed on the backburner. Only 5 of the 88 proposals on implementation issues submitted by developing countries are now on the table. These deal with waivers, duty free access to developed country markets and the issue of deviation from TRIMS (Trade Related Investment Measures). The other demands of developing countries on protection of flexibilities, and trade capacity building have not been addressed. Clearly the real objective of the Doha Round is liberalization. One African Ambassador perhaps said it best when he remarked “ The Doha round is not a ‘development’ round but a ‘market access’ round.â€
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