As this edition of SITPRO News went to the printers, Ministers and senior officials from over 30 WTO member countries had gathered in Geneva to see whether a deal could be struck to conclude the protracted Doha round of trade negotiations by the end of the year.
Pascal Lamy, the WTO Director General, had said that recently issued revised texts covering the negotiations on agriculture and industrial tariffs "set the stage for a decisive moment in the Doha round" and that "we must not let this opportunity slip through our fingers". Yet while Ministers arrived in Geneva in reasonably optimistic mood, one commentator described the mood at the end of Day 3 (July 23) as "sombre". Already the timetable had slipped and negotiations were expected to continue into the next week. However, by the time we came to publish this issue of SITPRO News, the talks had unfortunately collapsed.
Trade facilitation was hardly mentioned during the week of negotiations, yet WTO members recognised it could be a key outcome from the Doha Development Agenda (DDA). Progress in this area has been more consensual, but it still depended upon agreement in other areas. Although a compromise on the DDA could not be found at this meeting we still hope that there is scope for a trade facilitation agreement to be concluded in the future.
Updated version of an article published in SITPRO News, Issue 65
Return to SITPRO News: Issue 65, Summer 2008
