Trade & Development Series No. 32 THE WTO’S DOHA NEGOTIATIONS AND IMPASSE: A DEVELOPMENT PERSPECTIVE By Martin Khor Publisher: TWN (ISBN: 978-983-2729-84-6) Year: 2006   No. of pages: 40 PRICE US$8.00 for First World countries US$6.00 for Third World countries RM8.00 for Malaysia Prices are inclusive of postage costs by airmail.

ABOUT THE BOOK

THE multilateral trade negotiations held under the aegis of the World Trade Organisation (WTO)’s Doha Work Programme have been touted as a “Development Round” that will benefit the developing countries. However, in assessing the state of play of the negotiations, this paper finds development-oriented content to be distinctly lacking in all the major subject areas covered: trade in agricultural and industrial products, services, and the treatment of specific developing-country concerns such as the “implementation issues” and “special and differential treatment”.

The talks were suspended in July 2006 due to differences between member states, but resumed in the beginning of 2007. Written while the suspension was still in effect, this paper calls for a review and revision of the negotiating framework in order to steer the talks in a development-friendly direction – a call which is all the more timely now as the newly revived negotiations get back in full swing.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

MARTIN KHOR is the Director of the Third World Network. An economist trained in Cambridge University, he is the author of several books and articles on trade, development and environment issues.

Contents

1         Introduction    

2      The Rise and Fall of the “Development Issues”            

3         Agriculture      

4      Non-Agricultural Market Access (NAMA)        

5      Services 

6         Conclusion   

References