The Doha Development Agenda held the promise of substantial gains for developing countries. However, the realization of these gains is far from obvious: the interests of various groups of countries differ greatly and technical complexities have hampered further progress since the very start of the negotiations. Against the background of the agenda of the present trade negotiations of the World Trade Organization and its slow progress, this enlightening book outlines the positions of the main players. Its central focus is to analyze the main effects of these positions and to find a way to complete the Doha Round so a meaningful contribution to its main objective i.e. development, is made. Key issues discussed include: the rise of the G20 group of developing countries led by Brazil, China and India the reasons for the failure of the WTO Ministerial Conference at Cancún in 2003 the prospects for the poorer developing countries - with emphasis on Africa in particular. This timely and topical book enables the reader to monitor and evaluate the ongoing negotiations in the DDA, and is a natural follow-up to the bestselling 2001 Routledge title World Trade Organization Millennium Round edited by Deutsch and Speyer.

The fourth WTO Ministerial in Doha (Qatar) had an ambitious negotiating mandate in a Work Programme that was launched on 14 September 2001, to be completed by 2005. However, ever since its launch, the Doha Development Agenda, as the Work Programme has come to be called, has been facing rough weather. Missed deadlines have been the main stumbling blocks in the way of negotiations and threaten to undermine the credibility of multilateral trade dialogues. The member countries of WTO have before them an unprecedented challenge. At test is their commitment to the cause of promoting fair trade; the commitments on the part of major trading nations, especially, will have to pass this crucial test if the Doha Round of negotiations is to succeed. The current state of negotiations, however, does not evoke much confidence about the Agenda meeting the deadline of 2005, when all the agreements must be complete and formalized as a single package. This volume is essentially an inquiry into the prospects of the much-debated Doha Round. It assembles, in one place, various points of view from different thinkers on the issues currently under negotiations, chiefly that of trade and development. Reputed experts in the field write on these and other related topics, addressing the primary concern behind the idea of this volume: Can we afford to let the Doha Round of trade talks fail?

The Doha Development Agenda, may go down in history as the slowest development round of all times. Starting in 2001, negotiations have been going on for 13 years and collapsed on several occasions in the meantime. With regards to its goal to ensure developing countries, and especially the least-developed among them, a share in the growth of world trade, barely any progress was made. To the extent that one may question how legitimate it is to call the Doha Round a Development Round at all. Especially the notorious point of trade liberalization in agriculture has delayed the negotiations. While the WTO member states agreed on cutting tariffs and reducing agricultural subsidies, opinions differ sharply on exemptions for certain products from these broad ruled. In another critical point, services, negotiations have hardly progressed. The WTO negotiators have missed every deadline agreed upon and various observers suggested to drop the entire venture. The aim of this paper is to find the reasons for the slow progress in order to see if the obstacles may be overcome and the Doha Round might be completed successfully.

Poverty reduction is deemed to be a centerpiece of the Doha Development Agenda currently being negotiated under the auspices of the WTO. Yet there is considerable debate about the poverty impacts of such an agreement. Some are convinced it will increase poverty, while others are equally convinced that it will lead to poverty reduction. This book brings the best scientific methods to bear on this question, taking into account the specific characteristics embodied in the Doha Development Agenda.

After the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) critical December 2005 Hong Kong ministerial meeting, negotiations to implement the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) broke down completely in the summer of 2006. This book offers a detailed and critical evaluation of how and why the negotiations arrived at this point and what the future holds for the WTO. It brings together leading scholars in the field of trade from across the social sciences who address the key issues at stake, the principal players in the negotiations, the role of fairness and legitimacy in the Doha Round, and the prospects for the DDA’s conclusion. The WTO after Hong Kong is the most comprehensive account of the current state of the World Trade Organization and will be of enormous interest to students of trade politics, international organizations, development and international political economy.

In this year's Canadian Development Report, we focus on the subject of the trade negotiations in the wake of the "Doha Development Agenda" that emerged in Qatar. [...] It is the world's poorest countries, most of which are in sub-Saharan Africa, that are the least well-served by the current trade rules, and that have the least bargaining power at the WTO negotiating table. [...] So, if a rule-based system is to be fair to the developing countries, struggling to catch up in their capabil- ities with the industrial countries, it must accord different rules-"special and differential treatment" in the parl- ance of trade negotiators-to those with the most catching-up to do, particularly the 40 or so poorest countries (mostly in Africa). [...] During this time, a num- ber of other things must happen if the benefits from increased trade, in the form of greater income security and more sustainable livelihoods for the poor, are to materialize: investing in production capacity, in education, and in infrastructure, and enhancing the institutional and legal framework in the poorest countries. [...] The middle ground, in other words, consists in distinguishing the impor- tance of trade from the policy agenda of trade liberalization; unpackaging the many issues (some not related to trade at all) now being thrust into the trade agenda; prioritizing those of greatest importance to the developing countries, and leaving the rest aside for future decades.

The "development credibility" of the current trade regime in general, and the WTO in particular, is at stake. The Doha Round aims to reverse the brewing scepticism by providing a reliable engine of trade-led growth and development. The essays in this volume identify the key challenges in this regard, make an assessment of the current situation in agriculture and manufacturing market access and evaluate alternative policy options that will make the goal attainable.