Seminar paper from the year 2007 in the subject Politics - Topic: International Organisations, grade: 22 out of 25 points, 88%, Concordia University Montreal (University of Ottawa: Telfer School of Management), language: English, abstract: During the Fourth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization, which took place from November 9th to 14th, 2001 in Doha, Qatar, a new round of WTO trade talks was initiated and became known as the Doha Round. Against the background of the September 11th terrorist attacks that had just occurred, a powerful message of stability and prosperity to the international community was to be delivered (Cho, 2007). Therefore, the aim was to boost growth, alleviate poverty, deliver more relevant trade rules and thus help to establish a more stable and certain foundation for today’s dynamic global marketplace (Lamy, 2007). The round was set to be concluded by December 2006 but to date, the parties involved have still not been able to reach a consensus on a large proportion of the issues that were planned to be resolved. The goal of this paper is to evaluate the aims of the Doha Round under the aspect of their feasibility, and then, to discuss the reasons for the enduring impasse of the negotiations.

One of the first analyses of the impact of US-China rivalry on the governance of global trade.

From American master Ward Just, returning to his trademark territory of "Forgetfulness "and "The Weather in Berlin," an evocative portrait of diplomacy and desire set against the backdrop of America's first lost war

The History and Future of the World Trade Organization is a comprehensive account of the economic, political and legal issues surrounding the creation of the WTO and its evolution. Fully illustrated with colour and black-and-white photos dating back to the early days of trade negotiations, the publication reviews the WTO's achievements as well as the challenges faced by the organisation, and identifies the key questions that WTO members need to address in the future. The book describes the intellectual roots of the trading system, membership of the WTO and the growth of the Geneva trade community, trade negotiations and the development of coalitions among the membership, and the WTO's relations with other international organisations and civil society. Also covered are the organisation's robust dispute settlement rules, the launch and evolution of the Doha Round, the rise of regional trade agreements, and the leadership and management of the WTO.

Essay from the year 2003 in the subject Economics - International Economic Relations, grade: 2,0 (B), Stellenbosch Universitiy (Business School), language: English, abstract: The meeting of WTO Ministers in Cancun/Mexico ended without reaching a consensus in September 2003. But this is not the end of the WTO. The general advisory board of the World Trade Organization is called up for December 2003 to work with the negotiated text of the conference as a discussion basis. Key Issues for the 5 th WTO Round were Agriculture, especially market access and subsidies issues, and Development Issues - over three-quarters of WTO members are developing countries. While the aims of the Doha negotiating round had not changed, the political and economic conditio ns in which the negotiations were taking place had changed enormously in the last year. This included a slowdown in the world economy, currency instability, g eopolitical differences, outstanding trade disputes, and the proliferation of bilateral and regional trade agreements. An agreement on agriculture would have been a precond ition for success for the round of WTO negotiations. Issues were the dismantling of export subsidies, the reduction or removal of market access restrictions that block imports or exports of agrifood products, harmonization of regulations and the reduction of regulatory barriers with respect to phytosanitary standards and genetically- modified organisms, and a re-definition of antidumping to reflect real costs of production (before and after subsidies) in all countries. Another key point of Cancun was the General Agreement on Trade in Services - GATS. Before the round the developing countries called for the implementation of measures agreed under the last Uruguay round of negotiations: m arket access for agricultural and nonagricultural goods, as well as services, rules for governing special and differential treatment, procurement, and interdependence - the linkage of progress on trade negotiations with the resolution of other issues like agriculture and access to pharmaceuticals under TRIPS.

The result of two years work by 19 experienced policymakers and two Nobel prize-winning economists, 'The Growth Report' is the most complete analysis to date of the ingredients which, if used in the right country-specific recipe, can deliver growth and help lift populations out of poverty.