At the Fourth Ministerial Conference in Doha, Qatar, in November 2001 WTO member governments agreed to launch new negotiations. They also agreed to work on other issues, in particular the implementation of the present agreements. The entire package is called the Doha Development Agenda (DDA).
These are the principal documents agreed by WTO member governments at important stages in the trade negotiations that were launched by the Doha Ministerial Conference in November 2001.
The July 2008 package is a stepping stone on the way to concluding the Doha Round. The main task before WTO members was to settle a range of questions that would shape the final agreement of the Doha Development Agenda. Consultations took place among a group of ministers representing all interests in the negotiations.
The agriculture negotiations began in 2000, under a commitment members made in the 1986–94 Uruguay Round to continue reform in the trade. They were brought into the Doha Round when it was launched in 2001.
Non-agricultural products include industrial goods, manufactured goods, textiles, fuels and mining products, footwear, jewellery, forestry products, fish and fisheries, and chemicals. Collectively, they represent almost 90% of world merchandise exports.
Services such as telecommunications, banking, insurance, construction, distribution and transport help to enhance overall economic performance.
The Negotiating Group on Rules covers anti-dumping; subsidies and countervailing measures, including fisheries subsidies; and regional trade agreements.
“TRIPS” is “trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights”. One group of countries asked for three intellectual property issues to be part of the agenda for the July 2008 meeting of a group of ministers, and to link them with agriculture and NAMA modalities. Another group opposes both the linking and the assertion that the subjects are ready for negotiations based on draft texts.
