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Doha Development Agenda: Negotiations, implementation and development

The November 2001 declaration of the Fourth Ministerial Conference in Doha, Qatar, provides the mandate for negotiations on a range of subjects and other work. The negotiations include those on agriculture and services, which began in early 2000.

In Doha, Ministers also approved a linked decision on implementation — problems developing countries face in implementing the current WTO agreements.

Ministerial discussions have taken place in Cancún in 2003, Geneva in 2004, Hong Kong in 2005 and Geneva in 2006 and 2008. See a brief summary of these negotiations.

See also:    > July 2008 package    > Previous negotiations     > The Uruguay Round     > The Doha Ministerial Conference
    > Trade topics     > Ministerial conferences     > General Council     > Aid for Trade    > Groups in the negotiations

See also:
> Briefing notes on some of the main issues of the Doha Round

News of the Doha Development Agenda  back to top

> Follow developments in the Trade Negotiations Committee

The main Doha Declaration  back to top

Most of the subjects treated involve negotiations; other work includes actions under “implementation”, analysis and monitoring.

• Text
• Explanation of the Doha Declaration
• Subjects treated

The implementation decision  back to top

Around 100 implementation issues were raised in the lead-up to the Doha Ministerial Conference. The implementation decision, combined with paragraph 12 of the main Doha Declaration, provides a two-track solution. More than 40 items under 12 headings were settled at or before the Doha conference, for immediate delivery; and the vast majority of the remaining items are immediately the subject of negotiations:

• Text
• Explanation of the implementation decision
• Background on how the decision was reached
• Subjects treated

Development: the heart of the Doha Development Agenda  back to top

When they launched the Doha Round, ministers placed development at its centre. “We seek to place developing countries’ needs and interests at the heart of the Work Programme adopted in this Declaration,” they said. “… We shall continue to make positive efforts designed to ensure that developing countries, and especially the least-developed among them, secure a share in the growth of world trade commensurate with the needs of their economic development. In this context, enhanced market access, balanced rules, and well targeted, sustainably financed technical assistance and capacity-building programmes have important roles to play.”

• Development Aspects of the Doha Round: A Secretariat round-up of issues of interest to developing countries and the potential gains in all areas of the round > Search for document (updated periodically) 

• Speech by Pascal Lamy on launch of Secretariat note

• More on development in the WTO

• More on special treatment for developing countries (“special and differential treatment” or S&D)

• Aid for trade

How the negotiations are organized  back to top

• Explanation
• Trade Negotiations Committee
• 2006 timeline (as decided at the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference)

Workshop

> Workshop on Recent Analyses of the Doha Round (2 November 2010)

LATEST DOCUMENTS

> Documents from the negotiating chairs, 21 April 2011

THE DOHA TEXTS

Introduction Before Doha Doha > Doha Ministerial Declaration > Ministerial Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health > All Doha decisions Organization of work 2002 After Doha > 2003 services modalities > July 2004 frameworks > Hong Kong 2005 TRIPS and health after Doha ------------------------- The complete Doha texts

GENEVA 2008

> July 2008 package

BOOKS

> Doha Round Texts and Related Documents