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A new process of consultations aimed at accelerating agreements over a work programme to complete the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) has kicked off, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) said this week.
During the first 2015 open-ended meeting with all members on Wednesday, WTO director-general Roberto Azevêdo launched the “intensive process” to meet the new July deadline set at a special meeting of the General Council in November last year.
The work programme on the DDA, also known as the Doha Round, stalled in July last year – in effect paralysing all multilateral negotiations in the WTO – after members hit an impasse over the implementation of certain Bali decisions.
The impasse related to the political link between the decision on public stockholding for food security purposes and the adoption of the protocol of amendment on the Trade Facilitation Agreement.
The deadlock had been broken at the General Council meeting when the 160 WTO members adopted the Bali trade reform package and committed to resuming the organisation’s post-Bali work and to engage constructively on the implementation of all the Bali ministerial decisions, including the work programme on the remaining Doha Round issues.
“We must maximise the time we have available to us before July — and maintain the momentum that we regained at the end of 2014. Today we are restarting our conversation on all of these issues. So be ready – and get involved,” Azevêdo urged.
Detailed discussions on the substantive issues of the DDA, including agriculture and non-agricultural market access and services, as well as development and issues of interest to least developed countries, would be convened by the chairpersons of the various negotiating groups and Azevêdo.
“Meetings will be held in a variety of formats and configurations. Replicating the inclusive and transparent approach that proved effective in the lead up to Bali, regular meetings of all members will be the spine of this work,” the director-general said.
The next such meeting was scheduled for January 29.
Azevêdo urged members to build on the progress that had been made during 2014, maintain a sense of urgency and a high level of engagement and identify and prioritise the issues that are of the “most substantive importance”, while targeting outcomes that are “doable” for all parties and tackling all issues simultaneously as opposed to sequentially.