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The Fourth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation in Doha, in November last year, achieved its goal of launching a new round of multilateral trade negotiations. The meeting ended with the adoption of the Ministerial Declaration. The declaration provides the mandate for negotiations on a range of subjects and other work, including issues concerning the implementation of the present agreements.

The Nedlac delegates who attended the Doha meeting, said that a particular victory of the declaration was its focus on development, in particular the trade-related technical assistance and capacity building that must be provided to developing countries to help them engage fully in the negotiation process.

The negotiations include those on agriculture and services, which began in early 2000. A number of other issues have now been added. The declaration sets 1 January 2005 as the date for completing all but two of the negotiations. Negotiations on the Dispute Settlement Understanding are to end in May 2003; those on a multilateral register of geographical indications for wines and spirits, by the next Ministerial Conference in 2003. Progress is to be reviewed at the Fifth Ministerial Conference in 2003 (to be held in Mexico).

Some of the issues that are to be negotiated include:
In new negotiating groups:

• Market access for non-agricultural products
• WTO rules (anti-dumping, subsidies, regional trade agreements)
• In existing bodies:
• Agriculture: in special sessions of the Agriculture Committee
• Services: in special sessions of the Services Council
• Geographical indications, a multilateral registration system: in special sessions of the Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). Other TRIPS issues given priority in regular TRIPS Council meetings
• Dispute Settlement Understanding: in special sessions of the Dispute Settlement Body
• Environment: in special sessions of the Trade and Environment Committee
• Negotiations on outstanding implementation issues: in relevant bodies according to paragraph 12 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration.

Principles of the negotiations

Single undertaking: Virtually every item of the negotiation is part of a whole and indivisible package and cannot be agreed separately. "Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed".

Participation: The negotiations are open to all WTO members and to observer governments negotiating or intending to negotiate membership. But decisions on the outcomes are only taken by members.

Transparency: The negotiations have to be transparent.

Special and differential treatment: The negotiations have to take fully into account the principle of special and differential treatment for developing and least-developed countries.

Development: The Trade and Development Committee identifies and debates developmental aspects of the negotiations.

Environment: The Trade and Environment Committee does the same for environmental aspects.

Subjects not negotiated: Elements of the work programme which do not involve negotiations are also accorded a high priority. The General Council is to report on their progress to the Fifth Ministerial Conference in 2003.