Restoring multilateral trade cooperation : reflections on dialogues in five developing countries

Abstract

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is currently in a state of flux and unable to advance its rule‐ making function through the Doha Development Round. Out of this impasse a new architecture of negotiations has emerged, centred on mega‐regional trade agreements and plurilaterals. Although a package was negotiated at the Bali Ministerial Conference in December 2013, since then WTO negotiations have largely returned to their quagmire. Accordingly, this report seeks to synthesise the various ideas that have been posited in five dialogues in key developing countries, across three regions, aimed at revitalising multilateral trade negotiations. Vital issues are discussed with a view to making recommendations on how best to retain the WTO’s central place in the multilateral trading system while accommodating the interests both of those eager to advance trade rules outside the WTO and of developing countries and least developed countries that are not part of mega‐regional and plurilateral negotiations.