WTO Doha Round Update
This update summarises key WTO Doha Round-related activities and developments.
WTO’s Eighth Ministerial Conference
The WTO’s Eighth Ministerial Conference (MC8) was held in Geneva from 15 to 17 December 2011. The Ministerial Conference is the highest decision-making body of the WTO, and Ministers from most of the WTO’s 153 Member States attended, including Trade Minister Dr Emerson.
At MC8, Ministers emphasised the value of the rules-based multilateral trading system and agreed to make it more responsive to the needs of Members, especially in the current global economic environment. They reaffirmed the vital role of the WTO in governing global trade. The Chairman’s Concluding Statement provides an overview of the key issues discussed.
Trade Minister Dr Emerson’s addressed the MC8 Plenary Session on 15 December 2011. He advocated for MC8 to deliver a strong message against protectionism. He also continued to advocate for considering new ways to take the Doha Round forward, including to ensure we deliver benefits to the world’s poorest countries. More detail on outcomes at MC8 follows:
Combating protectionism
More than 50 countries, representing 70 percent of world GDP, joined Australia in making a Pledge against Protectionism. The Pledge called, in the strongest terms, to fight all forms of protectionism including barriers to trade in goods and services, new export restrictions or implementing WTO-inconsistent measures in all areas including those that stimulate exports.
Taking the Doha Round forward
Ministers recognised the Round was at an impasse and that it was unlikely that all elements of the Round could be concluded simultaneously in the near future. Australia was pleased Ministers reiterated their commitment to a successful multilateral conclusion to the Doha Round and acknowledged the need to explore different negotiating approaches while respecting the principles of transparency and inclusiveness.
Australia was encouraged by the broad support for considering various new pathways for the Round. This included breaking the negotiations into smaller, more manageable components and attempting to reach early agreement where achievable and thinking of new innovative pathways to deal with more intractable issues.
Australian commitment to helping developing and least developed countries
Dr Emerson reiterated at MC8 the Prime Minister’s pledge, made during the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in October 2011, that Australia will continue to provide duty-free and quota-free market access for imports from least developed countries (LDCs), and urged other countries to do the same.
Dr Emerson also announced, jointly with former Foreign Minister Rudd, a new $16 million package of Australian assistance to help developing countries and LDCs benefit from global trade, including in key areas such as trade development, trade policy and building productive capacity.
The package comprises multi-year funding for the WTO Global Trust Fund, the Enhanced Integrated Framework, and the International Trade Centre and the World Intellectual Property Organization. These organizations all play important roles on aid for trade and their trade and development priorities closely match Australia’s. More details on this assistance can be found on the department’s Trade and Development page.
Ministerial Decisions
In the final MC8 session, Ministers adopted a number of decisions on intellectual property, electronic commerce, small economies, least developed countries’ accession, a services waiver for least developed countries, and trade policy reviews. These decisions help strengthen the WTO institutionally and benefit LDCs in particular. More detail on these decisions can be found on the WTO’s website.
New WTO Members
Australia joined other WTO Members in welcoming four more members to the WTO – Vanuatu, Samoa, Russia and Montenegro. These countries will automatically become WTO Members 30 days after notifying ratification to the WTO.