Doha Development Agenda: Objectives, Major Subjects, Results & UPSC Notes

The Doha Development Agenda (DDA) is a series of trade negotiations initiated by the World Trade Organization in Doha, Qatar, in November 2001. Its primary aim is to reduce the trade barriers in the world and enhance the opportunities of global trading on behalf of developing countries to encourage social and inclusive economic growth.

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The Doha Development Round, also known as the Doha Development Agenda, is a World Trade Organisation trade negotiation round that began in November 2001 under the then-director-general Mike Moore. Its goal was to lower trade barriers worldwide, allowing for more global trade. It is a crucial topic in the Economy syllabus for the UPSC Examination. The article below briefs the Doha Development Agenda, followed by detailed explanations. Join the UPSC coaching today and boost your preparation.

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The Doha Round is significant for the UPSC Prelims and GS Paper 2 International Relations of the UPSC Mains curriculum. Study major topics in international relations with the testbook from the perspective of UPSC exams. Join the UPSC coaching today and boost your preparation.

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What is the Doha Development Agenda?

Doha Development Agenda refers to an international trade negotiation and talks. It seeks to assist growth nations in enhancing their economies by lowering trade barriers. It was started by the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001. It deals with agriculture, intellectual property and services-related issues. It promotes and enhances the growth and development of the economy worldwide with more balanced trade policies.

• In 2001, a ministerial-level conference in Doha, Qatar, launched the Doha Agenda.
• The goal was to prioritise the needs of developing countries.
• The summit was primarily convened to address the problems of emerging countries.
• The primary topics explored are trade facilitation, services, rules of origin, and dispute resolution.
• The issue of differentiated and special treatment for developing countries was also raised as a serious concern.

Overview of the Doha Development Agenda

The most recent trade negotiation round of the World Trade Organization ( WTO ) is the Doha Development Agenda ( DDA ). It was initiated in November 2001 to reduce trade barriers since it wanted to put the obstacles down. It also paid attention to enhancing economic growth among developing nations.

• The DDA covers a wide range of issues, including:
  • agriculture, 
  • services, 
  • intellectual property, 
  • trade facilitation and development. 
• It is the most ambitious round of WTO negotiations ever undertaken. Disagreements between developed and developing countries have plagued it.
• As of 2023, the DDA has not been formally completed. However, progress has been made on many issues, including trade facilitation. 
• The Trade Facilitation Agreement was signed in 2013. It is the first multilateral agreement to be concluded under the DDA.
• It is unclear whether the DDA will ever be completed. The negotiations have been complex. There is no consensus on how to resolve the remaining issues. However, the DDA remains an essential goal for the WTO and its members.

WTO Rounds of Trade Negotiations

The WTO has held 9 trade negotiations since it was founded in 1995. The first 8 rounds were held under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). GATT was the predecessor to the WTO. The 9th round, called the Doha Development Agenda (DDA), is still ongoing.

Here is a table of the WTO Rounds of Trade Negotiations, along with the year:

Objectives of the Doha Round

The objectives of the Doha Round are to lower global trade barriers, increase fair market access, and promote economic growth, especially for developing and least-developed countries, by improving their trade opportunities. It also aims to reform international trade rules and reduce subsidies that distort trade.

Agriculture

• To proclaim reaffirms the commitment to establishing a fair and market-oriented trade system through a comprehensive reform agenda.
• To eliminate or reduce barriers and distortions in global agriculture markets.

Services

• To engage in particular issue talks and to engage in subsequent rounds of negotiations to liberalise trade in services gradually.
• To acknowledge previous work, reinforce negotiating rules and processes, and set several crucial calendar parts, most notably the timeframe for ending the discussions as a single project.

Market Access for Non-Agricultural Products

• Lower or eliminate tariffs, especially tariff peaks, high tariffs, and tariff escalation, as well as non-tariff obstacles, particularly on items of export interest to developing nations.
• To acknowledge that these nations do not have to equal or reciprocate in full tariff-cut promises made by other parties.

Trade-Related Aspects Of Intellectual Property Rights(TRIPS)

• To proclaim emphasises the need to implement and interpret the Trade-Related Aspects Of Intellectual Property Rights(TRIPS) Agreement in a way that improves public health.
• The TRIPS Agreement does not and should not exclude member nations from pursuing public health initiatives.
• To emphasize nations' right to use the agreement's flexibilities to avoid hesitation.

Relationship Between Trade and Investment

• To define the scope and description of the concerns and promote openness, non-discrimination, formulate negotiated commitments, balance-of-payments protections, consultation, and dispute settlement.
• To provide stress assistance, technical cooperation for developing and least-developed nations, and collaboration with other international organisations such as the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Interaction between Trade and Competition Policy

• To proclaim, the work must take into consideration all developmental needs.
• To provide technical assistance and capacity building to assess the consequences of increased multilateral cooperation for various socioeconomic goals.

Facilitation of Trade

• To emphasize the need for greater technical support and capacity building in this area and the case for further accelerating the movement, release, and clearance of products, including items in transit.

WTO Rules: Regional Trade Agreements

• To clarify and enhance current WTO principles applicable to regional trade agreements.
• Developing features of regional trade agreements must be considered throughout the discussions.

Dispute Settlement Understanding

• To mandate negotiations and state that these will not be part of a single undertaking.

Major Subjects for Negotiations Covered in the Doha Round

Also, Read about India and WTO!

Benefits of the Doha Development Agenda

The Doha Development Agenda (DDA) benefits developing countries by providing better market access, reducing trade barriers, and offering special and differential treatment. This enables them to participate more effectively in global trade, boosting economic growth and development, especially for the poorest nations. It also aims to simplify customs procedures and reduce subsidies that distort trade. These measures promote fairer trade and help reduce poverty in developing countries.

• There are several potential benefits for developing nations in the Doha Agenda.
• Improved market access to rich-country markets in agriculture, manufactured goods, and services may be the most significant benefit to poor nations if these discussions are successful.
• Something must be done to modify the agricultural subsidies provided by affluent nations.
• Successful agricultural agreements will undoubtedly benefit many developing nations' agro-based businesses.
• Greater cross-border access for natural people might offer poor nations a massive source of revenue through the repatriation of income earned overseas.
• Special and differentiated treatment provisions are critical in the search for balance, relevance, and priority as member nations attempt to define the Doha Agenda's contribution to development.

Also, Read about the WTO Agreements!

Result of Doha Development Agenda

The Doha Round talks have stopped since the participating nations could not agree on trade negotiations due to significant disagreements between rich and developing countries.

The following points can be seen as reasons for the Doha Round's failure as a topic of debate:

• The developed countries, particularly the EU, the United States, Canada, and Japan, disagreed with developing countries (India, Brazil, China, and South Africa) over the Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM)
• The Doha Round negotiations resumed in Geneva in 2008 but were again stopped due to a lack of agreement on the Special Safeguard Mechanism.
• Negotiations that began in Geneva in 2008 were terminated due to disagreements about agricultural trade between the United States, India, and China.
• The Doha discussions, which were followed by ministerial conferences, failed to establish an agreement (especially the breakdown of the Cancun negotiations).
• The SSM and Special Agricultural Safeguard — SSG are specified in the Uruguay Round. Still, many developing nations could not use it as it is accessible only for those items in which non-tariff obstacles have been transformed into equivalent tariff barriers.

Also, Read about the Functions and Objectives of the WTO!

India at the Doha Round

• India needs a long-term solution to the problem of public food stockpiles in developing countries for food security reasons.
• India wanted affluent countries to cut their trade-distorting farm subsidies considerably. It advocates for developing countries to have duty-free and quota-free market access.
• India has consistently opposed expanding the multilateral trading system in the direction of negotiating and implementing multilateral accords on investment, competition policy, and government procurement, as suggested by the 1996 Singapore Ministerial Declaration. Also, read about the Colombo Declaration here!
• During the Doha Round, India's then-Commerce and Industry Minister emphasised the necessity for the WTO accords to reflect the current development deficit, the inequalities in the Uruguay Rounds, and the TRIPS agreement.

Download Key Pointers of India At The Doha Round!

Doha Round and related WTO Ministerial Conferences

The following table lists the WTO Ministerial Conferences (MC) that followed the Doha Round:

Also, Read about the Theories of International Trade!

Conclusion

Despite being a 21-year-old declaration, the Doha negotiations were mostly unsuccessful due to persistent disputes between wealthy and developing nations about WTO settings and IMF and World Bank rules and regulations. Many countries have been so dissatisfied with the Doha deadlock that they have begun negotiating bilateral and regional trade agreements. Failure to meet ambitious goals has harmed the credibility of the multilateral trade system and harmed least-developed nations, keen to export more commodities to richer countries. The Doha negotiations may have ended, but there must be a space for global trade treaties that promote development and long-term economic progress.

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