My apologies for not writing for nearly a year. I foresaw in my last two blogs that we were entering an intensive busy period in the WTO negotiations. The talks did indeed keep me busy this year, not least before, during and after the meetings in July that were so close to a breakthrough. What none of us foresaw was all the other issues that would come up during the year, culminating in the global financial crisis …

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The failure of the recent WTO Ministerial to achieve its objective of agreeing on modalities for negotiations in agriculture and NAMA is a setback for the Doha Round. The latest in a series of failed attempts, the breakdown of the July talks has led to concerns about the demise of the entire Round. A recent Financial Times editorial even coined the unfortunate but catchy phrase, “dead as a Doha”.

Does this latest setback really mean the end of the Round?

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The failure to reach an agreement in Geneva has severely weakened the Doha round. What could be the consequences of a collapse of the Doha negotiation from the perspective of developing nations?

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