Ultimately, at the fourth ministerial conference in Doha, Qatar, in  November 2001, WTO members were able to reach consensus on a new  negotiating effort, officially called the Doha Development Agenda. Finally,  the tragic events of September 11th helped galvanize WTO members to show  their support for a strong and healthy worldwide trading system. U.S.-EU Relationship Was Critical

The strong support on the part of the United States and the European  Union for the negotiations, bolstered by the positive relationship between  the U.S. Trade Representative and the EU Commissioner for Trade, helped  bring together other WTO members on specific issues and on the overall  goal of launching a new set of global trade negotiations. Key Developments in Doha Won Developing Country Support

WTO officials and foreign representatives said that two developments at  the Doha ministerial conference were crucial to gaining developing  countries’ support to launch a new set of negotiations. Meeting Interim Deadline on Agricultural Trade Crucial but Difficult

According to several WTO member country representatives and senior  WTO officials, whether WTO members meet the March 31, 2003, interim  deadline for establishing the agricultural modalities (that is, numerical  targets, timetables, and formulas for countries’ commitments) specified in  the Doha Declaration will be a crucial indicator of the likelihood of success  in the overall negotiations. For the European Union, the goals set out in the Doha Declaration  for phasing out export subsidies present a serious challenge. A third aspect of the decision on modalities is to devise a formula for  reducing tariffs on agricultural products. For example, the outcome of the ministerial  conference in September 2003 in Cancun, Mexico, will be a critical  indication of whether key decisions on agricultural trade and the Singapore  issues can be made. The negotiations on market access for nonagricultural goods face several  difficulties. They are also to liberalize trade in environmental goods and  services. Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

The Ranking Minority Member of the Senate Committee on Finance, the  Chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means, and the Chairman  of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade asked us to (1)  analyze the factors that contributed to the Doha ministerial conference’s  successful launch of new WTO negotiations, (2) analyze the key interim  deadlines for the most sensitive issues, from the present time through the  next ministerial conference in 2003, and (3) evaluate the most significant  challenges facing the WTO in the overall negotiations.
What GAO Found

In November 2001, the World Trade Organization launched a new set of multilateral negotiations at its ministerial conference in Doha, Qatar. The ministerial conference was important because it laid out an ambitious agenda for a broad set of new multilateral trade negotiations, set forth in the Doha Ministerial Declaration. The declaration calls for a continuation of discussions on liberalizing trade in agriculture and services which began in 2000. In addition, it provides for new talks on market access for nonagricultural products, trade and the environment, trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights, and other issues. Four main factors led to the World Trade Organization's successful launch of new multilateral trade negotiations in Doha. First, the United States' and the European Union's clear support of the launch, bolstered by the strong personal relationship between the U.S. Trade Representative and the European Union Commissioner for Trade, facilitated agreement on the agenda for new negotiations. Second, World Trade Organization members applied an effective preparation strategy before the Doha ministerial conference. Third, some key developments at the Doha conference helped gain support from the developing countries for launching negotiations. Last, World Trade Organization officials and member country representatives said that the tragic events of September 11th galvanized Organization members to show their support for a strong and healthy worldwide trading system. The Doha Declaration requires negotiators to make early, crucial decisions because it mandates several important interim deadlines. One of these deadlines involves decisions on agricultural trade, where World Trade Organization members must agree on modalities, or methodologies, timetables, and desired targets, for reducing agricultural export subsidies, domestic support, and agricultural tariffs by March 31, 2003. The second interim deadline concerns the "Singapore issues," which Organization members must decide whether to include in the negotiations by the next ministerial conference in September 2003. The overriding challenge for the World Trade Organization in the negotiations will be to forge consensus within its large and diverse membership and to deal with several difficult organizational issues. In addition, the Organization will need to overcome the negative effects of outside events, such as disputes among its key members.