WTO negotiations: The state of play

Sixteen months after the failure of the World Trade Organization conference in Seattle, talks on a political level have made no important progress. On the contrary, the gap between developing and developed countries has widened. However, preparatory work is proceeding on a technical level in the two areas of agriculture and services. 120 countries (85% of the WTO member states) have submitted 44 official proposals to the WTO secretariat for negotiations on the further liberalization of farm trade. Will the next ministerial WTO conference in November 2001 inaugurate a new round of negotiations on the liberalization of world trade? That is still an open question.