SUPACHAI PANITCHPAKDI DIRECTOR GENERAL WTO RELEASES CII PUBLICATION ON THE DOHA DEVELOPMENT AGENDA

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Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi, DG-WTO, released a publication titled "Doha Development Agenda -- A Global View" brought out by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) at Cancun (Mexico) on 9 September in the presence of Mr. Arun Jaitley, Minister of Commerce & Industry and Law & Justice, Government of India. The event also saw the presence of Singapore Trade Minister, Mr. George Yeo.

The book is essentially an inquiry into the prospects of the much debated Doha Round. The volume assembles, in one place, various points of view from diverse thinkers on the issues currently under negotiations.

Trade experts like WTO Dr Panitchpakdi and eminent personalities who are participating in the Cancun Ministerial Conference of the WTO including Mr. Jaitley, European Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy, UK Secretary of State for Trade & Industry Patricia Hewitt, Australian Trade Minister Mark Vaile, New Zealand Minister for Trade Negotiations Jim Sutton, have contributed to the publication with their valuable inputs to address the primary concern behind the idea of this volume.  

The Fourth WTO Ministerial at Doha had an ambitious negotiating mandate in a Work Programme that was launched on September 14 2001, to be completed by 2005. However, ever since its launch, the Doha Development Agenda, has been facing rough weather. Missed deadlines have been the main stumbling block in the way of negotiations and threaten to undermine the credibility of multilateral trade dialogues. The CII publication has, therefore, a special significance in the above context.