The Development Round: Main Outcomes, Challenges and Implementation Prospects

The article touches upon current issues in the development of a WTO-based multilateral trade system and the participation of the broadest possible range of nations in this system, with special attention to the agenda of the Fourth and Fifth Ministerial Conferences of WTO memberstates, progress on negotiations and their current status. Bottlenecks in specific areas of the negotiations that have arisen in the course of the discussions, the positions of groups and individual countries are also identified. The article outlines the possibilities of activating and accelerating efforts towards the completion of the liberalization of world trade as envisaged in the agenda of the Development Round.