The indefinite suspension of the Doha Development Round created significant risks for developing countries in regards to world trade, as well as to the World Trade Organization (WTO). The current WTO trade round was launched, November 2001, in Doha Qatar, and its agenda has been ambitious; aiming to cut barriers in agriculture as well as the highly protected services sector. It also set out to write new globalization policies in areas such as investment and competition. Its main focus though was to help the poor. The rich promised to open their markets in area like farming and textiles to poor countries so heavily dependent on .
these sectors. They also promised to help not just with cash and debt cancellation but also with technical assistance. .
Unfortunately, despite these potential gains, governments in both rich and poor countries have gone back on promises and commitments made to the Doha agenda. The world's developed nations must do all they can to resist the threat of a return to protectionist policies affecting trade and investment, as these would merely worsen the current gloomy economic outlook, EU Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton and OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría said, following a meeting in Brussels. Concluding the Doha Round would be a major contribution and governments should commit to urgent efforts to immediately finalize the Doha Round negotiations, which are so close to completion following the progress made in Geneva in July of this year.
In a joint statement, they committed the European Commission and OECD to working with member countries to strengthen the regulatory framework within which the world economy operates. They also urged governments to resist pressures that would further depress business activity. EU Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton said: "Trade and investment create the dynamism that enables communities around the world to share their skills, experience and opportunities.
