Doha: An Environmental Threat And Opportunity Profile | Zillur Rahman & S K Bhattacharyya

Globalization is alive and well and the WTO will not be found wanting in creating the institutional framework required to impart stability and security to that process. The process of globalization received a boost at Doha when 142 trade ministers from across the world gave their imprimatur to a new round of trade negotiations. Each participant at the Doha ministerial meet will interpret the outcome to mean that his / her point of view has found adequate expression at the global level. Critics of the Doha outcome will charge their respective governments with having been defeated & checkmated in the trade game. The authors strongly emphasize that the above is a meaningless debate as the nature of multilateral negotiations after the Uruguay round has been such that every country must be giving up something to get something else. Further, they present a ready reckoner as to what actually happened at Doha, and lessons that India must draw from the Doha episode regarding what the Doha outcome means for our economic policies in the medium term and our negotiating strategy and tactics in WTO in days to come, through an ETOP analysis.