The world trade organization after Cancún

Introduction The Fifth WTO Ministerial Conference, which was held in Cancún, Mexico in September 2003, ended without any achievement. It was the second fruitless Ministerial Conference since the establishment of the WTO. So far as this aftermath is concerned, some may take it as a victory of the developing countries and thus feel cheerful and encouraged, while others consider it as a foreboding of the WTO's collapse and feel depressed and worried. Some developed countries declared that they would offset the aftermath of the Cancún Conference through bilateral free trade agreements. So, why did the Cancún Conference fail? What are the effects of the failed Concun Conference upon the WTO, the developed countries, the developing countries, and economic globalization? Issues and problems of the Cancún Conference The Cancún Ministerial Conference was the follow-up of the Doha Round. Its main task was to carry out the Doha Declaration, which included the Singapore issues and the implementation of the Uruguay Round Agreements. The Singapore issues include trade and investment, trade and competition, government procurement, and trade facilitation. The implementation of the Uruguay Round Agreements involves many issues, among which the notable ones include trade in services, agricultural trade, intellectual property protection, and dispute settlement. So far as agricultural trade is concerned, the Doha Ministerial Declaration aims at ‘gradually reducing … with a view to phasing out, all forms of export subsidies, and substantial reductions in trade-distorting domestic support’.