World Trade Organization Seattle Ministerial: Outcomes and Lessons Learned

Abstract

WTO member countries failed to meet their goal of launching a new round of multilateral trade negotiations at their biennial ministerial conference last December in Seattle. The conference was suspended without initiating a new round or issuing a ministerial declaration. No one factor, but a combination of circumstances, led to the impasse. However, two themes emerged. First, there was lack of agreement on many issues both among major trading partners and between developed and many developing countries on the eve of the ministerial conference. Disagreement centered on the scope of the round and stemmed from the sensitivity and complexity of the issues being addressed. Second, the Seattle negotiation process had inherent difficulties.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 10, 2000
Accession Number
ADA373473

Entities

People

  • Susan S. Westin

Organizations

  • United States Government Accountability Office

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Agreements
  • Agriculture
  • Commerce
  • Electronic Mail
  • European Union
  • Government (Foreign)
  • Government Procurement
  • Governments
  • Intellectual Property
  • International Organizations
  • International Relations
  • International Trade
  • Investments
  • Lessons Learned
  • Negotiations
  • Nongovernmental Organizations
  • United States

Readers

  • Academic Conference Management
  • International Relations and European Studies
  • Systems Analysis and Design