The Doha Development Round at the Crossroads
... and what are political and civil society expectations and demands? The World Trade organization’s (WTO) Tenth Ministerial Conference (MC10) will be held from 15th-18th December 2015 in Nairobi, Kenya. The Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, SEATINI and the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) will hold a pre-WTO MC10 Civil Society Conference on the 3rd and 4th November 2015 in Nairobi to gather and debate views.
After 14 years of negotiations, the Doha Round has witnessed stalemates arising from major differences regarding the failure to come up with amicable solutions in agriculture, market access for industrial goods, opening of the service sector particularly between so-called developed and developing countries.
The Conference will bring together a wide range of stakeholders (i.e. Government negotiators, policy makers, academics, representatives from donor agencies, EU, the private sector and civil society) from Africa and Europe to:
• Closely examine the implications of the current state of play in the Doha Development Round (DDR) and engage key government negotiators on the main outstanding issues within the DDR.
• Discuss the recent challenges in World Trade Organisation particularly the budding plurilateral trade arrangements and their implications on the DDR and the Multilateral Trading System.
• Discuss and share civil society strategies for participation in MC10, in MC10 parallel events and beyond.
Further information:
Press release: Civil society calls on WTO to uphold development mandate in the Doha Round