World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of 1999

Intended as the launch of a new round of multilateral trade negotiations that would have been called "The Millennium Round", the Ministerial Conference negotiations were marred by poor organization and controversial management of large street protests. A week before the meeting, delegates admitted failure to agree on the agenda and the presence of deep disagreements with developing countries. Developing country representatives became resentful and uncooperative on being excluded from talks as the United States and the European Union attempted to cement a mutual deal on agriculture.

The negotiations collapsed and were reconvened in Doha, Qatar, in November 2001. The Doha venue enabled on-site public protest to be excluded. Necessary agenda concessions were made to include the interests of developing countries, which had by then further established their own negotiation blocs, such as the Non-Aligned Movement and the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation. Thus, the current round is called the Doha Development Round, which remained stalled (or in the view of some observers, "dead") as a result of diverging perspectives regarding tariffs, agriculture, and non-tariff barriers such as agricultural subsidies.

An official history of the WTO by Craig VanGrasstek observed, "For free-traders the Seattle Ministerial Conference was the worst of times, fittingly held in a winter of despair." Economist and opponent of the WTO Millennium Round Martin Khor attributed the collapse of negotiations to "the untransparent and undemocratic nature of the WTO system, the blatant manipulation of that system by the major powers, and the refusal of many developing countries to continue to be on the receiving end."

1 December

The following text is largely taken from the WTO briefing notes of that date.

Agricultural Working Group

The Agricultural Working Group primarily focused on improving the text of the Draft Ministerial Declaration which they intended to utilise as a starting point for further negotiations regarding agricultural trades and tariffs. The text dealt with:

• The objectives of the negotiations – whether agricultural products should ultimately be treated the same as industrial products.
• Provisions for developing countries (to be discussed on 2 December)
• Reductions in subsidies and protection.
• "Multifunctionality" (how to deal with non-trade objectives such as environmental protection, food security, etc.) and other issues.
• A proposed timetable for the negotiations.

Working Group on Implementation and Rules

Ministers from developing countries demanded that developed economies such as the US and the EU stop controversial agricultural subsidies, which hindered globalisation.

Japan said abusive use of anti-dumping measures should be regarded as a disguised form of protectionism that nullifies tariff reductions overnight. It said that improvement of the AD Agreement is a lynchpin of the new Round, and that many developing countries support this.

Jamaica said that the 71 ACP countries have been marginalised regarding certain issues of the World Trade Organisation. It called for turning S&D into hard commitments, the extension of transition periods for TRIMS and Customs Valuation, and increase in funding and human resources for technical co-operation. It asked that the waiver for preferential trade treatment given to ACP countries must be extended to give time for them to be integrated into the global economy.

Iceland proposed negotiations to remove subsidies on fisheries. It was supported by a number of delegations, including the US, Peru, Indonesia, Norway, Chile and Ecuador.

Working Group on Market Access

Disagreements regarding Market Access centred primarily around:

• Coverage and scope of the negotiations – whether they should cover all non-agricultural products or whether some could be excluded (agricultural products are negotiated under agriculture).
• Overall objective of the negotiations (the current text does not say how much tariffs should be reduced)
• Non-tariff measures affecting access to markets (anti-dumping measures, customs valuation, import licensing, rules of origin, safeguard measures, subsidies, etc.). Differences of opinion exist on many of these issues.
• How the negotiations should be organised.
• How to address developing countries' concerns – one proposal is for exports from least developed countries to be given "bound" zero tariffs in richer countries.

Other Issues

The two other issues considered on 1 December were investment and competition policy. Ministers contemplated whether or not they could agree to start negotiations on investment and/or competition as part of the round of negotiations that will incorporate agriculture, services and other topics; if not, could they agree to develop elements that might eventually be incorporated in agreements on investment and competition and return to the question of whether or not to undertake negotiations at the Fourth Ministerial Session?