Is leaving the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) in abeyance and the WTO in isolation the best policy strategy in the current economic environment? Isn’t one of the central lessons of the recent financial and economic crisis that multilateral cooperation and responsive international institutions and regulatory settings, are central to economic recovery and future stability? In this context, this session will debate the relevance and importance of bringing early closure to the DDA.

With macroeconomic policy responses to the crisis now exhausted for many countries, and unemployment continuing to rise, it is worth considering whether there will be increased pressure to resort to non-market interventions.. The multilateral trading system is as much about establishing the rules, regulation, and predictability of engagement in international commerce (notably to protect the interests of the poorest countries), thereby providing an enabling global trading environment, as it is about market access. Have policy makers lost sight of this?

The trade agenda has changed and is changing, particularly in its relation to climate change, energy, food security and labour standards. Can these pressing and important issues be addressed without concluding the DDA?

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