Doha defeated by contrary goals, rear-view mandate

Joseph Francois argues the Doha Round was strangled by an outdated agenda and unworkable principles, including the MFN rule. We're better-off burying our mistakes, he argues, and moving on.

"In a sense, developing countries are collectively asking that food prices go up and down at the same time. The inconsistency reflects divergent interests across the newer, non-OECD members of the WTO. It also highlights the fact that remaining impasses over agriculture are as much an excuse as a cause. The problem is irreconcilable differences in views on trade policy, linked to differences in stages of economic development

…The Doha Development Round was as much distraction as opportunity, with an agenda focused too much on intractable and outdated issues. Negotiations of some form should and will resume. The questions are "where?" and "between whom?" It is important that (developing) WTO Members allow them to take shape in Geneva, even if they do not have an immediate interest in participation, so that the plurilateral agreements that emerge are open to future accession. This means that WTO Members will need to be flexible in defining and allowing scope for sector level negotiations, or negotiations between a subset of Members, in place of an integrated process involving all Members."  extract from: VoxEU