Outcome and Implications of the Nairobi Ministerial Conference

The outcome of the bi-annual WTO ministerial gathering held in Nairobi, Kenya (MC10) can cautiously be evaluated as a 'stopgap solution' to the question of whether the Doha Round would stay alive post-Nairobi. In short, the small package of deals struck at the ministerial prevented the collapse of the multilateral system as a whole, but fell short of reaffirming the continuation of the Doha Round. The Nairobi Ministerial closed without delivering any concerted position on how to deal with the future of the WTO agenda and what approach to employ in tackling the multilateral trade agenda. The 10th WTO Ministerial Conference may be credited for achieving agreement on several important issues on the agriculture agenda, especially export competition issues such as the elimination of export subsidies that distort agriculture trade. The agreement may have been a strategic move to prevent the DDA from falling apart since the Ministerial was the first to be held in an African member country, making achievement on issues of interest to the developing and LDCs all the more significant. The outcome of the Nairobi Ministerial could also be evaluated as being rather 'balanced' since the major countries were able to go back with claims that their national interests were appropriately reflected in the end. The future of the Doha Development Round, however, still remains in the dark since there is no clear reaffirmation of the DDA. With the developed country groups quite opposed to continuing multilateral negotiations in the current format, it may not be realistic to predict that the DDA will sustain its form. In the end, this would imply a new form of DDA, i.e. 'DDA 2.0', with the support of all WTO members and coverage of all "new issues" on the multilateral trade agenda that are addressed in a "new approach".