The “Development Agenda” adopted at Doha last November during the 4th ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is encountering obstacles to its effective implementation. The Director General of the WTO (and candidate for the post of President) Mike Moore, addressing the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, lamented the lack of an agreement on the conduct of the negotiations of the Agenda, and this risks “causing delays that the WTO can ill afford if the Governments intend to conclude the programme of work established at Doha by 1st January 2005”. The ad hoc Committee given the task of implementing the Agenda must still define the procedures for the conduct of the negotiations, their timetable and structure. Moore also urged the American and European parliamentarians to act as intermediaries with public opinion so as to explain the reasons for the Agenda. In fact, 121 NGOs of “civil society” recently attacked the Doha Declaration, placing its legitimacy in doubt. In a joint document, the NGOs in question speak of a “scandalous process of manipulation and discrimination unacceptable for an international organization like the WTO” and point out the weakness of the pledges made in terms of “food sovereignty”, intellectual property rights and the question of access to medicines. G.A.G.
