The Doha Development Agenda (DDA) launched in 2001was supposed to achieve further trade liberalisation while at the same time taking into account the needs of developing countries. Ten years have passed since its inception. No end of the Round is in sight and the possibility of a full failure looms in the background. This policy note addresses the following questions: Why does the DDA seem to evolve towards failure? What could be done to rescue the Doha Round?
Saner, Raymond & Yiu, Lichia: (2011) Sustainable transborder business cooperation in the European regions: the importance of social entrepreneurship, Edward Elgar Publ., Cheltenham, UK • Northampton, MA, USA
CSEND founders conducted research and wrote draft document for the WHO on intersectoral action for health. The publication goes back to the 1986 but is fully relevant for today’s health sector of all countries, developed or developing.
The internationalization of education services is a politically contested subject. Trade in education is debated between market liberalizers and protectionists and is played out within countries and their different stakeholders, for example between government ministries (e.g. ministry of trade versus ministry of education) and between government and the private sector (privately owned schools versus publically run schools). A balance needs to be struck between consumer protection and the rights of governments to pursue high quality education without falling into the trap of closing market access to foreign education service providers.
Negotiations at WTO and UNFCCC are both in limbo putting at risk international cooperation in key sectors of world development. International governance options are urgently needed to strengthen multilateral negotiations at the WTO and UNFCCC to avoid full deadlock and possible major trade and environmental conflicts. This policy brief written in June 2011 offers solutions which are not “WTO-UNFCCC speak” but rather based on “out of the box thinking”.