ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the issues that came to the fore in the world trading system in 2001, as the trauma of the failure of Seattle receded and negotiations over launching a new World Trade Round were gathering speed, in preparation for the World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial meeting in the autumn of that year. It focuses on the weaknesses that showed up at Seattle in the WTO as an organisation, and the need for change in the ways it works. The WTO has a new generation of members, many of them developing countries, and some of the members of longer standing have advanced and diversified their economic interest since they first joined. The Uruguay Round led to an agreement on services which, as with agriculture. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development put the gains from the Uruguay Round at over $200bn per year.
