ABSTRACT
The November 2010 meeting of the G-20 in Seoul concluded with a familiar “must do harder” refrain on the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Doha round (DDA—the Doha Development Agenda). Couched in terms of a belief that “trade can be an effective tool for reducing poverty and enhancing growth in developing countries [and] LICs [low income countries] in particular” 2 and of “recognizing the concerns of the most vulnerable,” the leaders of the G-20 countries publicly stated their commitment to a “successful, ambitious, comprehensive, and balanced conclusion” consistent with the original Doha mandate, encouraging WTO members to build on “the progress already achieved” with a view to reaching a conclusion to the round in 2011. 3 Few commentators took this aspect of the Seoul Declaration seriously, taking it to be a well meaning, but nonetheless overly optimistic, attempt to paper over the deep divisions that had emerged among member states over key aspects of the negotiations.
