Project Team: Dr. Nagesh Kumar, Dr. Rajesh Mehta, Dr. Sachin Chaturvedi, Dr. Pooja Sharma, Dr. Somesh Mathur, Mr. Abinash Dash, et al.
RIS work on the Doha Round of WTO Negotiations includes analytical support provided to negotiators of developing countries in select areas of negotiations, as summarized elsewhere in this Report. In addition, RIS takes a broader view of the world trading system as emerging from these negotiations and its implications for development. As a part of this the RIS launched the World Trade and Development Reports (WTDR) in 2003. Favourable feedback received from policy makers and the international development organizations prompted the RIS to produce this Report regularly. RIS published the World Trade and Development Report 2007 – Building a Development Friendly World Trading System in February 2007. The Report presents a broad overview of the emerging multilateral trading system including the asymmetries, its impact on development and challenges for developing countries. Then it reflects on the development issues and makes proposals for a development friendly-outcome for each of the key issues in the Doha Round, viz. agriculture, nonagricultural market access (NAMA), trade in services; trade facilitation, TRIPs, indigenous knowledge, and geographical indications; dispute settlement understanding. Finally, the Report highlights the importance of South-South cooperation in achieving a more development-friendly outcome in the Round besides promoting mutual trade and investments. The Report was launched by Mr. Kamal Nath, Hon’ble Minister of Commerce & Industry, Govt. of India, at a joint event organized by RIS and Oxford University Press in New Delhi on 23 February 2007. A draft version of the Report was earlier presented and discussed at the WTO Public Forum held in Geneva in September 2006 (see report elsewhere). WTDR07 has been supported by the UNDP, New York and the Commonwealth Secretariat, London.