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Councils

SANTO DOMINGO COUNCIL - Working for a more secure and fairer world

26-27 November 2001


RESOLUTION ON THE WTO MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE IN DOHA

The Socialist International welcomes the successful conclusion of the WTO Ministerial Conference in Doha and the agreement to launch a new global round of multilateral trade negotiations based on a broad and balanced agenda which reflects the interests of all participants.

Doha was a welcome indication of the international community’s will and ability to work for better global governance on a multilateral basis. The Socialist International regards the declaration on the TRIPS agreement and Public Health as a particularly timely and important commitment. Important progress was also made on environmental questions. The SI nevertheless regrets the impasse on the question of social rights and hopes that this fundamental question for socialists becomes the object of a thoroughgoing dialogue between the countries of the North and the South. The SI will make its contribution from its Working Group.

The Socialist International is committed to the goal of making the next round into one that can rightly be called the Development Round. The declaration adopted in Doha can make this possible. The real hard work will now commence and it is by no means certain that a successful result will be reached.

It is therefore vital that we in the Socialist International, together and in cooperation with all trade unions, NGOs and others, work towards making the round a successful and important step in our endeavours to achieve better global governance and a more equitable distribution of the potential benefits of trade and globalisation.

The progress made in Doha and at the Marrakesh meeting when the convention on climate change was successfully finalised for ratification, point the way towards similar progress which the Socialist International wants to see achieved at the Conference on Development Finance in Monterrey and on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg next year.