India in the Doha Development Round

The fourth WTO Ministerial Conference took place in Doha, Qatar, from November 9-14, 2001, and brought together trade ministers from member nations. They decided to start a new round of global trade discussions at the conference. The conversations took place for additional reasons. The United States had been attacked by terrorists on September 11, 2001, just a few months prior to the Doha Ministerial. Several government representatives urged for stronger political unity and regarded the trade talks as a way to achieve that goal. Several authorities believed that a fresh round of multilateral trade negotiations may support a global economy that was being damaged by the recession and unpredictability around the terrorism. The WTO claims that 2001 had “the lowest rise in output in more than two decades” and saw a decline in global trade. At the meeting, negotiations were initially focused on reducing barriers to trade in agriculture, manufacturing and services, a number of other issues emerged over the course of the talk.