Sensitive Products: Implications of the Chair’s Draft Modalities Text
2nd May 2008
In recent weeks, WTO Members have engaged in intensive negotiations over the modalities for the liberalisation of their “sensitive products” - a part of the talks which is increasingly being seen as a ‘gateway issue’ for the agriculture negotiations more broadly, and even for the Doha Round as a whole. However, the considerable technical complexity of the issue has meant that many policy-makers, negotiators and other stakeholders have not engaged fully in the debate so far. This dialogue aims to clarify and explain some of the trade and development implications of the chair’s draft modalities on sensitive products, by exploring which products might be designated as sensitive by selected developed countries, and by taking into consideration the likely impact this would have on exports from developing countries.