Meeting under the Chatham House Rule at Schloss Leopoldskron in Salzburg, Austria, from February 16-20, seminar participants sought new ways to understand what's at stake, unblock the process and lay the political groundwork in the WTO, in capitals, and among constituencies and interest groups. The retreat, entitled "Realizing the Doha Development Agenda as if the Future Mattered," was convened by three non-profit foundations with global missions: the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the Salzburg Seminar. Significant expertise and program support was provided by the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) and other leading institutions.

Click here for the complete press release, which includes four major constraints that are standing in the way of a strong conclusion to the negotiations.  Audio of the retreat's outcome presented in Geneva is available from the WTO. 

Interviews with some participants are available as audio files below.

1. Pascal Lamy is Director General of the World Trade Organization. We discuss the current state of the negotiations, what is needed for a breakthrough and what are the potential gains from success and the risks of failure.
Click here to listen to audio (recorded 17 February 2007)

2. Ousmane Badiane is Africa Coordinator and senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute. We discuss what African countries needs from the agriculture negotiations in the Doha Development Round.
Click here to listen to audio (recorded 19 February 2007)

3. Shakeel Mohamed is a member of the Mauritius Parliament and a practicing lawyer. We discuss what is at stake in the negotiations for Mauritius, in particular aid for trade.
Click here to listen to audio (recorded 19 February 2007)

4. Piet Bukman is chairman of the International Food and Agricultural Trade Policy Council. He is a former minister in the government of the Netherlands and has held the trade, agriculture and development portfolios. We examine the agricultural negotiations, from a European perspective.
Click here to listen to audio (recorded 20 February 2007)

5. TS Vishwanath is head of International Trade Policy for the Confederation of Indian Industry in New Dehli. He gives a view of the negotiations from India.
Click here to listen to audio (recorded 20 February 2007)

6. Manzoor Ahmad is Pakistan's ambassador and permanent representative to the WTO in Geneva. He explains the current state of the round in non-agricultural market access.
Click here to listen to audio (recorded 20 February 2007)

7. John Weekes is a former Canadian ambassador to the WTO and was Canada's chief negotiator for the North American Free Trade Agreement. He is currently a senior adviser at the Sidley Austin LLP law firm in Geneva. As a long time trade policy insider, he shares his assessment of where the round is going.
Click here to listen to audio (recorded 20 February 2007)

8. Jim Kolbe is a senior transatlantic fellow at the German Marshall Fund. Prior to this, he served as a Republican representative from Arizona in the US House of Representatives for twenty two years. Linda Menghetti is a former chief minority staff counsel to the Senate Finance Committee, where she worked for Democratic senators. She is currently Vice President of the Emergency Committee for American Trade, an organization representing US industries. We discuss the role being played by the US Congress in the end game of the Doha Round.
Click here to listen to audio (recorded 20 February 2007)

9. Sheila Page is a senior research associate of the Overseas Development Institute in London and has advised African and Latin American developing countries in multilateral and regional trade negotiations. She explains why she is pessimistic about a positive conclusion to the Doha Round.
Click here to listen to audio (recorded 20 February 2007)