World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of 1999
The WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999 was the third Ministerial-level meeting of the World Trade Organization, convened at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle, Washington, USA, over the course of four days, from Tuesday, 30 November 1999 to Friday, 3 December 1999. Anti-globalization activists organized large-scale protests of the meeting, sometimes known as the Battle of Seattle. Direct action tactics forced the WTO Ministerial Conference to begin late on 30 November and contributed to the meeting ending without agreement on 3 December.
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Dais of speakers and banners at the Seattle WTO Ministerial Conference | |
| Date | 30 November – 3 December 1999 |
|---|---|
| Location | Seattle, Washington, USA |
| Participants | World Trade Organization member countries |
| Previous event | Geneva WTO Ministerial Conference |
| Next event | → Doha WTO Ministerial Conference of 2001 |
Intended as the launch of a new round of multilateral trade negotiations that would have been called "The Millennium Round", the Ministerial Conference negotiations were marred by poor organization and controversial management of large street protests. A week before the meeting, delegates admitted failure to agree on the agenda and the presence of deep disagreements with developing countries. Developing country representatives became resentful and uncooperative on being excluded from talks as the United States and the European Union attempted to cement a mutual deal on agriculture.
The negotiations collapsed and were reconvened in Doha, Qatar, in November 2001. The Doha venue enabled on-site public protest to be excluded. Necessary agenda concessions were made to include the interests of developing countries, which had by then further established their own negotiation blocs, such as the Non-Aligned Movement and the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation. Thus, the current round is called the Doha Development Round, which remained stalled (or in the view of some observers, "dead") as a result of diverging perspectives regarding tariffs, agriculture, and non-tariff barriers such as agricultural subsidies.
An official history of the WTO by Craig VanGrasstek observed, "For free-traders the Seattle Ministerial Conference was the worst of times, fittingly held in a winter of despair." Economist and opponent of the WTO Millennium Round Martin Khor attributed the collapse of negotiations to "the untransparent and undemocratic nature of the WTO system, the blatant manipulation of that system by the major powers, and the refusal of many developing countries to continue to be on the receiving end."