At the Bali Conference, members agreed to prepare a work programme for concluding the Doha Round negotiations by the end of 2014 (see the Ministerial Declaration, paragraph 1.11).

At the meeting on 1 April, members stressed the importance of the services negotiations in the Doha Round and expressed their readiness to engage in the post-Bali work programme. They said the three market access areas — services, agriculture and non-agricultural market access (NAMA) - should be addressed in parallel. Delegations stressed the need to concentrate on what was ’doable’ and to advance on the basis of transparency and inclusiveness.

Some members said that the level of ambition in services would have to be commensurate with those in agriculture and non-agricultural market access. Balance was also needed within the services agenda, including between market access and rule-making. Several delegations reiterated their call to place the development dimension at the heart of the negotiation. 

A number of delegations said it was important to avoid “sequencing” the different market access areas which, in their view, had placed the services negotiations at a disadvantage. They asked for negotiations to take place concurrently while others emphasized that the agriculture negotiations are central to the Doha Round.

With respect to the plurilateral negotiations on services taking place outside the WTO, a variety of views were expressed. Most members saw them as a parallel process to the multilateral negotiations. Some warned of negative consequences resulting from these negotiations while others considered that possible synergies should be further explored. A few delegations thought that such initiatives could undermine the multilateral process.

In terms of what needs to be done before members submit their revised services offers — a key future step of the services talks — many members underscored the need for openness to new approaches. One suggestion was to take inspiration from regional trade agreements on services, where many members had gone well beyond the provisions contained in the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) by binding existing levels of market access.  Other suggestions involved focusing on groups of sectors, such as those linked to the digital economy, electronic commerce, supply chains, trade facilitation, or interests of developing countries. Some delegations also expressed concerns about “cherry picking” issues.

The new chairperson, Colombian Ambassador Gabriel Duque, welcomed members’ “willingness to move forward” and urged members to come forward with more precise proposals so as to facilitate discussions on the services component of the work programme.