WTO agrees to launch trade round

Ministers at the fourth WTO Ministerial Meeting in Doha agreed on 14 November 2001 to launch a trade liberalisation round in January 2001. The agreement will help lower barriers to global trade in agriculture, manufactured products and services. Romano Prodi, President of the European Commission, named the trade round the 'Doha Development Round', saying it 'would not be one world against another but a shared agreement'.