In November 2001, the Doha Round (also known as Doha Development Agenda - DDA) was launched at the 4th Ministerial Conference in Doha, Qatar. It is the latest round of trade negotiations among the WTO membership, with the aim to achieve major reform of the international trading system through the introduction of lower trade barriers and revised trade rules.

Doha Ministerial Declaration provided the mandate for the negotiations on about 20 areas of trade such as agriculture, non-agriculture market access, services, intellectual property, development, environment, trade facilitation, rules, Dispute Settlement Understanding, etc. The Ministers also approved the decision on how to address the challenges faced by developing countries in implementing the WTO agreements.

Over the years, the negotiations have progressed in stages albeit the complexity and divergence, where each stage narrowing down differences through interim agreements. The task of the negotiations continues to find common ground and ultimately consensus.