Size of membership, diverging interest because of different stages of development and the depth of regulation undertaken or foreseen in the World Trade Organization (WTO) made the economics and politics of international trade negotiations more complicated. This has repercussions on the negotiating mechanics in the WTO including the continued appropriateness of the technique of ‘rounds’. At the same time, the rational of further trade liberalization in the context of sustainable development is questioned. The widening scope of issues covered – which impact of domestic policies give raise to – quests for more transparency and accountability. The lack of adequate know-how renders the effective participation of developing countries in the negotiating round more difficult or even impossible. New forms of network formation – drawing on the many forms of international cooperation, participation and agenda setting – have to be developed in order to maintain the WTO as the centre of the multilateral rule-based system.
