Beginning or the End?

A detailed policy brief on what WTO Members must and must not do in the field of negotiations is found in the CATO website titled 'Was Buenos Aires the Beginning of the End of the End of the Beginning? The Future of the World Trade Organization'. 

James Bacchus talks about the relevance of the negotiating function and what should be done.

Members must begin to negotiate in new ways that will lead to new trade agreements— and soon. If WTO members wait, if they hesitate, if they simply talk without really negotiating, and if they fail to act immediately on their shared realization that new challenges necessitate a new way of doing things, then the next ministerial conference of the WTO in 2019 may be the last one that many involved in trade policymaking will bother to attend.

 Whether the negotiating function will regain its momentum, what issues will gain significance and which ones will lead to fruition will depend on a variety of factors including national alignments, alliances and priorities.