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On October 27th, The General Council of the WTO released a second draft Ministerial Declaration for the 1Vth Ministerial Conference at Doha. It was accompanied by a proposal for Decisions on the Implementation of Agreements on the TRIPS and on Access to Medicines.

A large number of subjects are still contentious, and many developing countries have stressed that the new texts are still very far from what they had hoped for. It is thought that it is these  texts which will be submitted to the ministerial meeting in Doha.

The first reactions to the new texts are far from indicating unanimous support.  The US declared that the revised text "makes for some advance towards a successful launch of negotiations at Doha, although we still have a long way to go." But a representative of the EU stated that for his part "I can hardly say I'm very optimistic."

Most of the developing countries have condemned the text.  The representative of an Asian country said he would not recommend acceptance of the new text.  Others expressed "shock" and "deep disappointment" at the new formulations.  Most delegations were to prepare their response at the meeting of the General Council on October 31st, at which the texts were expected to be strongly criticized by the developing and least developed countries.

Criticism also came from civil society.  Martin Khor described the revised version as "worse than the first one". Friends of the Earth (Europe) said that it brought "nothing on development, nothing on equity, nothing on the environment or sustainability at the WTO, it's just business as usual once again."  And for the South Center, "All the chatter about the "Development Round" seems suddenly to have died down."

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