The Doha Round of negotiations was launched in 2001 and was expected to reform around 20 areas of the international trading system. It was also known as the Doha Development Agenda because it was intended to provide improved trading prospects for developing and least-developed countries.

However, due to the lack of progress on many Doha issues, the negotiations stalled. At the 10th Ministerial Conference (MC10) in December 2015, Members could not agree on whether to continue negotiating the Doha Round.

Australia will continue to work with other World Trade Organizaton (WTO) Members to develop a negotiating agenda for the WTO that can achieve results. This will include finding other approaches to reaching agreement on issues not resolved in the Doha Round and negotiating trade liberalising outcomes on new issues facing Australian business today.