In Spring 2008, during efforts to finalise the WTO negotiations on agriculture and market access for non-agricultural goods (NAMA), the European Union (EU) and the United States (US) have insisted that commitments on further liberalisation of trade in services in WTO General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) be part of any Doha negotiation deal that comes out. Previous experience of negotiations under GATS, including on the 'collective request' process, and free trade agreements (FTAs), have shown that the EU, the US, as well as Canada, are very keen to get more commitments in financial services. However, a deal that further liberalises financial services could exacerbate the likelihood of future crises, not only in the financial markets but also the food markets.

Retification of one sentence (p. 7 of PDF-file). Sentence: 'Within a context where financial regulation and supervision are clearly inadequate, efforts by the chair of the services negotiations and WTO Director General to ensure more liberalisation commitments with “no priority exclusion of any service sector or mode of supply”vi is not appropriate.' must be: 'Within a context where financial regulation and supervision are clearly inadequate, efforts by the chair of the services negotiations and WTO Director General to ensure more liberalisation commitments with “no a priori exclusion of any service sector or mode of supply” is not appropriate.'