-

Abstract

The multilateral trading system's ffuture is a major concern for individual countries policy definition. The suspensión of the Doha Round negotiations seems to be jeopardizing the system, although it is still too early to reach any definitive conclusión. This document reviews the main difficulties underlying the suspensión of negotiations and the eventual consequences for the system of a more sustained impasse or the outright failure of the process. Moreover, the paper underlines the negotiating positions of the Latin American and Caribbean countries, identifying differences and commonalities within the region as well as the various negotiating blocks established according to the «variable geometry» approach. Notwithstanding the apparently mixed political mosaic of the región there is a significant number of areas which could contribute to defining a common position vis a vis such elements of negotiations as agriculture, NAMA, services and trade facilitation.