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The WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999 was a meeting of the World Trade Organization, convened in Seattle, Washington, USA over the course of three days, beginning November 30, 1999. Intended as the launch of a new millennial round of trade negotiations that would have been called "The Seattle Round", the negotiations were quickly overshadowed by massive and controversial street protests outside the venues where the confererence was taking place. Because of the nearly complete failure of the meeting to accomplish any business, due in large part to the protests outside but also to squabbles amongst delegates, the negotiations were not formally begun until the next meeting which was held at Doha, Qatar, a locale easier to control and police. Thus the current round is called "The Doha Round"

The Seattle establishment had lobbied hard for the event, but the populace of the city were not generally supportive of them in this. As the conference was coming to a close, Seattle Post-Intelligencer columnist Art Thiel wrote, "We blew this WTO gig. Big time. Because our civic ego ran amok. Somewhere, somehow, there has been created a profound disconnect between our wealth-enamored leadership and the vast majority of Puget Sound-area residents. here was no debate on WTO, only a wink and a pat on the head from the poobahs."

Notes

1. Art Thiel, Seattle will remember when we blew it with the WTO gig, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, December 3, 1999.

External links

• Seattle Selected to Host WTO, Washington Council on International Trade, January 25, 1999.
• Seattle Aftermath, Online NewsHour, January 18, 2000.
• Art Thiel, Rage, sense of betrayal running deep in WTO-wounded Seattle, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, December 3, 1999.
• Seattle Weekly Editors Answering WTO's big questions, Seattle Weekly, August 2, 2000.

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