The delay had some merits. It allowed some negotiations to progress further than
would have been possible in 1990: for example some aspects of services and intellectual
property, and the creation of the WTO itself. But the task had been immense,
and negotiation-fatigue was felt in trade bureaucracies around the world. The difficulty
of reaching agreement on a complete package containing almost the entire
range of current trade issues led some to conclude that a negotiation on this scale
would never again be possible. Yet, the Uruguay Round agreements contain timetables
for new negotiations on a number of topics. And by 1996, some countries
were openly calling for a new round early in the next century. The response was
mixed; but the Marrakesh agreement did already include commitments to reopen
negotiations on agriculture and services at the turn of the century. These began in
early 2000 and were incorporated into the Doha Development Agenda in late 2001
Morocco.