The focus on development adopted at the WTO’s Doha Ministerial Meeting in 2001 has changed the architecture of multilateral trade
negotiations, with development issues assuming a central position in the WTO negotiation spaces and agreements. In this paper, we assess the
extent to which the concerns of developing countries have been addressed in the TFA substantive provisions and special and differential
treatment (S&DT) provisions for developing countries. We find that the TFA approach resembles a traditional approach to addressing concerns
of developing countries and follows closely the already trodden path of the Uruguay S&DT discipline. An important cluster of issues that did not
find its way into the TFA is that relating to regional approach in implementation of TFA. The TFA holds the promise of contributing positively to
the development process in less developed countries if the promise of support is realized and developing countries set clear and objective
targets to make effective use of the assistance, but in itself may not guarantee the realization of development objectives for developing and
least developed countries. Provision of support and capacity building are unguranteed by nonbinding nature of the relevant provisions. This is
the input that international partners could, and should, make to the realization of development objective of TFA.