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Following the successful global trade talks at the fourth World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial Conference held in Doha in 2001, the fifth WTO Ministerial Conference was held at Cancun in Mexico in 2003. The conference, which opened with the aim of reducing trade barriers and strengthening the international trading system, was stalled due to major differences between the developing countries and the developed countries on several issues, ending the conference in deadlock. While developed and developing countries blamed each other for the failure of the conference, others blamed the WTO. For the next conference, to be held in Hong Kong in 2005, to be successful, both the developed and the developing countries have to contribute their share of the effort. The case study promotes an understanding of the role of the Ministerial Conferences in improving global trade, the differing preferences of developed and developing countries on several issues of global trade and the impact of the success or failure of the conference in arriving at a consensus on the various aspects of an international trading system. The case also offers scope for discussion on the validity of each group''s preferences on the pending issues for negotiations, and also the required efforts by each group for the progress of international trade. A structured assignment ''205-025-4'' is available to accompany this case.