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World Trade Organisation Essay Award 2022

Date/Time Date(s) - 06/06/2022 12:00 am

Competition

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has issued a call for young economists to submit papers for the 2022 WTO Essay Award. Essays must be submitted by 6 June 2022.

The aim of the award is to promote high-quality research on trade policy and international trade cooperation and to reinforce the relationship between the WTO and the academic community.

The annual WTO Essay Award provides a prize of 5,000 Swiss Francs to the author(s) of the winning essay. In the case of a co-authored paper, the prize will be equally divided among the authors. The winning paper will be officially announced at the annual meeting of the European Trade Study Group (ETSG), the largest conference specializing in international trade. The award ceremony will take place on 8-10 September 2022 at the University of Groningen in The Netherlands. The winning author will receive funding to attend the meeting.

The paper must address issues related to trade policy and international trade cooperation. The author(s) of the paper must possess or be engaged in the completion of a PhD degree and, if over 30 years of age, be no more than two years past a PhD defence. In the case of co-authored papers, this requirement shall apply to all authors. In addition, to be considered for the award, essays cannot exceed 15,000 words.

More information: https://unric.org/en/call-for-papers-for-2022-essay-competition-for-young-economists/

World Trade Organisation Essay Award 2022 — No Comments

World Trade Organization (WTO) Essay Award 2024

Published: 09 Feb 2024 242 views

The WTO has issued a call for young economists to submit papers for the 2024 WTO Essay Award. The aim of the award is to promote high-quality research on trade policy and international trade cooperation and to reinforce the relationship between the WTO and the academic community.

Table of Content

About World Trade Organisation (WTO)

Wto essay award, aim and benefits of wto essay award, requirements for wto essay award qualification, interview date, process and venue for wto essay award, application deadline, how to apply.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations. At its heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the world’s trading nations and ratified in their parliaments. The goal is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly, predictably and freely as possible. The WTO has many roles: it operates a global system of trade rules, it acts as a forum for negotiating trade agreements, it settles trade disputes between its members and it supports the needs of developing countries. All major decis...&nb... continue reading

The annual WTO Essay Award provides a prize of CHF 5,000 to the author(s) of the winning essay. In the case of a co-authored paper, the prize will be equally divided among the authors. The winning paper will be officially announced at the annual meeting of the European Trade Study Group (ETSG), the largest conference specializing in international trade. The award ceremony will take place on 12-14 September 2024 at Athens University in Greece . The winning author will receive funding to attend the meeting.

The paper must address issues related to trade policy and international trade cooperation.
The author(s) of the paper must possess or be engaged in the completion of a PhD degree and, if over 30 years of age, be no more than two years past a PhD defense.
In the case of co-authored papers, this requirement shall apply to all authors. In addition, to be considered for the award, essays cannot exceed 15,000 words.
Essays must be submitted by 3 June 2024 .
The Economic Research and Statistics Division of the WTO Secretariat will shortlist eligible papers by 17 June 2024 and the selection panel will take a final decision by 8 July 2024 .
Only the author(s) of short-listed essays will be notified. Publication

The winning essay may be published in the WTO Working Paper Series. It is the responsibility of the author(s) to endeavour to secure publication of the contribution in a journal.

Submissions

All submissions should be sent to [email protected] . Submissions should include as separate attachments in PDF format:

1. The essay 2. The CV of the author(s), specifying (i) current affiliation(s), (ii) the academic institution awarding the PhD, (iii) the year (or the expected year) of the PhD, (iv) the date of birth of the author(s).

For more details, visit WTO website.

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World Trade Organization (WTO) Essay Award 2022 for Young Economists (CHF 5,000 Prize & Funded to the annual meeting of the European Trade Study Group at the University of Groningen in The Netherlands. )

Application Deadline: 6 June 2022 .

The WTO established the annual WTO Essay Award for Young Economists in 2009. The award, which carries a prize of CHF 5,000, aims to promote high-quality economic research on the WTO and WTO-related issues and to reinforce the relationship between the WTO and the academic community.

The WTO has issued a call for young economists to submit papers for the 2022 WTO Essay Award. The aim of the award is to promote high-quality research on trade policy and international trade cooperation and to reinforce the relationship between the WTO and the academic community.

Eligibility

The paper must address issues related to trade policy and international trade cooperation.
The author(s) of the paper must possess or be engaged in the completion of a PhD degree and, if over 30 years of age, be no more than two years past a PhD defense.
In the case of co-authored papers, this requirement shall apply to all authors. In addition, to be considered for the award, essays cannot exceed 15,000 words.
The annual WTO Essay Award provides a prize of CHF 5,000 to the author(s) of the winning essay.
In the case of a co-authored paper, the prize will be equally divided among the authors.
The winning paper will be officially announced at the annual meeting of the European Trade Study Group (ETSG), the largest conference specializing in international trade.
The award ceremony will take place on 8-10 September 2022 at the University of Groningen in The Netherlands.
The winning author will receive funding to attend the meeting.

An Academic Selection Panel is responsible for the selection of the winning paper. The panel comprises:

Professor Beata Javorcik (University of Oxford)
Professor Robert Staiger (Dartmouth College)
Professor Alberto Trejos (INCAE Business School).

Submission Deadlines

Essays must be submitted by 6 June 2022 . The Economic Research and Statistics Division of the WTO Secretariat will shortlist eligible papers by 17 June 2022 and the selection panel will take a final decision by 15 July 2022 . Only the author(s) of short-listed essays will be notified.

Publication

The winning essay may be published in the WTO Working Paper Series. It is the responsibility of the author(s) to endeavour to secure publication of the contribution in a journal.

Submissions

All submissions should be sent to [email protected] . Submissions should include as separate attachments in PDF format:

1. the essay 2. the CV of the author(s), specifying (i) current affiliation(s), (ii) the academic institution awarding the PhD, (iii) the year (or the expected year) of the PhD, (iv) the date of birth of the author(s).

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Essay Award 2022

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World Trade Organization Essay Award 2022 for Young Economists

The WTO has issued a call for young economists to submit papers for the 2022 WTO Essay Award. The award aims to promote high-quality research on trade policy and international trade cooperation as well as to reinforce the relationship between the WTO and the academic community.

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a prize of CHF 5,000 to the author(s) of the winning essay.
In the case of a co-authored paper, the prize will have equal division among the authors.
In addition, the winning paper will have an official announcement at the annual meeting of the European Trade Study Group (ETSG), the largest conference specializing in international trade.
Moreover, the winning author will receive funding to attend the meeting.

Eligibility

The paper must address issues related to trade policy and international trade cooperation.
The author(s) of the paper must possess or be completing a Ph.D. degree
Also, if over 30 years of age, be no more than two years past a Ph.D. defense. In the case of co-authored papers, this requirement shall apply to all authors.
In addition, essays cannot exceed 15,000 words.

Also check out: Y20 International Youth Leader and Youth Groups Awards

Submit the essay by 6 June 2022 . The Economic Research and Statistics Division of the WTO Secretariat will shortlist eligible papers by 17 June 2022 and the selection panel will make a final decision by 15 July 2022 . Only the author(s) of short-listed essays will be notified.

Publication

The winning essay may be published in the WTO Working Paper Series. It is the responsibility of the author(s) to endeavor to secure publication of the contribution in a journal.

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Submissions.

All submissions should be sent to [email protected] . Submissions should include as separate attachments in PDF format:

current affiliation(s)
the academic institution awarding the Ph.D.
the year (or the expected year) of the Ph.D.
Also, the date of birth of the author(s).

Specifications

Deadline: June 7, 2021

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The WTO established the annual WTO Essay Award for Young Economists in 2009.

The award, which carries a prize of CHF 5,000, aims to promote high-quality economic research on the WTO and WTO-related issues and to reinforce the relationship between the WTO and the academic community.

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Requirements

The paper must address issues related to trade policy and international trade cooperation.

The author(s) of the paper must possess or be engaged in the completion of a PhD degree and, if over 30 years of age, be no more than two years past a PhD defense. In the case of co-authored papers, this requirement shall apply to all authors.

In addition, to be considered for the award, essays cannot exceed 15,000 words.

More on the WTO Essay Award can be found here .

The annual WTO Essay Award provides a prize of CHF 5,000 to the author(s) of the winning essay.

In the case of a co-authored paper, the prize will be equally divided among the authors.

The winning paper will be officially announced at the annual meeting of the European Trade Study Group , which is the largest conference specializing in international trade. The award ceremony will take place on 9-11 September 2021 in Ghent (Belgium). The winning author will receive funding to attend the meeting.

An Academic Selection Panel is responsible for the selection of the winning paper. The panel comprises:

Professor Beata Javorcik (University of Oxford)
Professor Robert Staiger (Dartmouth College)
Professor Alberto Trejos (INCAE Business School).

Dr Robert Koopman (Director, Economic Research and Statistics Division, WTO Secretariat) is ex officio member of the panel. Dr Roberta Piermartini (Chief, Trade Cost Analysis Section, WTO) coordinates the work of the panel.

Method of Application

All submissions should be sent to [email protected] . Submissions should include as separate attachments in PDF format:

Essays must be submitted by 7 June 2021. The Economic Research and Statistics Division of the WTO Secretariat will shortlist eligible papers by 17 June 2021 and the selection panel will take a final decision by 7 July 2021. Only the author(s) of short-listed essays will be notified.

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Essay on World Trade Organization (WTO)

Read this essay to learn about World Trade Organization (WTO). After reading this essay you will learn about: 1. Introduction to World Trade Organization for International Business 2. Reasons to Join WTO for International Business 3. Functions 4. Decision Making 5. Organizational Structure 6. Principles of the Multilateral Trading System 7. The Deadlock 8. Ministerial Conferences and Other Details.

Essay on World Trade Organization Contents:

Essay on GATT/WTO System and Developing Countries

Essay # 1. Introduction to World Trade Organization for International Business:

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only international organization that deals with global rules of trade between nations. It provides a framework for conduct of international trade in goods and services. It lays down the rights and obligations of governments in the set of multilateral agreements.

In addition to goods and services, it also covers a wide range of issues related to international trade, such as protection of intellectual property rights and dispute settlement, and prescribes disciplines for governments in formulation of rules, procedures, and practices in these areas. Moreover, it also imposes discipline at the firm level in certain areas, such as export pricing at unusually low prices.

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The basic objective of the rule-based system of international trade under the WTO is to ensure that international markets remain open and their access is not disrupted by the sudden and arbitrary imposition of import restrictions.

Under the Uruguay Round, the national governments of all the member countries have negotiated improved access to the markets of the member countries so as to enable business enterprises to convert trade concessions into new business opportunities.

The emerging legal systems not only confer benefits on manufacturing industries and business enterprises but also create rights in their favour. The WTO also covers areas of interest to international business firms, such as customs valuation, pre-shipment inspection services, and import licensing procedures, wherein the emphasis has been laid on transparency of the procedures so as to restrain their use as non-tariff barriers.

The agreements also stipulate rights of exporters and domestic procedures to initiate actions against dumping of foreign goods. An international business manager needs to develop a thorough understanding of the new opportunities and challenges of the multilateral trading system under the WTO.

The WTO came into existence on 1 January 1995 as a successor to the General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Its genesis goes back to the post-Second- World-War period in the late 1940s when economies of most European countries and the US were greatly disrupted following the war and the great depression of the 1930s.

Consequently a United Nations Conference on Trade and Employment was convened at Havana in November 1947.

It led to an international agreement called Havana Charter to create an International Trade Organization (ITO), a specialized agency of the United Nations to handle the trade side of international economic cooperation.

The draft ITO charter was ambitious and extended beyond world trade discipline to rules on employment, commodity agreements, restrictive business practices, international investment, and services. However, the attempt to create the ITO was aborted as the US did not ratify it and other countries found it difficult to make it operational without US support.

The combined package of trade rules and tariff concessions negotiated and agreed by 23 countries out of 50 participating countries became known as General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT): an effort to salvage from the aborted attempt to create the ITO.

India was also a founder member of GATT, a multilateral treaty aimed at trade liberalization. GATT provided a multilateral forum during 1948-94 to discuss the trade problems and reduction of trade barriers.

World Trade Organization membership increased from 23 countries in 1947 to 123 countries by 1994. GATT remained a provisional agreement and organization throughout these 47 years and facilitated considerably, tariff reduction. During its existence from 1948 to 1994, average tariffs on manufactured goods in developed countries declined from about 40 per cent to a mere 4 per cent.

It was only during the Kennedy round of negotiations in 1964-67, that an anti-dumping agreement and a section of development under the GATT were introduced. The first major attempt to tackle non-tariff barriers was made during the Tokyo round. The eighth round of negotiations known as the Uruguay Round of 1986-94 was the most comprehensive of all and led to the creation of the WTO with a new set up of agreements.

Essay # 2. Reasons to Join WTO for International Business:

Despite the disciplinary framework for conduct of international trade under the WTO, countries across the world including the developing countries were in a rush to join the pack. The WTO has nearly 153 members, accounting for over 97 per cent of world trade. Presently, 34 governments hold observer status, out of which 31 are actively seeking accession, including large trading nations, such as Russia and Taiwan.

The major reasons for a country to join the WTO are :

i. Since each country needs to export its goods and services to receive foreign exchange for essential imports, such as capital goods, technology, fuel, and sometimes even food, it requires access to foreign markets. But countries require permission for making their goods and services enter foreign countries.

Thus countries need to have bilateral agreements with each other. By joining a multilateral framework like the WTO, the need to have individual bilateral agreements is obviated as the member countries are allowed to export and import goods and services among themselves.

ii. An individual country is unlikely to get a better deal in bilateral agreements than what it gets in a multilateral framework. It has been observed that developing countries had to commit to a greater degree to developed countries in bilateral agreements than what is required under the WTO.

iii. A country can learn from the experiences of other countries, being part of the community of countries and influence the decision-making process in the WTO.

iv. The WTO provides some protection against subjective actions of other countries by way of its dispute settlement system that works as an in-built mechanism for enforcement of rights and obligations of member countries.

v. It would be odd to remain out of WTO framework for conducting international trade that has been in existence for about six decades and accounts for over 97 per cent of world trade. It may even be viewed as suspicious by others.

Essay # 3. Functions of WTO:

The major function of the WTO is to ensure the flow of international trade as smoothly, predictably, and freely as possible. This is a multilateral trade organization aimed at evolving a liberalized trade regime under a rule-based system.

The basic functions of WTO are:

i. To facilitate the implementation, administration, and operation of trade agreements.

ii. To provide a forum for further negotiations among member countries on matters covered by the agreements as well as on new issues falling within its mandate.

iii. Settlement of differences and disputes among its member countries.

iv. To carry out periodic reviews of the trade policies of its member countries.

v. To assist developing countries in trade policy issues, through technical assistance and training programmes.

vi. To cooperate with other international organizations.

Essay # 4. Decision Making of WTO :

WTO is a member-driven consensus-based organization. All major decisions in the WTO are made by its members as a whole, either by ministers who meet at least once every two years or by their ambassadors who meet regularly in Geneva.

A majority vote is also possible but it has never been used in the WTO and was extremely rare in the WTO’s predecessor, GATT. The WTO’s agreements have been ratified in all members’ parliaments. Unlike other international organizations, such as the World Bank and the IMF, in WTO, the power is not delegated to the board of directors or the organization’s head.

In view of the complexities involved in multilateral negotiations among 150 member countries with diverse resource capabilities, areas of special interest, and geo-political powers, decision-making through consensus is highly challenging.

Developed countries with much greater economic and political strengths often employ pressure tactics over developing and least developed countries in building up a consensus. This has led to considerable networking among the member countries and evolving of several country groups as shown in Exhibit 5.2.

WTO Essay Award 2024 | Win a Cash Prize & a Free Trip to Greece

Awards , Competitions

Funding Type: Fully funded
Region: Greece
Deadline: June 3, 2024
Opportunity Type: Awards , Competitions

World Trade Organization has presented the WTO Essay Award 2024 for young writers from all over the world who have excellent writing skills. WTO is providing a great opportunity for young writers to submit their essay papers for the 2024 WTO Essay Awards. WTO sponsors the International Essay Award, and this award competition is open to applicants from all over the world. This essay award encourages people to do high-quality research on issues and topics related to trade, trade policy, and international trade cooperation. This international essay competition will strengthen the relationship between WTO and the educational community. This is a fully funded opportunity for writers from all over the world. The winner will get a fully funded trip to Greece with a cash prize of CHF 50,000. The winning writer will get international recognition and work with experts on international platforms. The writers will get to publish their publications/essays at an international forum. If you are an expert in writing, this is a fantastic chance to get a cash prize and an international trip. So, complete all the parts and read the article carefully.

The international award in Greece promotes premium research on trade policy and international trade cooperation. This global European is an excellent opportunity for those writers who are working or studying related to trade policy and will try to implement these policies. Also, you are interested in the current issues related to world trade and want to get knowledge about that. In that case, you can get this information and knowledge through this essay competition program. This international essay competition in Europe will help you learn the negotiations that are made in conducting trade and help to solve these issues with the help of an international platform. But if you are not interested in trade and studying law, economics, or any other field, you can still get this essay award opportunity. This award competition will help you demonstrate and strengthen your knowledge, skills, and expertise.

This fully funded WTO Essay Award will help you gain acknowledgment for your ideas. Anyone who is passionate and wants to make a difference or change in the international trade system and its policies with his writing skills should apply for the World Trade Organization Essay Award 2024. Writing is an art. This fully funded award competition at an international level is a great way to motivate, appreciate, and inspire writers. The winner writer of this essay award 2024 will get appreciation globally and a cash prize with a trip to Greece. This international competition 2024 will help writers enhance their writing skills and abilities and gain experience in writing for global essay competitions. The WTO essay competition is a golden opportunity to test your writing skills, gain exposure, and make a lasting impact with your ideas. If you want this international experience, start writing and join this award competition.

The Athens University in Greece will host a three-day award ceremony at the end of this global award competition. The University of Surrey is known as one of the best universities in Greece. The university provides life-changing education and research opportunities to students. World Trade Organization is the only international organization that deals with the regulations and standards of trade between different nations. The WTO is trying to create a smoother trade flow by making delivery accessible and easier. World Trade Organization (WTO) is a huge organization facilitating open trade for every nation’s benefit.

More Details About the World Trade Organization Essay Competition 2024:

Host Organization:

World Trade Organization (WTO).

WTO Essay Award Duration :

The World Trade Organization Essay Award 2024 is for three days. The program starts from 12 September 2024 to 14 September 2024.

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Are you interested in writing and want to apply for the WTO Essay Award 2024? Wait! Check the criteria and requirements to ensure your eligibility before starting your application. Opportunities Circle has listed the criteria below.

Eligibility Criteria for the 2024 WTO Essay Award:

The paper/essay must address the issues related to trade policy and cooperation.
The paper/essay should be at most 15,000 words.
The author should be engaged in completing his Ph.D. degree if he is under 30 years of age.
If the author is over 30, he should have passed at most two years in completing his last degree.
In the case of co-authored papers, the above two requirements shall apply to all authors.

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Going to apply for the 2024 WTO Essay Awards in Greece? Check what costs and expenses will be covered by the World Trade Organization. Following are the benefits of fully funded international awards.

Benefits of the WTO Essay Award 2024 in Europe:

The author of the winning paper/essay will get a cash prize of CHF 5,000. If co-authors exist, the prize will be equally distributed to all the authors.
Winning WTO will announce the paper/essay at the annual meeting of ETSG (European Trade Study Group).
The author will get a fully funded trip to Greece to attend the international award ceremony at the Athens University in Greece.
They will also get international recognition.
Opportunity to experience international experience.
The winning paper/essay may be published in the WTO Working Paper Series.

WTO Essay Competition 2024 Requirements:

PhD degree with a year of completion

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Application Process:

The application process for the essay competition is online.
Applicants must submit a CV demonstrating their current affiliations, the academic institution awarding the PhD degree, the year of the PhD, and date of birth.
Applicant should send their essays/papers to [email protected] .
The pdf format of the required documents should also be sent.
The applicant should attach all the required documents.

WTO Essay Award Deadline:

The application deadline for the WTO Essay Award 2024 for young economists is 03 June 2024 .

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February 15, 2024
Award , Essay award , essay competition , Fully funded , fully funded opportunity , Greece , international essay competition , June 2024 , WTO

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The World Trade Organisation Challenges Essay

Introduction, government procurement, dissatisfaction of the developing countries, counterfeiting, list of references.

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has been in the forefront in the liberalization of trade. This organisation has from time to time advocated for free trade where there are no restrictions to trade within and between countries (Barfield 2001). There are rules that WTO has formulated in a move to have trade liberated all over the world. However, various contemporary political problems have resulted in the slow progress in the implementation of the WTO’s goals (Deutch, Gunter & Bernherd 2001). This paper aims to address the political issues that have delayed the activities of the WTO since its inception in the year 1995.

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is facing this challenge as a result of different nations imposing different tariffs on various goods. According to Schott (1998 p. 7), this challenge was foreseen during the inaugural of the WTO in 1995 where participating countries were required to embrace and implement the famous Uruguay Round.

Among the items that have been imposed more differing tariffs include the textiles, apparels, agricultural goods and the electronics. The United States and the European Union still impose high tariffs on imported goods (Baldwin 2002, p. 30). This is hampering the agenda of the WTO, which is to create a free market where there is free and easy movement of goods within and between nations.

Schott (1998, p. 8) admits that there are countries that do not fully embrace the idea of the WTO where free trade is advocated. The author continues to say that such nations are the most affected in terms of tariff application. A country like China may produce a good using a relatively lesser amount of resources, which implies that this product will be sold at a reduced price.

However, the kind of tariffs that various nations impose on such a good increases the retailing price of the said product to amounts that are so high that the good becomes unavailable to the poor communities (Hoekman & Mavroidis 2014). This is a political issue that has been addressed by the WTO; however, there has not been a permanent solution to the problem. Baldwin (2002, p. 31) says that another contributing factor to this problem is the fact various political regimes face different economic goals.

A tariff in a developed country cannot be the same as the tariff in the developing country. This is attributed to the fact that a developed country has achieved most of its economic goals such as infrastructure, industrialisation, and economic stability. However, most developing countries are still developing their economy through the creation of infrastructure and industrialisation. To this effect, the developing countries are still indeed of more resources and the explanation of the high tariffs that most of them charge.

According to Baldwin (2002, p. 35) the tariffs on agricultural goods is as a result of the bindings that various countries and organisations have on the agricultural items. For example, in the year 2000, the European Union binding on the dairy product was at 178%, while the binding of sugar was at roughly 152%. In the same year, the binding by the US on dairy and sugar was at 93% and 91% respectively. The binding of dairy and sugar by the Japanese was at 326% and 152% respectively in the year 2000 (Baldwin 2002, p. 35).

This scenario shows clearly how different nations impose differing tariffs on the agricultural goods. This act has been said to hamper the development of free trade and liberalisation of trade as there is no common denominator on which such goods are charged all over the world. Baldwin (2002, p. 38) admits that the differing bindings on some of the items are contributed by the different political ideologies and motives towards their economy.

The developing countries also have a stake in the imposing of tariffs on various goods. Schott (1998, p. 16) says that most of the developing nations have not lowered the tariffs as stipulated in the Uruguay Round cut off rates. As a result, there seems to be a competition on the imposing of tariffs. This has in turn hampered the development of industries in such areas as the tariffs pose a challenge in acquiring cheap materials needed for the smooth running of the industries.

Schott (1998) recommends that there needs to be a consensus on the rates that need to be imposed on various items. This will contribute to the liberation of trade according to the interests of the WTO. Both the developed countries and the developing countries need to lower the tariff rates on various goods as stipulated in the Uruguay Round cut off points (Warwick Commission 2007).

This is another challenge that the implementation of the WTO’s goal of trade liberation is facing. The process of procurement in different nations is conducted in a manner that does not promote trade liberation. Sutherland and Sewell (2000, p. 82) indicate that the role of the authority that is mandated to oversee the government procurement process in any country is to promote equity in that particular nation. However, Sampson (2001) reveals that that this has not been the case. The authorities that are mandated to oversee the procurement process have been involved in such cases as corruption.

Corruption is one vice that does not take to heart the interests of the trade liberalisation. The WTO aims at ensuring that there are fairness and equity in all processes of trade (Rugman & Verbeke 2012, p. 5). This includes the elimination of corruption in the awarding of contracts. However, it is worrying to note that the level of corruption, especially in the developing countries, is so high that the government contracts are awarded based on how an organisation bribes the authorities involved.

It has been said that politics carry the day in the awarding of contracts emanating from the government. There is the element of awarding political allies that have been supportive of the political party in power. Such allies are awarded contracts irrespective of whether they qualify for the contract or not. Sutherland and Sewell (2000, p. 88) admit that such actions do not promote trade liberation. Corruption is also manifest through ethnicity and racism.

The World Trade Organisation (2010, p. 18) reports that many of the tenders from the governments are awarded to domestic companies. This is attributed to ethnicity and racism, where those awarding the contracts believe that only people from the same community and those speaking the local language can deliver as per the requirements of the tender. The resulting effect is that the multinational organisations are not in a position to present their expertise, and this drags the implementation of the trade liberation.

Competition is a factor that is involved in government procurement. Esty (1998, p. 129) says that different companies compete for the available tenders that the government of the day is advertising. This kind of competition often results in such acts as corruption and ethnicity. The organisations that bribe the government officials more are generally awarded the contract without even considering the credibility of the company. Esty (1998, p. 129) indicates that the developed countries have moved ahead in fighting corruption during government procurement where the individuals that are caught practicing the act are punished by a court of law.

This is a commendable action that is gradually promoting the objective of WTO in trade liberation. Politics in the developing countries need also to change to address the issue of corruption if such countries are to enjoy the fruits of trade liberalisation. Esty (1998, p. 129) admits that the move from being a corruption-hit country to a corruption-free country requires a total transformation in the operation of the government operations. The political regimes need to realise that the idea of corruption is affecting the liberalisation of trade in their countries, and, therefore, there is a need to advocate for the non-involvement in corruption, especially in the awarding of tenders.

The developed countries were mainly involved in the formation of the WTO. To this effect, Bellman, Hepburn and Wilke (2012, p. 20) indicate that the developing countries express their dissatisfaction with the operations of the WTO. There have been feelings of the political parties in the developing world that the sole purpose of the WTO is to implement the objectives of the developed nations.

This can thus explain why most of the developing countries are reluctant in embracing the WTO and advocating for the liberation of trade. Bellman, Hepburn, and Wilke (2012, p. 21) confirm that the situation has been worse in certain developing countries to such an extent that the reigning political leaders have deported the foreign investors back to their mother countries. This is in contrast to the goal of the WTO, which is to liberalise trade to such an extent that investors can be free to invest in any country.

Another contributing factor as to why most developing countries fail to embrace the ideologies of the WTO is that, there is always a feeling of the political leaders that the WTO oppresses the poor (Ortiz, Bellman & Mendoza 2012, p. 27). The argument is based on the view that the liberation of trade would result in the creation of many industries that would require labour. The most likely sources of labour are the poor communities as they will not ask for high wages. In addition, most poor people do not have an idea of the importance of having proper protective clothing while in the working environment.

They will also hardly form trade unions to fight for their rights as a result of ignorance of the importance of such organisations. Therefore, the poor will be oppressed by such industries for many years. This is the reason as to why political governments in the majority of developing countries fail to embrace the ideology of the WTO in liberalising trade.

One of the objectives of the WTO is to ensure there is free trade among and within nations. This can only be realised if the issue of counterfeit goods is addressed in an objective manner. Sutherland et al. (2004, p. 66) indicate that the number of counterfeit goods that find their way into any market is so alarming that the original goods face extinction if the government takes no action. However, some countries have been reported to wipe out all counterfeit goods from their markets.

Sutherland et al. (2004, p. 68) admit that there is a majority of nations that still do not eliminate counterfeit goods as the public prefer such items due to their reduced prices. The situation is even worse in developing countries where quite a considerable amount of people live on less a dollar a day. Such countries can, however, address the issue of the influx of counterfeit goods by conducting public awareness to the public on the dangers that the counterfeit goods have to the economy of the particular nation.

It has been reported that the WTO is not fair to all nations. Sutherland and Sewell (2000, p. 97) admit that there are those nations that feel side-lined by the WTO. Such countries often tend to withdraw from the activities of the WTO, which drags the liberalisation of trade in the particular nations. Political leaders are to blame for this action as, more often than not, they lead their communities out of the WTO once they feel that their interests are not taken care of by the organisation.

Baldwin (2002, p. 34) adds that there are other reasons that contribute to the feeling that the WTO is not fair. One such reason is that the WTO has limited staff. The number of the WTO staffs in any country cannot be the same in another country. This translates to the fact that the implementation of the agendas of the WTO cannot be fully implemented in all countries at the same rate (Soloway 2002).

There are those countries such as European countries that will feel that their trade interests are taken care off due to the proximity to the WTO headquarters in Geneva. On the other hand, some countries may feel side-lined by the fact that they are far away from the WTO headquarters and that the number of the WTO staffs in their countries is quite small.

The WTO has limited resources that are needed to implement its goal of trade liberalisation. According to Rugman and Verbeke (2012, p. 30), the meagre resources lead to the dependence of the national governments on the implementation of the various objectives that the WTO has on trade. Some government organisations may be reluctant on the implementation phase as a result of various personal interests.

In addition, the auditing process that the WTO is required to conduct from time to time in different countries is hampered by the limitation of both the staff and other necessary resources. Thus, it is evident that the effectiveness of the WTO depends on the co-operation that national governments have with the organisation. The more cooperative a country, is the more implementation of the goals of the WTO will be.

One primary objective of the WTO is to contribute towards trade liberalisation. The problems by political institutions have hampered this objective in the majority of nations. The tariffs that are imposed on various goods always differ from one country to another. This is despite the recommendation by the Uruguay Round that the tariffs be cut off by a certain margin.

The procurement process in government institutions is normally characterised by acts such as corruption and ethnicity. This has, in turn, prevented the liberation of trade where openness and equity are advocated for. Some countries feel that the main purpose of the WTO is to protect the rich and oppress the poor. This has in turn resulted in many political regimes failing to embrace the WTO and its objectives. The limited the resources of the WTO result in the dependence of the trade organisation on national governments. Some governments are, however, reluctant in the implementation of the WTO’s goals.

Baldwin, RE 2002, Key challenges facing World Trade Organization, University of Wisconsin Press, Madison.

Barfield, C 2001, Free trade sovereignty, democracy: The future of the World Trade Organization , The AEI Press, Washington, DC.

Bellman, C, Jonathan, H, & Wilke, M 2012, ‘The challenges facing the multilateral trading system in addressing global public policy objectives’, International Development Policy, vol. 3, pp. 20-28.

Deutch, K, Gunter, S, & Bernherd, M 2001, The World Trade Organization Millenium round, Routledge, London.

Esty, DC 1998, ‘Non-governmental organizations at the World Trade Organization: Co-operation, competition or exclusion’, Journal of International Economic Law, vol. 1, pp. 123-147.

Hoekman, B & Mavroidis, P 2014, ‘What does the WTO need from its next DG?’, Global Governance Programme, vol. 4 , pp. 5-10.

Ortiz, RM, Bellman, C, & Mendoza, MR 2012, The future and the WTO: Confronting the Challenges, International Center for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), Geneva.

Rugman, AM & Verbeke, A 2012, The World Trade Organization, multinational enterprises, and the civil society, Indiana University Press, Bloomington.

Sampson, G 2001, The role of the World Trade Organization in global governance United Nations , University Press, New York.

Schott, JJ 1998, ‘Challenges facing the World Trade Organization ’, Institute for International Economics, vol. 3, pp. 1- 24.

Soloway, J 2002, Linking trade environment and social cohesion , Ashgate, Aldershot, UK.

Sutherland, P & Sewell, J 2000, ‘Challenges facing the WTO and policies to address global governance’, Goldman Sachs International, vol. 4, pp. 82-100.

Sutherland, P, Bwagwati, J, Botchwey, K, Hamada, K, Jackson, K, Lafer, C & Montbrial, T 2004, The future of the WTO: Addressing institutional challenges in the new millennium, World Trade Organization, Geneva.

The World Trade Organisation 2010, Global solutions: Towards better global governance , World Trade Organization, Geneva.

Warwick Commission 2007, The multilateral trade regime: Which way forward? University of Warwick, UK.

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Essay on world trade organisation (wto).

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In this essay we will discuss about World Trade Organisation (WTO). After reading this essay you will learn about: 1. Birth of WTO 2. Features of WTO 3. Objectives 4. Role 5. Dispute Settlement Mechanism 6. The Third Pillar in International Economic Relations and Its Benefits 7. Regional Trading Blocks 8. First Ministerial Meeting 9. Second Ministerial Meeting and Others.

Essay on the WTO General Council Meeting held in Geneva

Essay # 1. Birth of WTO:

The birth of World Trade Organisation (WTO) on January 1, 1995 holds a great promise for the entire world economy in respect of international trade. This World Trade Organisation will administer the new global trade rules establishing the rule of law in international Trade, which amounted to nearly five trillion dollars last year for goods and services.

Peter Sutherland, the first Director General of WTO recently said, “The WTO binds nations in a global co-operative endeavour to raise incomes and create good jobs through fair and open trade.”

The latest issue of GATT/WTO News (January, 1995) observed that the new global trade rules were achieved after seven years of negotiations among more than 120 countries and through the WTO agreements and market access commitments, world income is expected to rise by over 500 billion dollar annually by the year 2005 and annual global trade growth will be as much as a quarter higher by the same year than it would have been otherwise. It is also further estimated that WTO agreements would add US $ 2800 billion to global income by 2015.

Essay # 2. Features of WTO:

Main features of WTO are:

(i) It is a powerful international organisation to promote multi-lateral trade.

(ii) It has replaced the GATT set up.

(iii) It facilitates face trade by removing tariff and non-tariff barriers in international trade.

(iv) WTO has finalised set of rules and regulations and has its legal status—which are mutually designed by members.

(v) Agreements reached by member countries are binding on all members of WTO.

(vi) It includes trade in goods, trade in services, and also protects intellectual property rights, foreign investment for all members.

(vii) It is not a agent of United National unlike IMF and World Bank.

(viii) All members have equal voting rights (one country-one vote).

(ix) WTO has a large secretariat and also has a huge organisational set up.

Essay # 3. Objectives of WTO:

Main objectives of WTO are:

(i) Basic aim of WTO is to implement the new world trade agreement.

(ii) To promote multi-lateral trade among many nations.

(iii) To promote free trade by removing all barriers.

(iv) To promote world trade benefitting all members.

(v) To remove all hurdles for developing in open world trading system to boost economic growth in all member countries.

(vi) To protect the interest of developing countries in respect of international trade.

(vii) To enhance competition among all members.

(viii) To increase level of production and productivity for raising the level of employment.

(ix) To expand and utilise world economic resources in a most optimum manner.

(x) To improve the level of livings for the population of this globe and speed up rate of economic developed among member countries.

(xi) To undertake special steps for initiating development of poorest nations of this world.

Thus, WTO is among the most powerful and one of the most secretive international bodies on earth. It is rapidly assuming the role of global government, as 134 nation-states including USA have ceded to its vast authority and powers. WTO also represents the ruls-based reginue of the policy of economic globalization throughout this globe.

Essay # 4. Role of WTO:

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is playing an important role for administering the new global trade rules in the following manner:

Firstly, the WTO administers, through various councils and committees, the 28 agreements contained in the final act of the Uruguay Round, plus a number of plurilateral agreements, including one government procurement.

Secondly, the WTO also oversees the implementation of the significant tariff cuts (averaging 40 per cent) and reduction of non-tariff measures agreed to in the trade negotiations.

Thirdly, the WTO is a watchdog of international trade, regularly examining the trade regimes of individual members. In its various bodies, members flag proposed or draft measures by others that can cause trade conflicts. Members are also required to notify in detail various trade measures and statistics, which are maintained by the WTO in a large data base.

Fourthly, the WTO provides several conciliation mechanisms for finding an amicable solution to trade conflicts that can arise among members.

Fifthly, trade disputes that cannot be solved through bilateral talks are adjudicated under the WTO Dispute Settlement Court. Panels of independent experts are established to examine disputes in the light of WTO rules and provide rulings. This tougher streamlined procedure ensures equal treatment for all trading partners and encourages members to live up to their obligations.

Sixthly, the WTO is a management consultant for world trade. Its economists keep a close watch on the pulse of the global economy and provide studies on the main trade issues of the day. The secretariat assists developing countries in the implementation of Uruguay Round results through a newly established development division and strengthened technical co-operation and training division.

Finally, the WTO will be a forum where countries continuously negotiate exchange of trade barriers all over the world. And the WTO already has a substantial agenda for further negotiations in many areas.

It can be expected that the WTO is different from and an improvement upon GATT, on the ground that firstly, the WTO will be more global in its membership than the GATT. Its perspective membership already comprises of around 150 countries and territories, with many others considering joining it. Secondly, the WTO has a far wider scope than its predecessor, bringing into the multi-lateral trading system for the first time, commercial activities like trade in services, the exchange of ideas in the context of intellectual property protection and investment.

At present, the WTO has been passing through trials, tribulations and challenges. But the organisation has taken the stresses and strains it had to bear in its infancy rather well. It has already begun to show promising signs of growing into a vibrant body which is destined to play a vital role in future development of World trade and economy.

The WTO presently offers a far more powerful mechanism in order to resolve disputes over trade. Growing competition for markets among the member countries is bound to give rise to frequent quarrels and disputes among the trading partners. Thus a trade-dispute resolving mechanism is very much required under the present situation. WTO is now charged with the responsibility to provide such mechanism.

A world body such as WTO is required to oversee this whole process of economic globalization and integration. Considering the suitability of WTO under the world trade scenario, China has recently decided to scrap the decade long state monopoly on foreign trade and financial services as part of the Government efforts to open up to get an early accession to World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Essay # 5. Dispute Settlement Mechanism of WTO:

The WTO presently offers a far more powerful mechanism in order to resolve disputes over trade, arising out of growing competition for markets among the members. Under the present situation facing frequent quarrels and disputes among the trading partners a trade-dispute settlement mechanism is very much required. WTO is now charged with the responsibility to provide such mechanism.

A recent report of WTO observed that developing countries are emerging more as active users of the multilateral dispute-settlement mechanism than the developed nations. Such a move has been noticed more so in the World Trade Organisation than in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

On March 5, 1996, the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) established two panels at the request of Philippines and Costa Rica. The DSB decision raised the number of active panels in WTO to four, with three of them involving developing country complainants.

The first WTO dispute, which had been settled bilaterally, involved two developing countries Singapore and Malaysia. An in-depth analysis shows that in contrast, the vast majority of dispute-settlement cases in GATT were between developed countries.

Improvements in the WTO is dispute-settlement procedures over those of GATT have facilitated the lodging of formal complaints for all members.

These improvements include:

(i) Near automaticity of establishment of panels and adoption of their reports, and

(ii) Precise deadlines for every step of the panel process.

At present the WTO is making an all-out effort to evolve a consensus on controversial and key issues like inclusion of social clause on trade agenda. The Director General of the Geneva-based WTO, Mr. Renato Ruggiero says that the immediate challenge is to build a consensus on the subject of trade and labour standards in order to avoid this becoming a divisive issue.

The new WTO agreement extends the amount of Government procurement opened to international competition by 10 times compared to the earlier agreement. However, it remains only a plurilateral agreement with limited membership.

Essay # 6. WTO—The Third Pillar in International Economic Relations and Its Benefits:

Besides the World Bank and the IMF the World Trade Organisation (WTO) is now being considered as the third pillar in the post-war international economic relations. The WTO will have three main legal instruments: The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) along with associated agreements and jurisprudence; the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and the agreement on Trade-related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs).

A particularly noteworthy feature of WTO is that its highest decision-making body would be the Ministerial Conference which alone will have the authority to take decisions on all matters under any of the agreements covered by the WTO. During the intervals between the meetings of the Ministerial Conference, the General Council would carry out its functions, including its role as the dispute settlement body.

Reacting to the establishment of the WTO and ratification of the Final Act by different countries, trade experts contend that the significant reductions in tariff and non-tariff barriers negotiated in the round would give the international trading environment a new dynamism and vitality.

Enumerating the benefits of the WTO, it can be observed that increasing market access opportunities and efficient rules for undistorted competition would help the developing countries in the context of their liberalised economic policies.

The GATT secretariat, predecessor to the WTO, has estimated that by the year 2005, the volume of world trade would range between 9 to 24 per cent above the level that would have occurred in the absence of Uruguay Round. It further noted that by the year 2005 the increase in world income from trade liberalisation in goods could range between $ 110 billion and $ 510 billion annually.

Thus, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) will strengthen the institutional framework for trade relations among member countries. Accordingly, with the establishment of WTO, a new trade order was likely to emerge.

But the ultimate impact of the Uruguay Round would depend on gains in productivity in various sectors resulting from realisation of economies of scale, technology transfer and increased trade and investment. An OECD study had indicated that GATT’s final act could increase the income of developing countries by 70 billion dollars by 2002.

The task before the WTO, as the initial experience suggests, is not going to be easy, by any means. The WTO had to contend with several disputes during this initial short period. Firstly, there was the dispute over the appointment of WTOs chief. After that there was a row over constituting a WTO Committee that will oversee the demise of Multi-Fibre Arrangement in phases over the next seven years.

Another serious dispute arose over the issue of trade in financial services. WTO has become successful to tackle all these disputes. It is now getting firmly established as an effective institution for recording and reprocessing of world trade and international economic relations towards the path of free flow of trade in goods and services.

WTO in its report, ‘International Trade—Trends and statistics’ observed that world trade in merchandise goods is expected to increase in volume by eight per cent in 1995 and therefore, marginally declined from the very high 9.5 per cent achieved during 1994.

The report further pointed out that though the current outlook shows that there is likely to be a further modest slowing down next year, trade growth would remain above the average of the past decade.

Essay # 7. Regional Trading Blocks—A Threat to WTO:

In the mean time, various regional trading blocks have been formed among various countries of the world under different regions which are going to frustrate the very spirit of globalisation and multilateralism in world trade. Therefore, doubts have also been arisen over the rise of regional trading arrangements which, it is feared would militate multilateralism.

The magnitude, handling and scrutiny of regional trading arrangements such as the European Union (EU), North Atlantic Free Trade Arrangements (NAFTA) and the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) and their link with the credibility of the strengthened multilateral trading system is obvious.

Critics of World trade body contend that the time is now ripe for a substantial review of the way in which working parties who belong to these regional trading blocks fulfill their obligations under Article XXIV of the Final Act, especially to ensure that the results of their efforts are both transparent and meaningful for multilateral co-operation and promotion of global trade.

But there is a growing tendency of countries located in a geographical region to form their own trading block. Now there is a talk of forming another regional economic co-operation grouping of 29 Indian Ocean Rim Countries. But regionalism must be compatible with multilateralism of WTO and to attain that regional groups must treat each other favorably in matters of trade and should not apply any discrimination against those countries outside the regional grouping.

Solutions to issues relating to the social clauses, as applied to trade, can never come from protectionist barriers. Regionalism till late had been one of the main building blocks for liberalization and reform around the world and has increased the possibilities of improving liberalisation of trade.

However, it was no longer an exception to the system and was becoming a status symbol for nations to join a regional trading bloc. However, the emergence of regionalism was still not a threat to the existence of the multilateral trading system.

The answer to this problem of regionalism had to be found in multilateralism along with inter-dependence through which developments would be influenced. The future of growth and employment generation depends much on the inter-dependence of the developed world and the developing countries.

Essay # 8. First Ministerial Meeting of the WTO:

On 9th December, 1996, the first inaugural ministerial meeting of the 128 member World Trade Organisation (WTO) was held at Singapore, which is the first of its kind since the world trade body replaced the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade in January 1995. The gathering took stock of existing trading rules and discussed further opening up of a world market worth six trillion dollars a year.

The five day inaugural WTO meeting finally agreed to liberalize global trade, reaffirmed its commitment to internationally recognized labour standards but rejected using these for protectionist purposes and hailed a epoch making zero-tariff pact on information technology.

Wrapping up the five day inaugural WTO meeting on 13th December, 1996, Trade Ministers of 128 member nations adopted a declaration vowing to fully implementing various agreements to strengthen the world trade the world trade regime and pledged to tackle new issues such as investment and competition for liberalized trade.

In deference to the wishes of the developing world, the eight-page document took note of the concerns of the Third World on linking labour issues with trade and recognized that ILO was the competent forum for setting and dealing with labour standards. In this connection the declaration observed, “We reject the use of labour standards for protectionist purposes and agree that the comparative advantage of countries, particularly low wage developing countries, must in no way be put into questions.”

A landmark agreement to scrap massive tariffs on information technology trade by the year 2000 gained support with 28 economies pledging their commitment to the plan. The info technology pact is regarded as a key achievement of the biennial Ministerial conference.

The participants renewed their commitment to a “fair, equitable and more open rule based trading system and promised to further free trade in goods and services and “rejected all forms of protectionism.”

The final document resolve “to eliminate discriminatory treatment in international trade relations and integrate developing and least developed countries and economies in transition into the multilateral system and ensure the maximum level of transparency.”

Essay # 9. Second Ministerial Meeting of WTO:

The second ministerial meeting of the trade ministers of 132 member countries of World Trade Organisation (WTO) was held at Geneva during 18th to 20th May, 1998. In this meeting the members of WTO decided to set up a mechanism to ensure full and faithful implementation of existing multilateral agreements. Trade ministers from 132 countries also rejected protectionist measures while agreeing to a open and transparent rule-based trading system.

A declaration which was finalised at the second ministerial meeting stated that agreements and ministerial decisions are crucial to credibility of the multilateral trading system and indispensable for expanding global trade, creating more jobs and raising the standard of living in all parts of the world.

The declaration also voiced serious concern over the marginalization of Least Developed Countries and also stated that benefits of a multilateral trading system must flow to the Third World responding to their particular trade and development needs. The trade ministers also mandated the WTO general council to examine further trade liberalisation taking into account the concerns and interests of member countries.

Essay # 10. Emergence of WTO and India’s Gain as a Founder Member :

In a country like India, the benefits accruing from being a founder member of World Trade Organisation (WTO) are immense. At present, only just five per cent of our tariff lines remain bound. With the finalization of the Uruguay Round, about 68 per cent of India’s tariff lines covering basically raw materials, components and capital goods, but excluding consumer goods, petroleum, fertilisers and some non-ferrous metals would have been bound.

The Government is of the view that it is in the long term interest of India to have low duties on raw materials, components and capital goods since they satisfy the production needs of the economy. Regarding the threat arising out of TRIPs, the Commerce Minister, Pranab Mukherjee is on record saying that exclusive marketing rights to be provided for patent holders would in no way dilute the national interest in such crucial areas as agriculture, drugs and pharmaceuticals as enough safeguards had been built into the system to take care of the concern voiced by developing countries including India.

India now stands to gain immensely from the membership of WTO. At the time the question of this country joining the WTO was broadly under consideration, the opposition political parties strongly opposed our joining the World body.

The fears expressed by the opposition parties regarding adverse effects of membership on farmers and the agricultural sector, prices of food grains due to withdrawal of food subsidies which would become obligatory under the terms of membership of that body and life savings drugs and medicines becoming out-of-the reach to the poor due to enforcement of new Patent laws that WTO would require us to enact have all proved almost groundless.

India being a founder country has already started to assert itself in the meetings of WTO council.

Although a great deal of misinformation has been spread throughout the country on the otherwise beneficial aspects of the multi-lateral treaty, but it is to be seen how far these safeguards built into the system by the Government are sufficient enough to take care the interest of the masses as well as the country as a whole.

But the ultimate impact of the Uruguay Round and the formation of WTO would depend on gains in productivity in various sectors resulting from realisation of economies of scale, technology transfer and increased trade and investment.

Moreover, India is also facing a serious threat from the attempt of the developed countries to introduce social and environmental clauses in multilateral trading system and thereby imposing countervailing duty on imports from India and other developing countries.

These type of proposals have shocked the experts of the developing countries because it will deprive’ the developing countries of their only competitive advantage arising out of cheap and abundant labour force.

Prof. Jagadish Bhagwati, the Arthur Lehman Professor of Economics, Columbia University, New York (whose name was recently suggested by several leading economists around the world for his appointment as director-general of the new World Trade Organisation) in a recent interview on 14th February, 1995 said that—should he become the director general of WTO he would fight against the imposition of labour standards and eco-dumping duties on developing countries by the WTO.

He said, “My own position is that all of these questions involve setting of standards which I think are not universal, like human rights, but primarily cultural in the broad sense. We do not want child labour, for instance, but if the alternative to working is starvation, then we have our own views about how to handle the problem.”

He further said, “But we have to make our own choices depending on our own system and we understand that, given our own democratic politics, these standards are legitimately diverse. You can’t have people ramming something down your throat, using basically brute force.”…………………… “We don’t want to appear that we are against all these things, but the action should be in a suitable institution. The International Labour Organisation is the right place, not the WTO, which will use it for trade sanctions, and in the wrong way. We should be proactive on environmental and other issues in other forums.”

Essay # 11. Related Issue in WTO:

Along with other developing countries, India has also been facing various critical issues related to different provisions of World Trade Organisation (WTO). Being a founder member of GATT and a present member of WTO, India has to negotiate several related issues in the WTO meetings in future as to safeguard the national interests of the economy.

The following are some of those important issues.

(i) Quantitative Restrictions (QRs):

As per the provision of WTO, India along with other developing countries, has to remove all import quantitative restrictions. Although India had entered into bilateral agreement with European Union, Australia, Japan and New Zealand on the removal of QRs in phased manner but lost its case on import QRs against USA as the WTO verdict gone in favour of USA.

Accordingly, India started its dismantling process of quantitative restriction on imports. Starting with 2,700 items under import curbs, when the issue was raised to WTO by USA, India gradually removed QRs on various items of imports in its Annual Exim policies to the extent of 894 items in OGL and 414 items in Special Import Licence (SIL) route in 1999-2000, 714 items in 2000-2001 and the remaining 715 items in the EXIM Policy 2001-2002.

Thus the Exim Policy 2001-2002 has opened up domestic market to all types of imported consumer goods and swept aside the last vestiges of the “quota raj”, removing quantitative restrictions on the remaining 715 items of import. This completes the dismantling process of QRs on over 10,600 products. The fact that Exim Policy is the culmination of a process initiated as far back as in 1991.

While the removal of QRs on all imports (barring around 600 related to defence, security and plant health matters) would enable a host of foreign branded products, including vegetables, poultry and dairy items, to be readily available on local market shelves, these could also pose a threat to the livelihood of many small and marginal farmers.

The fear is genuine but the government could offset any adverse impact of the removal of quantitative restrictions (QRs) on imports and opening up its economy to competition by adopting counter-measures available with it. In order to face the situation, the Government is fully empowered to raise tariff barriers to check the flow of imported items.

Accordingly, India can raise duties on farm products up to 150 per cent in the case of fruit and vegetables and 300 per cent in the case of edible oils. The duty rates applicable to those items at present is very low. The government, in the mean time, has already hiked the import duty on sugar, edible oils, rice and a number of other items related to agriculture. Thus the government should face this challenge seriously and should be ready to face any threat coming out of WTO for removing these trade barriers.

Meanwhile, the Exim Policy (2001-2002) of the Government has created a provision for “War Room” to closely monitor 300 “sensitive items” to check any adverse fall-out on the fragile agriculture sector and any swamping of domestic industry, especially small manufacturers.

(ii) Developing Culture for Patent Registration:

One peculiar tendency we observe that Indian firms have not yet developed a culture for registering their products as patents. It is observed that about 90 per cent of patents registered during the period 1972-94 in India belonged to multinational companies operating in the country and merely 10 per cent of those patents were registered by two Indian Companies, i.e. BH.E.L and Bajaj group.

Table 15.15 reveals that major multinational firms operating in India who obtained considerable number of patents during 1972-94 included Hoechst (547), Hindustan Lever (435), Lucas (399), Bayer (311), Pfizer (253), Ciba (150), Colgate (143) and Sandoz (96).

Among the top ten companies in respect of patents obtained, there were only two Indian Corporations, i.e., Bajaj and BHEL who obtained only 250 numbers of patents out of the total number of 2,584 patents obtained in the country during 1972-94.

This is simply a reflection how the Indian firms are overlooking their patent rights in the absence of the culture getting products patented. Thus Indian entrepreneurs should be provided with adequate knowledge about the importance, procedure and rights of patenting their products.

(iii) Safeguards under ATC:

The Multi-Fibre Agreement (MFA) has been hindering the pace of the growth of international trade in textiles as such MFA is a kind of discriminatory piece of legislation. With the help of this MFA, the developed countries are protecting their domestic textiles and clothing industries by imposing quantitative restrictions on its import from developing countries.

In this connection, the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC) has been permitting quantitative restrictions by imposing quotas only if there is either ‘serious damage’ or potential threat to the domestic industry. The recent studies observed that integration programmes of European Union, USA and Canada did not allow meaningful market access opportunities to developing countries.

As India is having a huge potential in trade in textiles and as textile is contributing a major share in total exports of the country, thus India along with other developing countries should seek redressal against various violations of ATC.

(iv) Services Sector, GATS and India’s View:

Trade in services, as proposed by Arthur Dunkel, is a potential area of trade for developing countries. Such trade in services include technical and professional services, communications, non-merchandise insurance, leasing and rental equipment, brokerage etc. Apart from transportation and travel, there are some income generating services created out of movement of labour and property income (royalties and licence fees related to intellectual property rights).

Although adequate provision has been made in WTO by incorporating General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), but the developed countries did not pay adequate attention to GATS. It can be observed that promoting labour mobility is a natural corollary to the mobility of capital flows across different countries. Inadequate attention has been paid by WTO on the restrictions imposed by the member countries on labour mobility.

Under the present context, India and other developing countries should address in future WTO meetings about various issues relating to mobility of labour and should insist on appropriate safeguards. Therefore, India should raise various issues related to legal migration, exploitation of foreign workers and their conditions of employment, remittances made by workers, work permits, employment benefits etc. Thus the services sector which possesses huge potential for trade for the developing countries need adequate support from the developed countries of the world.

(v) Improvement in Agricultural Exports:

Liberalizing trade in agriculture on a non-subsidized basis is an important as well as difficult issue for negotiation. In order to increase the volume of farm exports, WTO should give adequate attention on it. In order to fulfil its objective, India should change its strategy far radically for the development of agriculture by raising the productivity of agriculture through technological upgradation along with measures for land reforms and also for optimum use of fertilizers and irrigation in order to ensure quality in its agricultural products and its ready acceptability by developed countries.

Moreover, India has to quantify the level of protection given to its agriculture. Similarly, India need a strong database for making negotiations in WTO regarding the settlement of disputes in agriculture. Thus being a founder member of GATT as well as WTO, India has to pay an important role in conducting negotiations with WTO.

While doing so the Government of India should try to give due protection to the interests of Indian people as well as its industry and agricultural sector.

Essay # 12. Implementation of Related Issue in WTO:

Resolution of implementation issues relating to various compulsions under World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreements is a complex affair. India along with other like-minded developing countries has continued to maintain constant pressure for resolution for implementation issues relating to various perceived asymmetric and imbalances in existing WTO Agreements and effective operationalization of various special and differential treatment provisions for developing countries.

Accordingly, India and other developing countries have jointly undertaken a broad strategy to fight their common interests boldly at the WTO forum. Accordingly, various implementation issues were highlighted in the preparatory process to the Third Ministerial Conference at Seattle which ultimately formed the prominent part of the Draft Ministerial Text (DMT) at Seattle.

This consistent pressure by developing countries to address various implementation issues has yielded positive results: On 3rd May 2000, the General Council of WTO decided to hold Special Sessions to discuss various implementation related issues and concerns raised by members including paras 21 and 22 of the Draft Ministerial Text dated 19 October, 1999 for the Seattle Ministerial Conference.

Simultaneously, it was also decided to all these issues would be addressed by the fourth Ministerial Conference and accordingly appropriate decisions will be taken. Moreover, a Work Programme was adopted at the meeting of General Council on 20th June 2000 and accordingly formal and informal meetings of the General Council have been held for resolving those contentious issues.

At the December 15th, 2000 meeting of the General Council, a decision has been taken on 9 tirets out of the 54 tirets that were mentioned in para 21 of the DMT. In this meeting, it was also decided to continue with the Work Programme as envisaged in the General Council’s Decisions on 5th May and 20th June, 2000. While decisions on the 9 tirets taken so far are modest in terms of their impact, the pressure mounted by India along with other developing countries has succeeded in putting implementation issues firmly and squarely in the Agenda of the WTO for the first time.

(i) Issues Related to Agriculture:

Liberalizing trade in agriculture on a non-subsidized basis is an important as well as difficult issue for negotiations in WTO. As mandated under Article 20 of the WTO Agreement on Agriculture, the process of negotiations has begun in the year 2000. All these negotiations are subsequently being conducted in the Special Sessions of the WTO Committee on Agriculture.

Accordingly, four special sessions of the WTO Committee on Agriculture have already been taken place in the year 2000 in which various negotiating proposals submitted by different countries/group of countries were considered. Thus a concerted effort should be made by India along with other developing countries to safeguard the interest of the farmers.

(ii) Trade in Services:

Under the provision of WTO, developing countries like India having enough manpower resources can put much thrust on service sectors including construction and can indulge into trade in services with developed countries at better terms. Under WTO provision, country can gain much by accepting cross- border migration of trained manpower.

Accordingly, mandated negotiations under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) commenced at the WTO on 1st January, 2000, involving further round of progressive liberalisation of specific commitments on market access undertaken by members. This is a comprehensive round covering all services sectors and all the modes of supply of services.

In respect of India, the primary interest in these negotiations lies in ensuring freer movement for natural persons especially professionals. Considering the importance of this issue, India has filed a proposal in the WTO suggesting possible strategies and approaches for bringing about effective liberalization in the movement of professionals.

The main feature relate to broader and deeper horizontal and sectoral commitments in sectors of interest to India, commitments to be based on uniform and well defined categories of personnel, removal of existing practices requiring social security contributions for temporary movement, greater facilitation and use of mutual recognition agreements for recognition of qualifications etc.

Thus India along with other developing countries should bring all these issues in the future General Council meeting of WTO to get adequate justice out of it

WTO Negotiations and India’s Role:

The Doha Round of trade negotiations in the WTO which began in 2001 remains unfinished due to differences among members on various issues. The Eighth Ministerial Meeting of the WTO which was held in December 2011 in Geneva provided political guidance to the member to resolve the issues involved. However, there was no significant progress in 2012.

Efforts are being made for an early harvest on some issues in time for the Ninth Ministerial Conference of the WTO (MC9) to be held in December 2013. India is of the view that any early outcome of the negotiations should invariably address issues of interest to the developing countries, especially the least developed countries (LDCs) and the small vulnerable economies (SVEs).

Essay # 13. Fourth Ministerial Conference of WTO:

The fourth WTO Ministerial Conference was held at Doha, Qatar from 9th to 14th November, 2001 in order to decide upon the future work programme of the WTO. Under the background of the failure of the third Ministerial Conference (Seattle, 1999) to take any decision and in the context of the concerted efforts of certain developed countries to seek endorsement of expanded agenda for WTO, the conference assumed considerable importance and also attracted wide publicity.

Although there were strong pressures to launch a comprehensive round of negotiations including multilateral regimes on investment, competition policy, trade facilitation, Government procurement and environment, India was opposed to any such over burdening of the multilateral trading system with non trade or new issues to the agenda.

It was felt that WTO already had a sufficiently large agenda consisting of mandated negotiations and mandated reviews and, therefore, India has underlined the need for resolving the implementation issues, mostly arising from current agreements in a time bound manner before addressing new issues for negotiations.

In the fourth Ministerial Conference at Doha, India played a proactive role in the deliberations. India preferred a genuine resolution of implementation related concerns, increased market access in agriculture, sufficient flexibility and clarity under TRIPs for public health policies and strongly opposed the introduction of non-trade issues like labour in the agenda. It was able to ensure adoption of an agenda that emphasised not only trade but also the developmental goals and priorities of developing countries.

It is the insistence of India that forced the WTO to amend its draft resolution at the eleventh hour even by extending the scheduled time to suit the interests of developing nations status, particularly, on the issues related to foreign investment, competition policies and environment.

The conference primarily focused its discussion on the related issues pertaining to global recession. Accordingly, the Declaration was also made— “We are determined particularly in the light of global economic slow-down, to maintain the process of reform and liberalisation of trade policies, thus ensuring that ,the system plays its full part in promoting recovery, growth and development”.

As per the WTO norms, the member nations, out of its obligations, cannot discriminate against one another’s goods and companies without showing any valid and justified reasons. But due to the violation of rules, most of the developing nations have failed to reap any benefits of WTO.

It is a matter of happiness that in Doha, under the table leadership of India, the developing nations have been to able redress their grievances that they have fared much badly than they should have under globalisation and now the system should be changed to such an extent so that they should realise a greater share of benefits.

Now the agreement so reached does not give any immediate relief to the developing nations but the agreement commits that the WTO members to negotiate reductions in tariff, especially on products of export interest to developing countries and the higher level of tariffs applied on goods such as textiles on which the developing countries have much better competitive strength.

Moreover, under the active pressure of developing countries, the Doha Conference and its declaration also agreed to include anti-dumping on the WTO agenda.

The mandated negotiations as per Article 20 of the Agreement on Agriculture commenced in 2000. Considering its importance, India has submitted its comprehensive proposals in the areas of Domestic Support, Market Access, Export Competition and Food Security.

The proposals keep in view the objectives of protecting India’s food and livelihood security concerns by having freedom for taking all domestic policy measures for poverty alleviation, rural development and rural employment as also to create opportunities for expansion of agricultural exports by securing meaningful market access in developed countries.

India, with a view to garner support of other developing countries, also co-sponsored two proposals with other countries: one on market access and another on export credit for agricultural products.

It is quite true that due to higher rate of export subsidies provided by EU, the agricultural prices in the developed countries have been kept at lower level deliberately thereby depriving the Third World countries to get the benefits from its agricultural exports. However, the issue was temporarily resolved by accommodating a clause in the declaration that the negotiations in this issue would be held “without prejudging” the outcome.

Under TRIPs, India has been seeking greater flexibility and clarity in the interpretation of the Agreement on TRIPs in order to ensure affordable access to essential medicines and life saving drugs, in keeping with the public health concerns of developing countries.

India, the African group of countries, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Philippines, Peru, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Venezuela jointly submitted a paper on TRIPs and Public Health to the TRIPs Council in which India, along with other co-sponsors had demanded that the WTO should ensure that TRIPs Agreement does not undermine the right of the WTO members to formulate their own public health policies and adopt measures for providing affordable access to medicines.

Finally, the Doha declaration affirms that the TRIPs Agreement can and should be interpreted and implemented in a manner supportive of WTO members right to protect public health and, in particular, to promote access to medicines for all.

Essay # 14. Fifth Ministerial Conference of WTO:

The fifth ministerial conference of WTO at Cancun in Mexico was held on 11th to 14th September, 2003 in order to finalize the modalities of global trade issues. But this Cancun Conference had to lace a collapse because developing and developed countries failed to firm up the modalities for negotiations to launch the Doha Development Agenda in 2003 on various issues ranging from agricultural reforms in rich and developed countries to investment rules, policy on competition, bringing transparency in government procurement and ways to make the global trade free and fair.

Other issues or agenda like the TRIPs, public health, special and differential treatment to the least developed countries and the General Agreement on Trade in Services which might have been clinched but were not discussed at all.

EU and US negotiators complained that India, Brazil and other Key developing countries had brought more rhetoric than proposals to negotiating table. However, India, Brazil, China and other major developing countries turned the table on them saying lack of concerns for development issues of the third world countries, particularly on agriculture which failed to address the livelihood concerns of millions of poor farmers led to collapse.

Thus the Cancun Conference has failed to reflect the aspirations of the large number of countries both in agriculture and Singapore issues.

Turning the tables on developed countries, India has made a forceful plea at the Cancun Conference saying that the plight of poor farmers were directly linked to subsidies given by industrialised nations to their farmers and the answer lay in correcting such distortions in agriculture.

The agriculture subsidies provided by OECD countries are more than six times they spend on official development assistance. Thus the legitimate concerns of billions of farmers in developing countries for whom agriculture means survival and not commercial operation, cannot be sacrificed to sub-serve agri-business profession of a few million elsewhere, sustained through one billion dollar subsidies each day in the OECD countries.

Therefore, the G-21 member developing countries have decided to fight it out till the end and started parley with the African Union and the LDC group to elicit their support to their proposal seeking elimination of export subsidies, reduction in domestic support and lower tariff cuts by developing countries in addition to safeguard mechanisms to protect their interests.

Hence the G-21 developing countries demanded that these non-reducible subsidies, i.e., green box subsidies provided by the major developed countries should be brought under discipline of reduction and eliminated within a specific time frame, phase-wise. Unfortunately, the draft proposals at the concern left this important issue untouched and rather insisted on resolving the Singapore issues.

The “Singapore issues” are mostly related to areas of trade and investment, trade and the policy of competition, trade facilitation and transparency in government procurement in relation to WTO. These four issues were brought up by the developed countries for negotiations at the first ministerial conference of the WTO at Singapore in 1996. But these issues were dropped for future round of discussions on the insistence of the developing countries, including India, due to lack of clarity in understanding and interpretation.

On issues such as investment and competition policy, India feels that having a multilateral agreement on these issues there would be a serious impingement on the sovereign rights of countries. Ceding such sovereign rights by the governments, especially developing countries, would lead to a situation where they will have a little authority to direct their investments into the various areas of national priority.

The gravity of the situation is highlighted by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in his message sent on the occasion. He has accused the richest countries in the world of living billions in poverty and misery through unfair trade practices.

He has regretted that the reality of the international trading system today does not match the rhetoric. “Instead of open market there are too many barriers that stunt, stifle and stop it. Instead of fair competition there are subsidies by rich countries that till the playing field against the poor.”

Thus the least developed countries felt neglected and left out while drafting the agenda for Cancun Conference. Thus the developing countries like India, China, Brazil etc. have stalled the talks as the revised draft declaration failed to meet their concerns over agriculture and Singapore issues like trade and investment. Thus the bulldozing tactics of the big two—the US and the ED—has been successfully stalled at the concern ministerial meet by the developing countries.

Instead the Cancun Conference of WTO could become fruitful if they allowed threadbare discussion on electronic communication, entertainment including audio-visuals, business process outsourcing, movement of skilled labour, trade in services etc.

Ended in a fiasco in 1999 at Seattle conference and a collapse at Cancun Conference in September 2003, these series of events thus speak very poorly about the effectiveness of WTO in solving the burning issues of world trade.

After facing these two major failures at ministerial conferences in the past four years, the WTO is now facing a crisis of confidence and legitimacy. Thus what required at this moment of crisis is that reason and rationality should prevail upon the developed countries in order to settle the basic issues of world trade in order.

Essay # 15. Sixth Ministerial Conference of WTO:

The Sixth Ministerial conference of WTO at Hong Kong on 13th to 18th December, 2005, after passing through a critical phase had finally resolved a final deadline on some contentious issues with a happy note. Notwithstanding the pessimistic situations related to the WTO agenda, the Grand alliance of 110 nations (G-110) after putting a lot of pressure turned the situation into their favour and made it possible that the European Union (EU) was finally forced to concede on phasing out farm subsidies as per schedule along with attaining a success for setting a deadline for phasing out a number of trade distortionary practices.

The Doha Round of negotiations launched in 2001 received a fillip with a positive outcome at this sixth WTO Ministerial conference of Hong Kong. The Ministerial Declaration adopted at the end of the conference called for conclusion of negotiations launched at Doha in 2006 and established time frames and targets in specific areas.

Key Outcomes:

Following are the Key Outcomes and timelines of Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration:

(i) To resolve to complete the Doha Work programme fully and to conclude negotiations in 2006.

(ii) To establish modalities in agriculture and non-agricultural market access (NAMA) by April 30, 2006 and prepare draft schedules by July 31, 2006.

(iii) To eliminate export subsidies in agriculture by 2013, with substantial part in the first half of the implementation period. Developing countries without Aggregate Measurement of Support (AMS), such as India, will be exempt from reductions in ‘deminimis’ and the overall cut in trade distorting domestic support, consisting of AMS, the Blue Box and deminimis that is entitlement to provide Amber Box subsides up to 10 per cent of value.

(iv) To submit a second round of revised services’ offers by July 31, 2006 and submit final draft schedules by October 31,2000.

(v) To amend TRIPS Agreement reaffirmed to address public health concerns of developing countries.

(vi) To provide duty-free, quota-free market access for all LDCs’ products to all developed countries. Developing country declaring itself to be in a position to do so, to also provide such access, though flexibility in coverage and in the phase in of this commitments is provided.

(vii) To eliminate subsidies in cotton, by developed countries in 2006 and trade-distorting domestic subsidies to be reduced more ambitiously and over shorter period of time.

Thus the trade negotiators of 149 WTO member nations reached a crucial breakthrough on the contentious issues of agricultural subsidies and industrial tariffs to arrive at a face-saving agreement which paves the way for a global trade pact by the end of 2006.

The hard negotiations and reconciliatory efforts by all members and especially the unity of developing nations in the form of grand alliance (G-l 10) paid off and helped reach a positive conclusion. Thus under the present set up, as finalised in the sixth conference, the trade relations between developed and developing countries are likely to face considerable change in near future.

Essay # 16. WTO Related Issue at the Post-Hong Kong Conference Discussions:

At the sixth Ministerial Conference of WTO held at Hong Kong in December 2005, WTO Ministers had agreed to establish modalities in agriculture and Non-Agricultural Market Access (NAMA) by April 30, 2006, submit the draft schedule by July 31, 2006 and conclude the same negotiations across all areas of the Doha Round by the end of 2006.

In respect of services all members were to file their revised offers by July 31, 2006 and submit the draft schedules by October 31, 2006. However, these deadlines were missed despite intensive negotiations. The intensive discussion through January to July, 2006 had focused mainly on the triangular issues of Domestic support, Agricultural Market Access (AMA), and NAMA.

At the informal meeting of the Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC) held on July 24, 2006, the Director General WTO, being its chairman, reported that “it remained clear that the gaps remain too wide”, and recommended that the only course of action would be to suspend the negotiations across the Round as a whole to enable serious reflection by participants.

India’s Stand on Agricultural Issues :

India and other developing countries have been insisting that special and differential treatment for developing countries must be integral to all aspects on agriculture under the Doha Round in the WTO.

Mitigating the risk facing the low income, resource poor and subsistence farmers associated with prior declines, price volatility and predatory competition and other market imperfections, including the huge amounts of production and trade distorting subsidies provided by some developed countries to their agricultural sector, remains paramount.

Therefore, along with other developing countries, particularly its alliance partners in the G-20 and G-33, India has been emphasizing that the Doha agricultural outcome must include at its core the following issues:

(i) Removal of distorting subsidies and protection by developed countries to level the playing field, and

(ii) Appropriate provisions designed to safeguard food and/or livelihood security, and to meet the rural development needs in developing countries.

India has also taken the right stand that governments must also be able to foster stable and remunerative prices for domestic producers in order to increase productivity and gradually move away from dependence on low-productivity agriculture. With these objectives, meaningful and effective instruments (Special Products and the Special Safeguard Mechanism) are important for developing countries like India.

At Hong Kong, it has been agreed that Special Products and Special Safeguard Mechanism shall be an integral part of the modalities and the outcome of negotiations in agriculture. Moreover, developing countries shall have the right to self-designate an appropriate number of Special Products, guided by indicators based on the three fundamental criteria of food security, livelihood security and /or rural development needs.

These designated products will attract more flexible treatment. Developing Country members will also have the right to have recourse to a Special Safeguard Mechanism based on import quantity and price triggers, with precise arrangements to be defined further.

Thus in the light of the impasse particularly in agriculture as stated above and ruling out the possibility of finishing the Round by the end of 2006, Members finally agreed to suspend the negotiations across all areas of the Doha Work Programme and to resume the negotiations when the negotiating environment would be appropriate.

WTO Negotiations and India (2007):

After the suspension in negotiations during July 2006 due to the wide gaps in the positions of WTO Members, especially on agricultural domestic support and market access, there was a soft resumption of negotiations on November 16, 2006.

Subsequently there was full-scale resumption of negotiations on February 7, 2007, on the principles that it preserves the architecture of the negotiations, inclusiveness, and the progress made so far, and leads to an outcome that is balanced, ambitious and pro-development.

While safeguarding the interests of India’s low income and resource poor agricultural producers (which cannot be traded off against any gains elsewhere in the negotiations) remains paramount for India, making real gains in services negotiations where it is a demander is no less important.

In the case of industrial tariffs, India’s growth and development concerns need to be addressed where India has taken a stand along with NAMA-11 coalition. These concerns are reflected in India’s position on different WTO issues for negotiations.

Essay # 17. WTO Talks in Geneva:

The WTO talks on old issues with respect to agricultural subsidy and industrial tariff was stated during the last weak of July 2008. But the talk collapsed mainly due to adamant attitude of the United States on agricultural subsidy issue. It is well known to everybody that the seven-year long Doha negotiations could not settle the differences over the degree to which big developing countries like China, India, Brazil, South Africa etc. should open up their markets in farm products and industrial goods.

The breakdown of world trade nations meet on 29 July 2008 came after nine days of tense talk, between the members. The deadlock came when the US refused to agree to the proposal from India and China that they should be allowed to impose an additional 25 per cent duties if imports are up by 15 per cent on farm products.

The US, on the other hand, wanted that the extra duty should be allowed only when imports surge by 40 per cent. This is totally unacceptable to India from the view point of farmer’s welfare. The Union Commerce Minister of India. Mr. Kamal Nath has rightly stated that the rise in global food prices is due to lack of investment in agriculture in the developing countries which are suffering mainly due to heavy agricultural subsidies in rich countries.

It is expected that the negotiation will restart soon. However, if Doha round of negotiations ultimately fail to come out with an acceptable conclusion even after so much of progress, it would really be a pity.

Under the present situation, if the developed countries like United States do not like to show any flexibility in their stand on subsidy and the tariff structure, it may be better India to form an Afro-Asian market cooperation for achieving mutual benefits from multilateral trade with the region.

Essay # 18. WTO Ministerial Conference in New Delhi:

India took an initiative and hosted a Ministerial Conference in New Delhi from Sept. 3-4, 2009 on the basis of the political commitments expressed by WTO members in international fora. This was the first occasion since July 2008 for ministers representing practically all shades of opinion and interests in the WTO to come together.

In this conference, there was unanimous affirmation of the need to expeditiously conclude the Doha Round, particularly in the present economic situation, and for development remaining at the heart of the Doha Round.

Essay # 19. Seventh WTO Ministerial Meeting in Geneva:

The seventh WTO Ministerial meeting which was considered as the first full Ministerial meeting of the WTO in the aftermath of the global economic meltdown was held in Geneva from November 30 to December 3, 2009. This conference was not intended as a negotiating forum, rather it provided a platform for different groups and caucuses to assess the direction of the negotiation.

India and her coalition partners reiterated their commitment to upholding the development dimension, the centrality of the multilateral process and the need to carefully safeguard livelihood concerns, particularly of the poor, subsistence farmers in their own countries.

Essay # 20. Ninth WTO Ministerial Conference in Bali:

India has been running the risk of breaching WTO’s permissible food subsidy limits. In order to settle this long standing problem the Government of India decided to raise the matter in the Ninth WTO Ministerial Conference held at Bali in December 3 to 6, 2013 in order to protect the interest of formers and poor people of the country.

In this conference the Government used trade facilitation as a bargaining chips to get a better deal for the subsidy that it pays to the Indian farmers through procurement and maintaining food stocks.

After long four days of intense negotiations, WTO members decided to accept the government’s demand on food security that will protect India and other developing countries from penalties for branching the domestic support cap of 10 per cent of value of production. In return, the government agreed to a new agreement on trade facilitation, the first since WTO was set-up nearly two decades ago, that will case controls at ports and airports.

For a country like India the victory was specially sweet as it managed to have its way despite major players China and Brazil walking out, leaving South Africa as the only major ally along with Argentina and some large African countries such as Kenya and Nigeria.

As demanded by India, developing countries will now be able to continue with their public procurement programmes without fearing a possible breach in the ceiling. This ruling in its favour will help the government roll out the food security low without any hurdles as procurement hiccups could have impacted the implementation of flagship food security scheme of the government.

This agreement will be the first breakthrough in agriculture and something that will benefit developing countries. In addition, there were other gains for the developing countries such as Brazil, China and India to become more competitive in international markets.

Essay # 21. WTO General Council Meeting held in Geneva:

The WTO General Council meeting held in Geneva on 20th February, 2015 again faced a rough weather following the disagreement between developed nations like USE and developing countries like India and China. In the meeting, the United States said it wants to introduce the concept of “differentiation” among developing nations in the trade negotiation on agriculture. But this move has been rejected by country like India and China.

Terming it as “blood for water” or “blood for air” the US representative in the general council meeting of WTO stated that some studies have indicated that it will have to make significant cuts in the outlays for domestic support under the present draft modelities. Such modelities, in trade Jurgon, imply reduction commitments in tariffs and subsidies in agriculture and tariff cuts in industrial products.

Referring to India and China, the US, however, said that trade distorting payments have expanded exponentially since 2008, but these countries do not have to do much to reduce their subsidies, an outcome that US cannot endorse.

Under the Doha Declaration, special and differential treatment for developing countries is integral to enable the countries to meet their needs particularly food security. Developing countries like India are China have rejected the concept of differentiation and have called for respecting the existing mandate.

India stated in the meeting that trade for commercial purposes that impinges on policy space does not lead to development and contended that the present global trading system is highly inequitable and there was a need to level the playing field at the present moment. The present round was for trade for development, not for enhancing market access and thus outcomes should be fair and equitable.

China argued in the meeting that it was important not to mix different kinds of domestic support. It stated there was a difference between giving domestic support to big and rich farmers and support to poor farmers.

Thus, the issue of stock piling for food security purposes as well as the calculation of aggregate measure of support (AMS) has been a major area of contention between India, China and other developing countries and the developed countries, primarily US.

Salient Features of World Trade Organisation (9 Features)
WTO: The World Trade Organisation: Origin and Role of WTO

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Today's Paper | April 19, 2024

Is the world trade organisation era ending.

Is the era of so-called ‘unfettered free trade’ and multilateral trading system under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) regime coming to an end?

These challenges mostly come from developed countries trying to bend the rules to undermine competition or hamper the working of important organs, like dispute and settlement systems, to protect their business interests. Now, these powers seem to be drifting further away even from the principles of free trade and have started adopting protectionist policies, breaching the WTO regime, in the name of a green transition to protect the climate.

In recent years, the United States (US) has more often than not enacted policies to suppress competition in the name of national security, protect jobs and industry, and disrupt global supply chains. The US Congress, for instance, has passed the American Innovation and Competition Act, which offers $52 billion to boost domestic semiconductor manufacturing and $200bn for scientific and innovative research and development.

In 2022, Congress enacted the Chips and Science Act. Later that year, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was passed. The enactment of the contentious IRA, a multi-billion-dollar subsidy programme for the country’s auto industry struggling to cope with looming competition from China’s cheaper electric vehicles (EV), is being seen as a fresh threat to the multilateral trading order.

The law explicitly excludes investors from benefiting from the subsidies for every new energy vehicle produced if they include so-called foreign entities of concern (FEOCs) in their supply chains, which clearly breaches the WTO rules.

The US and EU have started breaching WTO rules to suppress Chinese competition via discriminatory national policies

The IRA stipulates that the new energy vehicle tax credits save consumers $7,500 per unit. Still, an eligible clean vehicle must not contain any battery components manufactured or assembled by the FEOCs, companies or entities listed by the US. Thus, American car buyers are ineligible for subsidised EVs if certain components were produced by Chinese, Russian, North Korean or Iranian manufacturers.

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China, which became the world’s largest electric car exporter last year and is believed to be the main target of this subsidy programme, has filed a complaint with the WTO to initiate consultation over the IRA.

China argues that the Act unfairly discriminates against cars that use Chinese battery components. “This move is not only to protect the interests of Chinese EV companies and promote a fair, competitive environment for the global EV industry but also to firmly uphold the rule-based multilateral trading system,” a Chinese official said after filing the complaint.

Beijing says the IRA has a serious negative impact on the stability of the global industry supply chain and the environment for fair competition, and its filing against the US at the WTO echoes the international community’s concerns.

However, wrapping up her China visit last Monday, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says said a flood of below-cost Chinese steel into the global market over a decade ago “decimated industries across the world and in the United States”. She affirmed that Washington “will not accept” a situation where underpriced Chinese goods flood the global market again, battering industries elsewhere, adding that the US allies and partners share similar concerns.

Even though the IRA is a China-specific action, its impact is also being felt elsewhere. Initially, South Korea had considered resorting to the WTO against the IRA. The European Union (EU), Canada, New Zealand and other WTO members have also criticised the IRA.

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In a letter sent to the US Treasury by the European Commission in November 2022, it argued, “If implemented in its current form, the Act risks causing not only economic damage to both the US and its closest trading partners, resulting in inefficiencies and market distortions but could also trigger a harmful global subsidy race to the bottom on key technologies and inputs for the green transition.”

Nevertheless, the earlier dissatisfaction of these countries has softened due to their shared fear of China’s growing dominance in new energy industries, including EVs, solar energy, etc. Also, threats of trade challenges have prompted the US to negotiate Critical Minerals Agreements with select countries to give them access to EV tax credits in the IRA. The EU seems to be joining the US in its crusade against the Chinese EVs.

A recent EU-US Trade and Technology Council meeting condemned the ‘threat’ posed by “third country use of non-market economic policies and practices”, an obvious reference to China’s state subsidies that the West says are causing a global glut of solar panels, EVs, and many other manufactured products. It also agreed to non-economic countermeasures to such (Chinese) policies, including export controls and investment screening, to ‘boost’ the EU and the US economic security.

Indeed, Beijing has engaged in discriminatory policy for several years, preventing non-Chinese companies from supplying EV batteries to Chinese car manufacturers, a European analyst wrote. The countermeasures the US and the EU have pledged to implement are like denouncing China’s non-market policies while supporting the same measures domestically.

On the face of it, the actions taken by the US to protect its auto industry are a breach of the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures of WTO, which is why demand for WTO rule reforms is being voiced by American groups. The Chinese challenge to the IRA at WTO has prompted calls for a Climate Peace Clause to “stop WTO attacks on policies needed to fight climate change”.

Legally speaking, China does have a point — the IRA does violate WTO rules — and stands to win its case. But will the Chinese lawsuit succeed in preserving multilateralism as envisaged at the WTO’s inception? That seems highly improbable.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, April 15th, 2024

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WTO TRAINING COURSES

The “Trade in the Digital Era” interactive training course is available from the WTO e-Learning platform , one of the key capacity-building programmes provided to WTO members and observers by the WTO's Institute for Training and Technical Cooperation.

“The move to digital trade gives developing economies opportunities to leap forward and some have done so with mobile payment and banking solutions,” said DG Okonjo-Iweala. “To do so, however, access to modern information and communication technologies is not enough. They require a deep understanding of the digital trade landscape, its opportunities, challenges, and the role of policies and trade rules.” Her full video message can be found here.

Designed for trade government officials, policymakers and the public at large, this new series provides essential tools and concepts for improving participants' knowledge of digital trade. It will comprise a total of five courses, to be rolled out consecutively over the coming months. The first course gives a general overview of how the digital revolution is transforming trade, as well as the benefits and challenges of the digital economy.

Topics covered by the four other courses will include policy issues and WTO rules and discussions, the role of new technologies in international trade, especially artificial intelligence and blockchain, and provisions in members' regional trade agreements that relate to trade and the digital economy.

Also speaking at the launch ceremony was WTO Deputy Director-General Xiangchen Zhang who stated: “During the 13th Ministerial Conference, many of you expressed concerns about the digital divide and the need to build developing economies' capacities so that they may seize the benefits of digital trade. The WTO Secretariat is well aware of these challenges, which is why we have been stepping up our technical assistance activities related to digital trade to help bridge the digital trade gap between WTO members.”

Rwanda's WTO Ambassador, James Ngango, said: “I sincerely hope that this capacity-building opportunity will attract many participants from across regions and contribute to further unlocking the potential of digital trade.”

Singapore's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the WTO, Hung Seng Tan, said: “Singapore recognises the critical importance of capacity-building and sharing of technical knowledge on digital trade for developing and least-developed country members. Singapore is committed to continue working with partners, including the WTO, to deliver on the development dimension of digital trade.”

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Essays must be submitted by 6 June 2022. The aim of the award is to promote high-quality research on trade policy and international trade cooperation and to reinforce the relationship between the WTO and the academic community. The annual WTO Essay Award provides a prize of 5,000 Swiss Francs to the author (s) of the winning essay.
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1. the essay 2. the CV of the author(s), specifying (i) current affiliation(s), (ii) the academic institution awarding the PhD, (iii) the year (or the expected year) of the PhD, (iv) the date of birth of the author(s). For More Information: Visit the Official Webpage of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Essay Award 2022
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The paper must address issues related to trade policy and international trade co-operation. The author (s) of the paper must possess or be engaged in the completion of a PhD degree and, if over 30 years of age, be no more than two years past a PhD defence. In the case of co-authored papers, this requirement shall apply to all authors.
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