Chronicles of the Doha Wars: The Battle of Nairobi – Appraisal of the Tenth WTO Ministerial

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-164
Author(s):  
Mihir Kanade
Keyword(s):  
United States Of America ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
World Trade Organisation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Director General ◽  
Least Developed Countries ◽  
Development Agenda ◽  
The World ◽  
African Soil

When Kenya’s President, Uhuru Kenyatta, opened the first ever World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial Conference to be held on African soil, he knew that the Doha Development Agenda (DDA)1 ceremoniously agreed upon in 2001, and of which his country had been an ardent promoter, would be put under the guillotine. So much was made abundantly clear by Michael Froman, the United States of America Trade Representative (USTR), in an op-ed published in the Financial Times just two days prior to the Conference. Froman argued that "Doha was designed in a different era, for a different era, and much has changed since", and that "it is time for the world to free itself of the strictures of Doha’, before concluding presciently that ‘Nairobi will mark the end of an era".  The Conference of 2015 closed with a Ministerial Declaration and the ‘Nairobi Package’ comprising a series of six Ministerial Decisions on agriculture, cotton and issues related to least developed countries (LDCs). WTO’s Director-General, Roberto Azevêdo, concluded with optimism that, similar to two years ago in Bali, the WTO had once again delivered ‘major, multilaterally-negotiated outcomes’ at Nairobi. All these things will be analyzed in the following lines. 

Unclogging WTO Decision-Making with the Provisions on Amendments in Article X of the WTO Agreement

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-241
Author(s):  
Alex Ansong
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
World Trade Organisation ◽  
Democratic Legitimacy ◽  
Significant Implication ◽  
Least Developed Countries ◽  
Trade Facilitation ◽  
The World ◽  
Decision Making System

The provisions on decision-making in the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organisation (WTO Agreement) are of fundamental importance in any discussion on democracy in the WTO. Articles IX and X of the WTO Agreement provide for some of the most important decision-making procedures in the WTO. Of particular importance in this regard is the single undertaking principle established in Article II:2 of the WTO Agreement. Under the single undertaking principle all multilateral agreements are binding on all WTO members. This has a significant implication for the democratic legitimacy of decision-making in the WTO because once a decision or agreement is multilateral in nature it is binding on all WTO members. While having the important advantage of bringing rules under the rubric of multilateralism, the single undertaking principle can become overly unwieldy, hence resulting in an impasse-prone decision- making system. This article discusses the single undertaking requirement and decision-making in the WTO and explores the use of paragraphs 1 and 3 of Article X of the WTO Agreement in the adoption of the Trade Facilitation Agreement. It also discusses the special and differential treatment provisions made available to developing and least developed countries based on each country's specific needs.

scholarly journals Editorial Comments

2001 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 2
Author(s):  
Antoinette Gmeiner
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
Full Text ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Terrorist Attack ◽  
The United States ◽  
The World

The world is still devastated by the horror terrorist attack on the United States of America and the loss of lives of thousands of people, as well as the loss of the 266 people aboard the four planes that crashed into the World Trade Centre, the Pentagon and near Pittsburgh. OpsommingDie wêreld is nog in skok oor die geweldadige terroriste aanval en die verlies van duisende lewens, insluitend die verlies van die 266 mense aanboord die vier vliegtuie wat in Amerika neergestort het. *Please note: This is a reduced version of the abstract. Please refer to PDF for full text.

scholarly journals CHALLENGES FACED BY THE WTO’S ECONOMIC SYSTEM IN TRADE IN SERVICES NEGOTIATIONS

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (8) ◽  
pp. 121-125
Author(s):  
Nino Parsadanishvili
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
International Trade ◽  
World Trade Organization ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Trade In Services ◽  
Least Developed Countries ◽  
The World

resent paper focuses on current crises in international trade in services negotiations from the perspective of consideration of trading interests of developing and least developed countries in line with the operational agenda of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Through the analysis of the existing international legal texts and scholarly works particular attention is paid to the different rounds of trade in services negotiations in parallel to the consideration of the results of relevant ministerial conferences of the World Trade Organization, drawing attention to the situation with regards of consideration of the interests of developing and least developed country members of the WTO. Special focus is paid to the complexity of the decision making process and it’s complication over time due to increased participation of parties concerned in the process of trade in services negotiations resulting in no progress in the overall process. Next to analyzing the challenges faced by the WTO in trade in services negotiations, especially in terms of considering the interests of developing and least developed countries, paper shows the ways that could be used during 2020 Kazakhstan Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization for finding solutions to simplify the decision making process and establish freer international trade in services by the way of either implying new approaches in interpreting the existing multilateral treaties that deal with trade in services between all member states of the WTO or deepening the discussions on a new plurilateral agreement helping the organization to overcome the stagnated process of trade in services negotiations and therefore ensuring the compliance with it’s own operational goals.

Access to Medicines, Health and Trade

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 184-187
Author(s):  
Pascal Lamy
Keyword(s):  
World Trade ◽  
World Trade Organisation ◽  
Access To Medicines ◽  
Director General ◽  
Annual Conference ◽  
The World ◽  
Opening Address

This paper is the written version of the key opening address to the eleventh International Generic Pharmaceutical Alliance Annual Conference that took place in Geneva, Switzerland on 9-10 December 2008 as submitted by the office of Mr Pascal Lamy, Director-General of the World Trade Organisation.

scholarly journals The role of coalitions at international tariff negotiations: a CGE perspective

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florian Freund
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
World Trade Organization ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Least Developed Countries ◽  
Equal Distribution ◽  
The World ◽  
Equity Effects ◽  
Empirical Implications

AbstractDeveloping countries coalitions form an integral part of tariff negotiations that take place under the aegis of the World Trade Organization. While there was only a single coalition in the 70s, their number increased to 31 in the year 2005. Despite the apparent proliferation of coalitions in tariff negotiations, little research on their theoretical and empirical implications has been produced. In particular, we lack an understanding of efficiency and equity effects of coalitions. By exploring this equity-efficiency nexus, the study finds that developing countries coalitions like the G-90 and the Least Developed Countries Group – while benefiting member countries – lead to less efficiency and less equity overall. Forming the Cairns Group, however, leads to a more efficient and equal distribution of the gains from trade.

scholarly journals WTO and Pakistan: Opportunities and Policy Challenges

1998 ◽  
Vol 37 (4II) ◽  
pp. 687-701
Author(s):  
Zafar Mahmood
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Uruguay Round ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
World Trade Organisation ◽  
Trade Restrictions ◽  
Effective Protection ◽  
Developed Markets ◽  
The World ◽  
The Developed Countries

From its inception the GATT had guided international trade most successfully until the early 1970s. However, afterwards the developed countries (DCs) increasingly recurred to new forms of trade restrictions not covered by the GATT rules. Ironically, these “grey measures” were mostly against the less developed countries (LDCs). These measures constrained international trade exactly at the time when the LDCs started penetrating developed markets. One of the main objectives of the Uruguay Round (UR) accord was to restrict the surge of protectionism. The accord was the most ambitious and detailed trade accord of all the GATT rounds. It established the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Before the UR accord the discrimination in textiles, clothing and agriculture was severe because tariffs and non-tariff barriers (NTBs) were employed in such a way that the overall effect of protection accumulated. The Round had agreed upon the harmonisation and reduction of tariffs, and elimination of NTBs (in stages) and thus it is expected that the effective protection will diminish in the DCs. The new accord has ensured multilateral rules for these sectors. All members expected that protection would be eventually lower with full implementation of the accord. In order to protect the interest of different groups the WTO has now lay down nondiscriminatory trading rules for services and trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPs), thus covering all major fields of international trade policy.

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