Recent Development in the WTO

Recent Development in the WTO

 

The recent mini-ministerial meetings in New Delhi and Geneva to break the deadlock and facilitate negotiations towards Doha Development Agenda was concluded without stalemate but no progress.

 

There are still diverse interests among members of the WTO which blocked the possibilities of fresh negotiations on the Doha Agenda. This is made more complicated by the current financial crisis.

 

What is the impact of the financial crisis on trade and on WTO-Trade Regime. From a general orientation there s slow down of the economy in most developed countries which resulted in slowing down of international trade. The outcome may be seen as lack of credit and finance for traders and priority funding for others like food and other essential commodities which come down to consumers with high prices. Whereas both developed and developing countries do face this problem but the risks are always to be taken by developing countries.

 

On the relationship between the WTO-Regime and the financial crisis each reinforces each other. It is a common knowledge that countries that liberalise financial services as under GATs and FTAs are more susceptible to deeper and negative impact of financial crisis to many sectors, especially in developing countries agriculture.

 

Indeed, more crisis s expected on the agricultural sector of the developing countries when reform of the financial services would push banks into speculative and global money exchanges rather than finance small farmers or generally provide services in the rural areas.

 

On this term what is needed is a "Second reform" of the financial system to reduce the broad liberalization and deregulation of the financial services and capital movements which came through the GATs and FTAs.

 

However, WTO prevents regulation measures which most developed countries are now pursuing to revive the global economy. That is why there are arguments that the WTO is not going to be useful in tackling the financial crisis.

 

The Doha Agenda in particular would be disastrous to put in place today because it could only aggravate the economic, social and financial problem facing both the developed and the developing countries.

 

In reality the Doha Round means further liberalization and deregulation of all kind of financial service providers which would contradict efforts to regulate the financial system to get out of the crisis.

 

M. M. Yusif

WTO-Mock Summit Club

Kano

06 – 12 – 09