...DOHA ROUNDInternational Economic Analysis | SEMESTER 2, 2012 – CASE STUDY | | | I Executive Summary This report briefly assesses the World Trade Organisation (WTO), and in particular, the Doha Round, which has been the longest running trade liberalization round in the history of the GATT/WTO era. Launching in November, 2001 in the wake on the September 11 Terrorist attacks on the USA, it had the explicit aim to conclude a broad deal to facilitate development through trade and thereby better integrate the more disadvantaged into the global economy. The conclusion of the Doha Round however has been much harder to conclude than any other trade round in the history of the WTO for many reasons that will be highlighted below. Table of Contents I Executive Summary 1 II Introduction 3 III The World Trade Organisation 3 IV Other Rounds of the World Trade Organisation 3 V The Doha Round 4 Negotiations: geographical indications —multilateral register for wines and spirits 4 TRIPS, biological diversity and traditional knowledge (Doha paragraph 19) 4 Geographical indications — ‘extension’ 4 VI Problems With Concluding the Doha Round 4 The Single Undertaking Method: 5 Changed Geopolitical Situations: 5 Trade Liberalisation and Non-agricultural Market access (NAMA): 5 Agriculture: 5 VII Conclusion 6 VIII References 6 II Introduction The effort to launch a new round of multilateral trade negotiations in the late 1990s was turbulent...
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...The Doha Round The Doha Round, which is after the Uruguay Round, began in 2001 in Doha, Qatar. The aim for this current round is to enable developing countries to trade fairer. As a result, the Doha round seeks to build on the Uruguay Round’s progress by lowering trade barriers found at national borders and domestic practices, to promote free trade between countries of different prosperity. Agriculture is the centre of focus in this current round.1 With average agricultural tariffs allowed at 62 percent, trade in this sector has been vastly distorted.2 Therefore, the agricultural goals of Doha seek to tackle trade barriers afflicting the agricultural trade through lowering export subsidies, opening market and eliminating trade distorting domestic policies.3 The Doha Round also emphasized on encouraging countries to expand trade, so that they can promote economic growth and reduce poverty through the benefits of trade. As such, market access and trade liberalization remained key objectives of this round where developed nations bargain for access into developing nations’ markets in exchange for a reduction in their own subsidization in agricultural products.4 Currently, talks in the Doha Round are stalled over disagreements on major issues regarding agriculture, non-agriculture market access (NAMA), industrial tariffs, non-trade barriers (NTB) and services. The most significant being the persistent difference in interests between developed and developing nations, led by...
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...World Trade Organization: The art of a little give and take Historical Overview of the WTO The World Trade Organization (WTO) was founded in 1995 as the predecessor to the General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The GATT was developed in 1947 on a provisional base after World War 2; it was not started as an international organization, but rather an inter-governmental treaty. Instead of being made up of participating members, such as the WTO, the GATT consisted of contracting parties. As stated in the preamble of the GATT-1947, the objectives of the contracting parties include ‘raising standards of living, ensuring full employment and a large and steadily growing volume of real income and effective demand ,developing the full use of the resources of the world and expanding the production and exchange of goods’(GATT, 1994a: 486). It continues by stating that reciprocal and mutually advantageous arrangements involving a substantial reduction of tariffs and other barriers to trade as well as the elimination of discriminatory treatment in international trade will contribute to the realization of these objectives. So in short the role of the GATT, was (and still is) to facilitate the reduction of barriers of trade and ensure greater equality with respect to conditions of market access for contracting parties. Through the negotiations made by the original 23 countries of the GATT, with additions of over 50 countries, came the charter for the International Trade Organization...
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...World Trade Organization (WTO) is an organization that intends to supervise and liberalize international trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which commenced in 1948. The organization deals with regulation of trade between participating countries; it provides a framework for negotiating and formalizing trade agreements, and a dispute resolution process aimed at enforcing participants' adherence to WTO agreements which are signed by representatives of member governments and ratified by their parliaments. Most of the issues that the WTO focuses on derive from previous trade negotiations, especially from the Uruguay Round (1986–1994). The organization is currently endeavoring to persist with a trade negotiation called the Doha Development Agenda (or Doha Round), which was launched in 2001 to enhance equitable participation of poorer countries which represent a majority of the world's population. However, the negotiation has been dogged by "disagreement between exporters of agricultural bulk commodities and countries with large numbers of subsistence farmers on the precise terms of a 'special safeguard measure' to protect farmers from surges in imports. At this time, the future of the Doha Round is uncertain." The WTO has 153 members representing more than 97% of total world trade and 30 observers, most seeking membership. The WTO is governed by a ministerial...
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...AT THE WTO: SHIFTING COORDINATES, UNALTERED PARADIGM Amit Shovon Ray* and Sabyasachi Saha January, 2009 Discussion Paper 09-06 Centre for International Trade and Development School of International Studies Jawaharlal Nehru University India * Corresponding author, e -mail: amit.shovon.ray@gmail.com INDIA’S STANCE AT THE WTO: SHIFTING COORDINATES, UNALTERED PARADIGM Amit Shovon RAY ∗ Jawaharlal Nehru University, India and Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), India Sabyasachi SAHA Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), India ∗ Corresponding author, e -mail: amit.shovon.ray@gmail.com INDIA’S STANCE AT THE WTO: SHIFTING COORDINATES, UNALTERED PARADIGM ♣ Abstract: India’s stance at the WTO has undergone a sea change since the beginning of the Uruguay Round. This paper attempts to trace the shifting coordinates of India’s position at the WTO. By focussing on three specific areas of negotiations, namely agriculture, services and TRIPS, the paper presents a theoretical analysis of how India’s stance at the WTO has evolved over time and whether it reflects any paradigm shift. In the light of international relations theory we argue that although the coordinates of India’s stance at the WTO have shifted over time, the underlying ‘neorealist’ position adopted by India remains by and large unaltered. I. Introduction The ongoing process of Doha round of the WTO negotiations...
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...American countries will: • not demand further cuts in the framework of the Doha Round of talks on global trade once it resumes; • settle several legal disputes pending against the EU at the WTO, some dating back as far as 1993. 1. EU tariff cuts When all parties sign the agreement, the EU will make the first cut to its banana tariff, to €148 per tonne. This will apply retroactively from the date when all parties initialled the agreement. The tariff will then fall again at the start of each year for seven years, in annual instalments (€143, €136, €132, €127, €122, €117, €114), starting on 1 January, 2011. The EU will freeze its cuts for up to two years if WTO members do not conclude talks on agriculture in the Doha Round by the end of 2013. For more details, see below. 2. Latin American dispute settlement Once the WTO certifies the EU's new tariff schedule, Latin American banana-supplying countries will drop: • all their disputes on bananas with the EU at the WTO; and • any claims they made against the EU after new member countries joined the Union, or when the EU changed its bananas tariff in 2006. Why is this deal so important? The disputes on bananas have lasted for more than 20 years. They have destabilised the climate for production and trade in the countries concerned. This agreement is a stable solution in the interest of all parties. Furthermore, the agreement will help pave the way for a successful Doha Round. What was the origin of the disputes at the...
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...Trade Organisation (WTO) It has been suggested that “of all major economic institutions, the WTO has the worst reputation”. Outline the role of the WTO, and explain why it has proved difficult to reach agreement in recent WTO meetings in Doha, Geneva and Hong Kong. The World Trade Organisation (WTO) The WTO was founded in 1995 after the 8 year Uruguay round of talks, and it succeeded the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) created in 1947. Most of the WTO's current work comes from the Uruguay Round of negotiations (1986-1994). Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the WTO has 151 members (as at 27th July 2007), accounting for over 97% of world trade. The organisation is governed by a Ministerial Conference, which meets every two years, a General Council which implements the conference's policy decisions and a director-general appointed by the Ministerial Conference. The World Trade Organization deals 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 help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business. These agreements are the legal ground-rules for international commerce Global trade deals are negotiated at the Ministerial Conference meetings, which are known as trade rounds and are aimed at reducing barriers for trade. One of the central principles of the WTO is non-discriminations...
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...A GLOBALIZED ECONOMY? NAME: Kara Loridas LEXISNEXIS SUMMARY: ... Among the aims of the Doha Development Round are a rejection of protectionism and an attempt to ensure fair application of trade rules to developing countries. ... China argued that the increased tariffs imposed by the United States on Chinese tires exceed the permissible maximum tariff rates that the United States may impose on Chinese imports. ... An example of effective negotiations is the settlement of the U.S. complaint alleging a Chinese violation of the national treatment concept by its preferential treatment of domestic products over "like" imported products. ... Cooperative trade relations between the United States and China are important to the global community because the economies of each country are dependent on the rest of the world and the global economy will be harmed by protectionist measures from the first and third largest trading powers. ... Moreover, multilateral negotiations, as opposed to bilateral trade negotiations, are better suited to resolve the United States-China trade disputes because the disputes affect other WTO members in ways beyond the immediate economic impact. ... The most effective way to combat the rapid escalation and retaliatory nature of the disputes is to conduct multilateral negotiations that will preserve the WTO's goal of reducing trade barriers, avoid the adversarial nature of WTO litigation, and allow the countries to negotiate the underlying political tensions that...
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...What is the WTO? 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 help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business. Who we are | Location: Geneva, Switzerland Established: 1 January 1995 Created by: Uruguay Round negotiations (1986-94) Membership: 157 countries on 24 August 2012 Budget: 196 million Swiss francs for 2011 Secretariat staff: 640 Head: Pascal Lamy (Director-General)Functions: • Administering WTO trade agreements • Forum for trade negotiations • Handling trade disputes • Monitoring national trade policies • Technical assistance and training for developing countries • Cooperation with other international organizations | | There are a number of ways of looking at the World Trade Organization. It is an organization for trade opening. It is a forum for governments to negotiate trade agreements. It is a place for them to settle trade disputes. It operates a system of trade rules. Essentially, the WTO is a place where member governments try to sort out the trade problems they face with each other. The WTO was born out of negotiations, and everything the WTO does is the result of negotiations. The bulk of the WTO’s current work comes from the 1986–94 negotiations called the Uruguay...
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...create the International Trade Organization (ITO). GATT was signed in 1948 and lasted until 1993, when it was replaced by the World Trade Organization in 1995. The original GATT text (GATT 1958) is still in effect under the WTO framework, subject to the modifications of GATT 1994 ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- GATT and the World Trade Organization ------------------------------------------------- In 1993, the GATT was updated (GATT 1994) to include new obligations upon its signatories. One of the most significant changes was the creation of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The 75 existing GATT members and the European Communities became the founding members of the WTO on 1 January 1995. The other 52 GATT members rejoined the WTO in the following two years (the last being Congo in 1997). Since the founding of the WTO, 21 new non-GATT members have joined and 29 are currently negotiating membership. There are a total of 157 member countries in the WTO, with Russia and Vanuatu being new members as of 2012. Of the original GATT members, Syria[5][6] and the SFR Yugoslavia has not rejoined the WTO. Since FR Yugoslavia, (renamed to Serbia and Montenegro and with membership negotiations later split in two), is not...
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... Summer 2008 Term Paper – World Trade Organization (WTO) TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 INTRODUCTION 4 1.1 What is WTO? 1.2 History of WTO 1.3 Mission 1.4 The Structure of WTO 2.0 WTO SYSTEMS 11 3.0 CONITIONS FOR MEMBERSHIP 17 4.0 OBJECTIVES OF WTO 24 5.0 WTO DISPUTE RESOLUTION SYSTEM 27 5.1 Governing Principles 5.2 Stages Of Dispute Resolution 6.0 SUCCESS AND FAILURES OF WTO 29 7.0 WTO AND 3RD WORLD RELATED ISSUES 35 7.1 Who are the Least Developed Countries? 7.2 Who Are the Developing Countries? 7.3 Issues Relating to 3rd World Countries 7.4 Action Plan for the Least Developed Countries 8.0 CHALLENGES FACED BY WTO 42 8.1 Overloading the WTO 8.2 Decision Making 8.3 The role of overlapping unimplemented commitments from the Uruguay Round with new issues from the Doha Round 8.4 Regionalism 8.5 Eroding national sovereignty 8.6 Asymmetry between goods and service liberalization 8.7 Protecting intellectual property 8.8 Asymmetry between public and private trade restrictive Measures 8.9 Shooting at a moving target: Protectionism in disguise 8.10 Doha Development Agenda 8.11 A Healthy WTO 8.12 Timeliness and Politics 8.13 The Alternative to the Doha Round 8. 14 Next Steps for the WTO 9.0 OVERCOMING THE CHALLENGES 58 10.0 CONCLUSION 59 11.0 REFERENCES...
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... | |Eighth Session | | |Geneva, 15 - 17 December 2011 | | EIGHTH Ministerial Conference CHAIRMAN'S CONCLUDING STATEMENT My statement is in two parts. The first part represents Elements for Political Guidance which emerged from the preparatory process. These Elements were the subject of consensus in the General Council. They were circulated in document WT/MIN(11)/W/2. As the General Council Chairman has already assured Members, I wish to reiterate that nothing in this text re-interprets or changes any WTO rules or agreements or prejudices any Member's...
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...Abstract The Brazilian economy transformed from a state of financial crisis in the 1980’s to become a leading agriculture exporter in the late 1990’s. Economic reforms implemented by the Real Plan were a response to a bankrupt decade of failed economic plans and high inflation rates. In this period agriculture played a key role in the control of the inflation and in the stabilization of the economy. The domestic environment of the Brazilian economy and the role of agriculture helped Brazil to develop a more active role and led it to seek for a leadership position in the international agricultural negotiations. On the eve on the WTO’s Cancun Round of negotiation a new coalition of developing countries formed the G-20. The Group was born from a Brazilian initiative and for the first time a group of developing countries stood up against the developed countries in the agriculture negotiations. 3 Acknowledgments I would like to dedicate this thesis to my mother Ana and my brother Matheus. Who believed in me even when I did not. I love you guys. I would like to thank my Father for the support, during the whole process, even at 4 am, William Wyle my good friend and housemate, Celina Italiano and her beautiful family, my adviser Anthony Jarvis, who was always a sea of calm and never lost hope in me and also to thank all my friends and family who through phone calls or emails were there for me. 4 Contents Abstract……………………………………………………………………………..……I. Acknowledgments………………………………………………………………………...
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...the end of the latest round of meetings of the agricultural negotiations committee of the WTO, the optimism that negotiators would manage to come at a consensus on numerical targets, formulas and other “modalities” through which countries can frame their liberalisation commitments in a new full-fledged round of trade negotiations has almost disappeared. In a report by the negotiations’ chairperson to the Trade Negotiations Committee, circulated to WTO member governments on 7 July 2003, the chairperson Stuart Harbinson says: “Achieving the objective of establishing modalities as soon as possible has continued to remain elusive. … As matters stand, collective guidance and decisions are required on a number of key issues in order to clear the way for reaching [the goal set out in the Doha mandate]”. Establishing modalities before the Cancun ministerial was important for two reasons. First, it is now becoming clear, that even more than was true during the Uruguay Round, forging an agreement in the agricultural area is bound to prove extremely difficult. Progress in the agricultural negotiations was key to persuading the unconvinced that a new ‘Doha Round’ of trade negotiations is useful and feasible. Second, the Doha declaration made agricultural negotiations one part of a ‘single undertaking’ to be completed by January 1, 2005. That is, in a take ‘all-or-nothing’ scheme, countries had to arrive at and be bound by agreements in all areas in which negotiations were to be initiated in...
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...The effects of trade liberalization in agriculture, particularly of developing countries, have become an important part of major studies in recent years after a decade of failed or unsafisfactory WTO negotiations. The trade talks launched at Doha, Qatar, in November of 2001, are considered to be the first of nine negotiating rounds to address the “needs and the interests” of developing countries (Elliott, 2007, p. 1). There have been many attempts to reach an agreement between countries on agricultural liberalization. The failure to reacha solution still persists, however, as was seen at the “Battle in Seattle”, in November of 1999 where strong anti-WTO sentiment took to the streets in mass protests. (Fabiosa, 2008, p. 1). This anti-trade stance asks the fundamental question whether agricultural trade liberalization is beneficial to developing countries or not. The growth of globalization creates interdependence among countries and increases the capacity of the economy of the countries to engage in international trade. Trade liberalization in agriculture has significant benefits to individuals who devote their lives to agriculture, mainly small farmers from developing countries. This idea would also promote economic growth in these countries. In order to make trade liberalization in agriculture an ideal concept, there are still a few hurdles that need to be cleared, such as granting developing nations funds to meet environmental...
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