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WTO in brief
1. The WTO (World Trade Organization) has been
established in 1995 as the successor of the GATT
(General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade). Currently
the organization has 153 members. The WTO is an
international organization that governs and maintains
rules and regulations for conducting trade among
different countries. WTO rules are the basis for
conducting businesses among countries. The main
functions of the WTO are –
(i) administer WTO agreements,
(ii) act as a negotiating forum,
(iii) handle trade disputes,
(iv) monitor national trade policies,
(v) provide technical assistance and trainings,
(vi) Cooperate with international organizations.
2. The WTO is a rule-based organization. In
order to make the multi-lateral trading system (MTS)
rule-based, the WTO has three main agreements for
three broad areas/disciplines of trade, which are –
(i) GATT – 1994 (General Agreement on Tariffs and
Trade) – for trade in goods
(ii) GATS (General Agreement on Trade in Services) –
for trade in services
(iii) TRIPS (Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property Rights – for applying
intellectual property rights
3. In addition to these three main agreements,
there are many other area/issue specific agreements
for trade in goods, such as Agreement on Agriculture,
SPS, TBT, etc.
4. The basic principles of the WTO are – (i)
MFN (most favoured nation) treatment, i.e, equal
treatment to all members in all respect, (ii) national
treatment, i.e., equal or similar treatment to
domestic and imported products, (iii) ensure
predictability through practicing transparency in all
stages of activities
5. Bangladesh is founder member of the WTO and
has been actively participating in all the activities
of the WTO, including negotiations. As an LDC
(Least-developed country), Bangladesh is entitled to
enjoy various kinds of special & differential
treatment (S&DT) under the WTO system.
Doha Round negotiations
6. In the GATT/WTO system, negotiations usually
take place under rounds of negotiations. During GATT
period, several rounds of negotiations took place. The
last one was the Uruguay Round through which the WTO
itself has been created.
7. After establishment of the WTO, the first
round of negotiations has been started in 2001 during
the Ministerial Conference held in Doha. This round of
negotiations is known as Doha Round negotiations. It
is also called Development Round as its main focus is
on development oriented issues. Though it was
originally scheduled to conclude the Round by 01
January 2005, several deadlines have been missed.
Though negotiations are at the final stage, few issues
are yet to be resolved. The main areas of negotiations
are –
(i) NAMA (Non Agricultural Market Access)
(ii) Agriculture
(iii) Services.
8. NAMA Negotiations are actually going on with
a view to reducing tariffs of industrial
(non-agricultural) products. A formula, known as
“Swiss formula”, has already been agreed upon as the
tool of reducing tariffs. Various flexibility options
for different groups of countries are also under
consideration. Other issues relating to tariff
reductions are also in the negotiating package.
9. Agriculture negotiations have been going on
with a view to reducing trade-distorting domestic
supports, phasing out all forms of export subsidies
and improving market access conditions. The ultimate
objective of agriculture negotiations is to reduce all
sorts of trade distorting elements and maintain fair
and rational system in trade in agriculture products.
10. Negotiations on trade in services are going
on in the following areas -
(i) Market access through request-offer approach
(ii) Domestic regulations
(iii) Rules
11. The objective of the negotiations is to
have more openings in different modes and sectors of
services for better market access and to have better
disciplines and predictability in domestic regulations
and rules relating to trade in services.
12. While NAMA, Agriculture and Trade in
Services are the main negotiating issues, other issues
like, trade facilitation, TRIPS, etc are also in the
negotiating package.
Important issues for Bangladesh
13. As an LDC, Bangladesh has been exempted
from making all sorts of reduction commitments (such
as reduction of tariffs, domestic supports, etc).
Bangladesh has also no obligation to open up any mode
or sectors relating to trade in services in this
round. As a result, Bangladesh has very little
defensive interest in this round of negotiations.
14. However, Bangladesh has many offensive
interests for which Bangladesh has been negotiating
hard from the very beginning of the round.
Particularly following issues are important for
Bangladesh in this round -
(i) Duty-free & quota-free (DFQF) market access
(ii) Preference erosion
(iii) Services negotiations
(iv) Trade Facilitation
(v) Rules
WTO Cell and activities
15. Since, after the creation of the WTO, many
opportunities and challenges have been evolving in the
multilateral trading system, a WTO Cell has been
established in the Ministry of Commerce to deal with
WTO and other multilateral trade issues. Currently one
Director General, three Directors, two Deputy
Directors and two Assistant directors are working in
the cell. A high powered committee, headed by Hon’ble
Minister for commerce has been constituted to deal
with the functions and activities related to WTO
issues. Apart from the high-powered committee,
following seven working groups have also been formed
to deal with specific WTO issues.
(i) NAMA and WTO Rules
(ii) Agriculture and SPS
(iii) Services
(iv) Trade Facilitation and Customs Valuation
(v) Trade & Environment
(vi) Trade-related Technical Assistance (TRTA)
(vii) TRIPS and TBT
16. All the working groups and the high-powered
committee have been comprised of representatives from
relevant public, private sector bodies and think
tanks. Each working group again formed one or more
core groups to deal with more specific and technical
issues. Taking inputs from relevant working groups,
high-powered committee takes decisions on different
issues. The WTO Cell takes further actions to
implement the decision or guidance of the high-powered
committee.
17. In WTO negotiations, LDCs take part as a
group since S&DTs are usually provided for the group
as a whole, not for any specific country. An LDC Trade
Ministers' Conference was held in Dar Es Salaam,
Tanzania on 14 - 16 October 2009 to formulate a common
position for the LDC group before the 7th WTO
Ministerial Conference. Dar Es Salaam Declaration has
been adopted as the outcome of the Conference.
18. 7th WTO Ministerial Conference was held in Geneva on 30 November to 02 December
2009. A Bangladesh delegation headed by Hon'ble
Commerce Minister attended the Conference.
Representatives from relevant government, private and
research organizations had been included in the
delegation. |
