25 Years of the WTO a Photographic Retrospective

25 years of the WTO A photographic retrospective 25 years of the WTO A photographic retrospective Who we are The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the international body dealing with the global rules of trade between nations. Its main function is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly, predictably and freely as possible, with a level playing field for all its members. Disclaimer This document has been prepared under the WTO Secretariat’s own responsibility and without prejudice to the position of WTO members and to their rights and obligations under the WTO. The designations employed in this publication and the presentation of material therein do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the WTO concerning the legal status of any country, area or territory or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers. A publication of the World Trade Organization © World Trade Organization 2020 World Trade Organization Rue de Lausanne 154 CH-1211 Geneva 21 Switzerland Tel: +41 (0)22 739 51 11 [email protected] www.wto.org WTO Online Bookshop http://onlinebookshop.wto.org ISBN Print: 978-92-870-4419-8 PDF: 978-92-870-4853-0 Designed by StagHill Design Limited Printed by Chirat 25 years of the WTO A photographic retrospective Introduction The WTO is an organization that has delivered successes but it has 25 years of challenges, also, in some areas, fallen short of its goals. It has proven to be an energetic and resilient place, successes and perseverance where members and Secretariat get knocked down only to rise to their feet and try again. In the early days, there was great In an historical context, 25 years is but excitement at the prospect of an a blink of an eye. organization (which technically the GATT was not) where negotiations Yet, a quarter of a century in the life of an would flow continuously, where organization like the World Trade Organization trade policies would be thoughtfully gauged and where disputes could is sufficient to provide a pretty fair vantage be settled efficiently and effectively. point from which to assess the WTO’s impact The tiresome and ponderous on its 164 member governments and on the process of conducting “rounds” lives of the citizens they represent. Such of trade negotiations would be replaced by perpetual negotiations retrospective assessment must also take into enabling members to swiftly adjust account the fact that while the WTO is only 25, policies and adapt to the fast- its roots in shaping economic policy run far changing trading landscape. To propel governments on their way, deeper because its predecessor, the General the negotiators who concluded Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, was on the the Uruguay Round in 1994 even scene since 1948. provided a “built-in agenda” which in 2000 was to have kickstarted negotiations in agriculture and services. 2 Things have not worked out The WTO’s anniversary party As the process of continuing exactly as envisaged. A successful in 1998 revealed that not negotiations stalled, delegations Ministerial Conference in everyone was sanguine about reverted to the Big Bang approach Singapore in 1996 paved the way an organization which many of large and complex rounds of for a trio of important agreements saw as the principle agent of negotiations. The first attempt at on information technology globalization. From the very launching a round sank into Puget products, telecommunications beginning, the organization had Sound at the Seattle Ministerial and financial services. Disputes been controversial. In the early Conference. But the resilience of that had dragged on for years days, some journalists, academics the WTO came into play in 2001. were settled in the WTO’s dispute and members of civil society fretted Following the horrific attacks settlement system, which was that the WTO would become an all- on New York and Washington, quickly dubbed the “jewel in the powerful hegemon, intruding into WTO ministers agreed to meet in crown” of the organization. Trade the lives of just about everybody. Doha – most other organizations Policy Review reports were seen These fears were manifested in the had cancelled their meetings – as vitally important tools for better riots in Geneva which marred the and it was there they agreed to understanding the plumbing of 2nd Ministerial Conference. launch the Doha Development a nation’s trade regime. Agenda. While these negotiations These riots came as a shock to have subsequently disappointed In 1998, some of the 20th century’s many but were a harbinger of many, they have also delivered most famous people – Nelson what was to come. important outcomes including Mandela, Fidel Castro, Bill Clinton If there were one event that amending the Agreement on and Tony Blair among them – characterized the anti-globalization Trade-related Intellectual Property descended on Geneva to attend movement of the latter 20th Rights to improve access to the 2nd Ministerial Conference century, it was quite probably the essential medicines, striking the which commemorated 50 years of WTO’s Seattle Ministerial in 1999. A Trade Facilitation Agreement the multilateral trading system. surreal confab in which, as former and providing the platform for The WTO, it seemed, had the wind Director-General Mike Moore put future reforms in agriculture and in its sails. it, “the vegetarians marched arm disciplines in fisheries subsidies. But there were fissures in the in arm with the beef farmers” in Intensive efforts to conclude the architecture that soon began opposition to globalization and Round in 2006 and 2008 collapsed to emerge. The built-in agenda the WTO. The meeting was chaotic and negotiations in the WTO foundered on the rocks as and a substantive failure. But the essentially shut down for five delegations worried that another aftershocks of Seattle also forced years as the world entered the round of agriculture negotiations the organization to change and most precarious economic climate would bring political peril. The become more transparent and since the Great Depression. 1997 Asian financial crisis had more open to stakeholders. The raised a host of questions about post-Seattle tremors swept away whether WTO trade agreements any lingering GATT-era cobwebs might impinge on governments’ and made clear that while the rights to regulate. foundations of the WTO may have rested on international law and economics, this was a far more political organization than the GATT ever was. 3 Against a backdrop of limited And yet, despite such difficult Over this past quarter of a century, success in negotiations, the terrain, the WTO has posted the WTO has met with successes dispute settlement system surged notable achievements in recent and suffered setbacks. It has forward. Just nine years after the years: the Trade Facilitation encountered criticisms – some fair, system began operating, it had Agreement, the elimination of all some less so. But the one constant already seen more cases initiated forms of agriculture subsidies, and throughout these tumultuous (300) than in the entire 47-year the extension of the Information years has been the commitment history of the GATT. The system Technology Agreement to cover of dedicated and determined was working well but some feared 201 products worth US$1.3 trillion delegates and Secretariat staff. that it was working too well. As in annual exports. In response to The images contained on these negotiations flagged, some believed the financial crisis of 2008, the pages capture some of this that members sought to change WTO also began to monitor trade commitment and reflect the rules through litigation rather measures to evaluate governments’ importance that all of us attach than negotiation. Others said the trade responses. This monitoring to the work of the WTO. Perhaps powerful dispute settlement system activity was expanded in 2020 to this explains how the WTO’s made some members apprehensive assess government trade responses membership has grown by more of striking new deals for fear of to the COVID-19 pandemic. than 30% since 1995. These past 25 being hauled into court by other The consistently excellent work years have brought a whirlwind of members with far more resources. of the WTO’s regular committees events and transformations that no In a way, the WTO has been a has ensured a more transparent one could have foreseen, including victim of both its own success trading environment. Hundreds of the most serious global pandemic in and bad timing. The impressive technical assistance programmes over a century. No one can predict early negotiating successes and have revved up the capacity of what the next 25 will bring, but it effective dispute settlement system developing country negotiators to seems irrefutable that whatever created anxiety in some quarters participate in the global trading challenges the future holds, the and an eventual backlash. Hugely system. Outreach activities like the prospect of meeting them will be significant events like the Asian Public Forum have served to make far greater if we do it collectively. Crisis, 9/11, the Great Recession, the WTO more inclusive by bringing massive trade tensions and finally civil society and the business the COVID-19 pandemic created community into the conversation. conditions in which success would WTO delegations have begun to always be difficult to attain. explore new ways of working, employing new technologies and different approaches to negotiations. New issues, pertaining to the environment, women’s economic empowerment and smaller businesses, have come to the fore even as long-standing matters retain a central place on the agenda. 4 5 Timeline 25 years at a glance The WTO began life on 1 January 1995, succeeding the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade which had regulated world trade since 1948. Over the past 2005 25 years, the WTO has made a 2000 September major contribution to the strength Pascal Lamy (France) January becomes WTO and stability of the global economy, Negotiations begin Director-General.

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