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The Future and the WTO: Confronting the Challenges

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The Future and the WTO: Confronting the Challenges July 2012 | ICTSD Programme on Global Economic Policy and Institutions The Future and the WTO: Confronting the Challenges A Collection of Short Essays Edited by Ricardo Meléndez-Ortiz, Christophe Bellmann and Miguel Rodriguez Mendoza July 2012 | ICTSD Programme on Global Economic Policy and Institutions The Future and the WTO: Confronting the Challenges A Collection of Short Essays Edited by Ricardo Meléndez-Ortiz, Christophe Bellmann and Miguel Rodriguez Mendoza Published by International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) International Environment House 2 7 Chemin de Balexert, 1219 Geneva, Switzerland Tel: +41 22 917 8492 - Fax: +41 22 917 8093 [email protected] www.ictsd.org Publisher and Director: Ricardo Meléndez-Ortiz Programmes Director: Christophe Bellmann Senior Associate: Miguel Rodriguez Mendoza Acknowledgements This book is a collection of short essays prepared by distinguished policy makers and researchers sharing their perspectives on the future of the multilateral trading system. In addition to the authors, it was made possible thanks to a generous contribution from the Swiss State Secretariat of Economic Affairs (SECO), which allowed ICTSD not only to get such a distinguished group of specialists involved in this project, but also facilitated the organization of the Trade and Development Symposium (TDS), an open-ended event held in conjunction with the Eighth WTO Ministerial Conference, where the substantive issues dealt with in the book were thoroughly discussed. This publication has been produced under the ICTSD Programme on Global Economic Policy and Institutions. In addition to SECO, ICTSD wishes gratefully to acknowledge the support of its core and thematic donors, including: the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA); the Netherlands Directorate-General of Development Cooperation (DGIS); the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, Danida; the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway; Australia’s AusAID; the Inter American Development Bank (IADB); and Oxfam Novib. For more information about ICTSD’s programmes, visit our website at www.ictsd.org ICTSD welcomes feedback and comments on this document. These can be sent to: Anne- Katrin Pfister [email protected]( ). Citation: ICTSD (2012); The Future and the WTO: Confronting the Challenges. A Collection of Short Essays; ICTSD Programme on Global Economic Policy and Institutions, Geneva, Switzerland, www.ictsd.org The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of ICTSD or the funding institutions. Copyright © ICTSD, 2012. Readers are encouraged to quote this material for educational and non-profit purposes, provided the source is acknowledged. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-commercial-No-Derivative Works 3.0 License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA. ISSN 2077-5520 ICTSD Programme on Global Economic Policy and Institutions III CONTENTS ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS V INTRODUCTION 1 PART I: A WAY FORWARD FOR THE WTO 5 1. A WAY FORWARD FOR THE WTO 6 James Bacchus 2. THE FUTURE OF THE MULTILATERAL TRADING SYSTEM AND THE WTO 10 Roderick Abbott 3. CHALLENGING OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE MULTILATERAL TRADE REGIME 15 Kevin P. Gallagher 4. THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THE WTO 22 Magda Shahin 5. TOWARD “PLURILATERAL PLUS” AGREEMENTS 27 Miguel Rodriguez Mendoza 6. IS THERE A FUTURE FOR MULTILATERAL TRADE OPENING? 33 Arancha González PART II: REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS 37 1. COMPETING WITH REGIONALISM BY REVITALIZING THE WTO 38 Robert Z Lawrence 2. ADDRESSING 21ST CENTURY “WTO-PLUS” ISSUES IN THE MULTILATERAL TRADING SYSTEM 42 Andrew L. Stoler 3. THE TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP 47 Gary Hufbauer and Julia Muir 4. AFRICA’S TRIPARTITE PREFERENTIAL TRADE AGREEMENT AND THE PTA-WTO COHERENCE DEBATE: YIN AND YANG 53 Peter Draper 5. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, PREFERENTIAL TRADE AGREEMENTS AND THE MULTILATERAL SYSTEM 58 Pedro Roffe 6. HOW TO ENCOURAGE NETWORK TRADE RULES INTERCONNECTIONS? AN APPLICATION TO THE CASE OF NON-TARIFF BARRIERS 63 Marcel Vaillant PART III: DEVELOPING COUNTRIES AND THE MULTILATERAL TRADING SYSTEM 73 1. THE SHIFTING STARS: THE RISE OF CHINA, EMERGING ECONOMIES AND THE FUTURE OF WORLD TRADE GOVERNANCE 74 Henry Gao 2. CHINESE AID FOR TRADE AND ITS IMPACT ON THE GLOBAL AID EFFECTIVENESS AGENDA 80 Masato Hayashikawa The Future and the WTO: Confronting the Challenges - A Collection of Short Essays IV 3. THE ACCESSION OF LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES TO THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION 88 Nicolas Imboden 4. BREAKING THE DEADLOCK ON MARKET ACCESS FOR LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES 96 Kimberly Ann Elliott 5. CAN THE DOHA ROUND BE SAVED? 102 Vinaye Ancharaz PART IV: INSTITUTIONAL REFORM OF THE WTO 111 1. STRENGTHENING THE WTO DISPUTE SETTLEMENT SYSTEM: ESTABLISHMENT OF A DISPUTE TRIBUNAL 112 Debra Steger 2. THE FUTURE OF THE WTO: GOVERNING TRADE FOR A FAIRER, MORE SUSTAINABLE FUTURE 119 Carolyn Deere-Birkbeck 3. WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE BEFORE WE REFORM THE WTO 130 Rorden Wilkinson 4. WHAT KIND OF INSTITUTIONAL REFORM IS THE WTO RIPE FOR? 138 Roberto Bouzas 5. SHOULD THE WTO DEAL WITH PRIVATE SECTOR INITIATIVES? 143 Pedro da Motta Veiga and Sandra Polónia Rios PART V: FUTURE CHALLENGES FOR THE MULTILATERAL TRADING SYSTEM 151 1. GLOBAL GOVERNANCE REQUIRES LOCALISING GLOBAL ISSUES 152 Pascal Lamy 2. GLOBAL PROBLEMS NEED GLOBAL SOLUTIONS: THE NEED FOR A MULTILATERAL FRAMEWORK ON COMPETITION 156 Pradeep S. Mehta and Natasha Nayak 3. THE REVIVAL OF INDUSTRIAL POLICY: HOW SHOULD THE WTO ADDRESS IT? 162 Xinquan TU and LIN Guijun 4. THE TRADE TOOLBOX AND ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY: THE CASE FOR FISHERIES 167 Peter Allgeier 5. IS AN ALL OR NOTHING WTO FISHERIES SUBSIDIES AGREEMENT ACHIEVABLE? 173 U. Rashid Sumaila 6. BIOFUEL POLICIES AS A COMPLEMENT TO AND A SUBSTITUTE FOR AGRICULTURAL POLICIES 178 Carlos Galperín 7. HARNESSING TRADE AND MARKETS FOR SUSTAINABLE ENERGY: A CASE FOR A SUSTAINABLE ENERGY TRADE INITIATIVE 185 Mahesh Sugathan 8. FOOD SECURITY AND THE MULTILATERAL TRADING SYSTEM 190 Jonathan Hepburn 9. TRADE POLICIES FOR RESOURCE SECURITY: RETHINKING EXPORT RESTRICTIONS 197 Christophe Bellmann and Marie Wilke AUTHORS 206 ICTSD Programme on Global Economic Policy and Institutions V ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ACTA Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement ACWL Advisory Centre on WTO Law ADB Asian Development Bank AFT Aid for Trade AGOA African Growth and Opportunity Act AMS Aggregated Measurement of Support AoA WTO Agreement on Agriculture APEC Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation BCPBS Basel Core Principles for Banking Supervision BIAs Bilateral investment agreements CBI Caribbean Basin Initiative COMESA Common Market for Eastern and Southern African States COOL Country of origin labelling CRTA Committee on Regional Trade Arrangements DAC OECD’s Development Assistance Committee DDA Doha Development Agenda DDR Doha Development Round DFQF Duty free, quota-free DSM Dispute Settlement Mechanism DSU Dispute Settlement Understanding EAC East African Community EEZ Exclusive environmental zone EPA US Environmental Protection Agency EU European Union FAO Food and Agriculture Organization FDI Foreign direct investment FIPS Five Interested Parties FTA Free-trade agreement FTAAP Free Trade Agreement of the Asia-Pacific GATS General Agreement on Trade in Services GATT General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade GDP Gross domestic product GHG Greenhouse gas GI Geographical indications GPA Government procurement agreement GSP Generalized system of preferences IEA International Energy Agency IMF International Monetary Fund IP Intellectual property IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPR Intellectual property rights The Future and the WTO: Confronting the Challenges - A Collection of Short Essays VI IUU Illegal, unreported, or unregulated ISO International Organization for Standardization ITA Information technology agreement KPCS Kimberly Process Certification Scheme LAP Legislative Action Plan MCA Multilateral competition agreement LDC Least Developed Country MDGs Millennium Development Goals MFN Most-favoured nation NAMA Non-agricultural market access NTB Non-tariff barrier NTM Non-tariff measures ODA Official development assistance OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development PTA Preferential trade agreements RECS Regional economic communities RTA Regional trade agreement S&D Special and differential SADC Southern African Development Community SCM Subsidies and countervailing measures SEGS Sustainable energy goods and services SETIs Sustainable Energy Trade Initiatives SME Small- and medium-sized enterprise SOE State-owned enterprise SPS Sanitary and phyto-sanitary TBT Technical barriers to trade TPP Trans-Pacific Partnership TPRM Trade Policy Review Mechanism TRIPS WTO Agreements on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights T-TPA Tripartite-PTAs UN United Nations UNCTAD United Nations Conference on Trade and Development UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNO United Nations Organization USTR United States Trade Representative WIPO World Intellectual Property Organization WPMs Working Party Meetings WTO World Trade Organization ICTSD Programme on Global Economic Policy and Institutions 1 INTRODUCTION The essays included in this book deal with a variety of topics, ranging from the functioning
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