Question: How does the Director-General see the future of the WTO in the current situation of rigid multilateral negotiations within the WTO and the blossoming of regional trading blocks? Does the WTO need to restructure itself in terms of decision-making to ease agreements?
Answer There has always been coexistence between WTO multilateral agreements and WTO plus preferential agreements. The important issue is to make sure that these deals comply with the rules which exist in WTO, the purpose of which is basically to prevent trade distortions or diversion. This being said, true that the surveillance machinery here is presently a bit weak. By the way, these rules are being reviewed as part of the Doha Round agenda.
Question: Do you think the “full modalities” in agriculture and non-agricultural market access by the new deadline set in the Hongkong Declaration could be meet on time?
Answer Yes. Of course it depends on how willing Members are to make the compromises necessary to reach agreement. The Secretariat and the chairman of the ag negotiations are ready to hold metings and consultations as necessary to help them reach agreement and a lot of work has already been done - but some big issues like the size of subsidy cuts and market access improvements still need to be sorted out.
Question: The classical model of the gains from trade show an overall increase in income from reduced tariff barriers for the trading partners. In the modern world, and especiallyin the Doha Round context, we have developed nations with higher environmental and welfare standards than the developing countries. Free trade under these circumstances would encourage the movement of “dirty” industry and practices from the developed to the developing nations. Global pollution may not be reduced, just shifted. And employment and production is lost in the developed world because its cleaner technologies are uncompetitive. Child labour is another example where practices in the developing world undermine standards in the developed countries. And freer trade may encourage the exploitation of child labour. To what extent and how are these issues being addressed in the current Round?
marketing@alchempro.com
