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Understanding The Wto

The document discusses the rise of regional trade agreements and their relationship to the World Trade Organization (WTO) multilateral trading system. By 2005, only one WTO member was not party to a regional agreement. While regional agreements can seem contradictory to the WTO, they have often allowed countries to negotiate rules in areas like services and intellectual property that later paved the way for agreements under the WTO. A WTO committee monitors developments in regionalism to consider whether such agreements help or hinder the multilateral trading system.

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NabinSundar Nayak
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39 views

Understanding The Wto

The document discusses the rise of regional trade agreements and their relationship to the World Trade Organization (WTO) multilateral trading system. By 2005, only one WTO member was not party to a regional agreement. While regional agreements can seem contradictory to the WTO, they have often allowed countries to negotiate rules in areas like services and intellectual property that later paved the way for agreements under the WTO. A WTO committee monitors developments in regionalism to consider whether such agreements help or hinder the multilateral trading system.

Uploaded by

NabinSundar Nayak
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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UNDERSTANDING THE WTO: CROSS-CUTTING AND NEW ISSUES

Regionalism: friends or rivals?

The European Union, the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR), the Australia-New Zealand Closer Economic Relations Agreement, and so on.

By July 2005, only one WTO member Mongolia, was not party to a regional trade agreement. The surge in these agreements has continued unabated since the early 1990s. By July 2005, a total of 330 had been notified to the WTO (and its predecessor, GATT). Of these: 206 were notified after the WTO was created in January 1995; 180 are currently in force; several others are believed to be operational although not yet notified. One of the most frequently asked questions is whether these regional groups help or hinder the WTOs multilateral trading system. A committee is keeping an eye on developments.

Regional trading arrangements back to top


They seem to be contraditory, but often regional trade agreements can actually support the WTOs multilateral trading system. Regional agreements have allowed groups of countries to negotiate rules and commitments that go beyond what was possible at the time multilaterally. In turn, some of these rules have paved the way for agreement in the WTO. Services, intellectual property, environmental standards, investment and competition policies are all issues that were raised in regional negotiations and later developed into agreements or topics of discussion in the WTO. The groupings that are

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Understanding the WTO Basics Agreements Settling disputes Cross-cutting and new issues
Regionalism The environment Investment etc Electronic commerce Labour standards The Doha agenda

Developing countries The organization


Abbreviations

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More introductory information > The WTO in Brief > 10 benefits > 10 misunderstandings

contact us : World Trade Organization, rue de Lausanne 154, CH-1211 Geneva 21, Switzerland

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