The Current Negotiations in the WTO Options, Opportunities and Risks for Developing Countries by Bhagirath Lal Das

Publisher:

               TWN (ISBN: 983-2729-41-6)
 ZED BOOKS (ISBN: 1 84277 712 2 hb)
                          (ISBN: 1 84277 713 0 pb)

Year: 2005; No. Of Pages: 168

Price

US $21.00 for First World Countries
US $14.00 for Third World Countries
(Prices are inclusive of postage costs by air mail)

About the Book

At the end of July 2004, member states of the World Trade Organization (WTO) approved a document that charts the future course of the wide-ranging multilateral trade negotiations launched by the WTO's Doha Ministerial Conference in 2001. Together with the Doha Ministerial Declaration, the July decision sets the basic outline and direction of trade reforms in the broad swathe of sectors covered by the negotiations, including agriculture, industrial goods, services and intellectual property rights.

The ongoing negotiations to flesh out this framework of commitments present developing countries with an opportunity to redress the myriad imbalances in the existing WTO rules which have denied them a fair share of the benefits arising from international trade. This book examines the current state of play in the talks and discusses how the developing countries can best make use of this opportunity, within the negotiating parameters set by the Doha mandate and July decision. For each of the subjects under negotiation, the author puts forward detailed suggestions on negotiating positions the developing countries can take to advance their development interests and guard against the risk of new commitments which will only add to the prevailing inequities. The book also considers ways to create a negotiating environment in the WTO which is conducive to securing outcomes that are mutually beneficial to all members, developing and developed countries alike.

The book is a useful and timely guide to the developing countries in the ongoing negotiations. The range of available options it sets out will help them to select those best suited to them. It may also help in the assessment of the final outcome of the negotiations based on where the outcome is located within this spectrum of options. In addition, the book will be of use even beyond the current phase of negotiations as it lays out the basic interests of the developing countries in the context of the WTO framework.

About the Author

Bhagirath Lal Das was formerly India's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) forum. He has also served as Director of International Trade Programmes at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). At present he is an advisor and consultant to several organizations.

Contents

Preface

Chapter 1  - INTRODUCTION

Chapter 2   - AGRICULTURE

Chapter 3   - NON-AGRICULTURAL MARKET ACCESS (NAMA)

Chapter 4   - TRADE FACILITATION

Chapter 5   - SERVICES

Chapter 6   - IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES

Chapter 7   - SUBSIDIES, ANTI-DUMPING, RTAs, DSU

Chapter 8   - ENVIRONMENT

Chapter 9   - TRIPS

Chapter 10 - TRADE, DEBT AND FINANCE

Chapter 11 - TRADE AND TRANSFER OF TECHNOLOGY

Chapter 12 - OVERALL BALANCE OF INTEREST: MAKE-OR-BREAK ISSUES

Chapter 13 - BUILDING CONFIDENCE

Chapter 14 - AVOIDING TRAPS AND PITFALLS IN THE WTO NEGOTIATIONS

Endnotes

Annexes