In recent years, the World Trade Organization (WTO) has come under sustained attack from many academics and other observers. Many of the arguments employed in this attack are found in Professor Morrissey's paper and the purpose of this comment is to critically examine them. Professor Morrissey's principal argument is that the likelihood of successfully completing multilateral trade negotiations is being compromised by the number and diversity of matters included within the Single Undertaking (SU). Professor Morrissey advances three "guidelines" through which "core" negotiating topics can be distinguished from "complementary" issues. In his view, only the core topics should be included within the Single Undertaking in a trade round negotiated at the World Trade Organization. The other topics could, he notes, be addressed outside the SU and, in some cases, even outside the WTO.
It should be immediately acknowledged that the subject matter contained in Professor Morrissey's paper is significant, both to scholars and to trade policy practitioners. Indeed, trade diplomats agreed at the WTO's General Council in August 2004 to remove at least three topics from SU for the duration of the Doha Round. In this commentary, I shall first discuss the principal substantive argument made by Professor Morrissey and then reflect on a number of aspects of the argumentation made in his paper.
Any assessment of the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference depends critically on the benchmark employed. Surely, compared to its predecessor, the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference was a success. Having said that, no major participant in that meeting and no commentator afterwards has suggested that enough progress was made that the end of the Doha Round is in sight. Although World Trade Organization (WTO) members are officially committed to making significant strides before 30 April 2006, there must be considerable doubt as to whether the Doha Round can be completed before Fast Track negotiating authority expires for the U.S. administration in mid-2007. In this paper I identify several factors that call into question whether the Doha Round of trade negotiations can be successfully completed in 2006. Furthermore, given the presidential elections in France and the United States in 2007 and 2008, respectively, I argue that the next plausible window of opportunity for completing the Doha Round will open in 2009. I discuss the implications of this timetable and identify three areas where further work in the next few years could clear some ground for officials before comprehensive negotiations recommence in the closing years of this decade.
The rules of the trade policy arena differ from those in academia. How can an economic researcher survive, let alone thrive, in what may appear to be a trade policy jungle? The purpose of this paper is not just to offer guidance in this respect but also to think through the factors that determine the supply and demand for timely, relevant, policy-relevant insights into commercial policy matters. Understanding the latter provides much of the rationale for the former. Advice follows analysis, as it should do. Economic researchers have certain advantages that they can make immediate use of in the jungle and some baggage that they would do well to shed.
Conference Summary - This summary is organised in the same manner as the sessions of the workshop. The first day of the workshop was devoted to a discussion of four developing countries' experiences with the WTO accession process and to an open panel discussion on the relative merits of potential reforms to the WTO accession process so as to make it more development friendly. The second day of the workshop was dominated by discussions in working groups and in the plenary sessions that followed them. The working groups first assessed the current trade-related technical assistance/trade-related capacity building (TRTA/TRCB) support provided by donor organisations and then made recommendations to improve upon existing TRTA/TRCB support. The two days of discussion by invited participants was followed by a public event on 19 November 2004. On that day a short discussion followed two presentations (summarising the findings of the prior two days and existing research on WTO accession) and a number of interventions from a panel.
With the move towards democracy and measures to liberalise domestic sectors and foreign trade, policymakers in Central America and elsewhere have taken a greater interest in the linkages between consumer protection policies and economic and sustainable development. This has manifested itself in a greater commitment to implementing and enforcing national consumer protection statutes and to adhering more closely to the UN Guidelines For Consumer Protection (United Nations 1999).
With the move towards democracy and measures to liberalise domestic sectors and foreign trade, policymakers in Central America and elsewhere have taken a greater interest in the linkages between consumer protection policies and economic and sustainable development. This has manifested itself in a greater commitment to implementing and enforcing national consumer protection statutes and to adhering more closely to the UN Guidelines For Consumer Protection (United Nations 1999).
