IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wbk/wbrwps/1906.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Developing countries'participation in the World Trade Organization

Author

Listed:
  • Michalopoulos, Constantine

Abstract

In the 1960s and 1970s developing countries viewed UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade&Development) rather than the GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs&Trade) as the main institution through which to promote their interests in international trade. But beginning with the Uruguay Round in the mid-1980s, their attitude changed, many more of them became members of the GATT, and a significant number played an active role in negotiations. The author analyzes developing countries'representation and participation in the World Trade Organization (WTO) as of mid-1997 to determine how developing countries can effectively promote their interests and discharge their responsibilities under the rules and agreements of the new organization. He concludes that although many developing countries are actively participating in the new process, more than half of the developing countries that are members of the WTO participate little more than they did in the early 1980s and have not increased their staffing, despite the vastly greater complexity of issues and obligations. Institutional weaknesses at home are the main constraints to effective participation and representation of their interests at the WTO. To make their participation more effective, he recommends that the developing countries establish adequately staffed WTO missions based in Geneva; failing that, pooling their resources and representation in Geneva; and being sure to pay their dues, which are typically small. He also recommends that the international community place higher priority on programs of assistance in support of institutional development of poorer countries aimed at enhancing their capacity to participate in the international trading system and the WTO -- and that the WTO review its internal rules and procedures to ensure that inadvertently they do not make developing countries participation more difficult.

Suggested Citation

  • Michalopoulos, Constantine, 1998. "Developing countries'participation in the World Trade Organization," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1906, The World Bank.
  • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:1906
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/1998/03/01/000009265_3980429111520/Rendered/PDF/multi0page.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Richard Blackhurst, 1997. "The WTO and the Global Economy," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(5), pages 527-544, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Siebert, Horst, 1998. "What does globalization mean for the world trading system?," Kiel Working Papers 856, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    2. Somesh K. Mathur, 2006. "Note: Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes: A Developing Countries Perspective," Lahore Journal of Economics, Department of Economics, The Lahore School of Economics, vol. 11(2), pages 169-188, Jul-Dec.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:1906. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Roula I. Yazigi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dvewbus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.