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Integrating developing economies and liberalizing agricultural trade are continuing issues

GENEVA, Switzerland – 12/21/07 – The global multilateral trading system has contributed “significantly” to post-war prosperity, but it has not delivered all it could and still faces formidable challenges, according to the World Trade Organization’s most recent World Trade Report.

Global trade has grown twenty-seven fold in volume terms since 1950, or three times faster than world output growth, “mainly due to the creation of a multilateral trading system, which has been upheld by the WTO and its predecessor, the Generalized Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), over the past 60 years,” the report said.

However, it stressed “progress made in trade liberalization has been “uneven” with success “limited in some areas.”

Liberalizing agricultural trade has proven “particularly challenging and the results have been limited so far, while “trade in labor-intensive manufactures still faces relatively higher trade barriers,” it added.

"The GATT and the WTO have not done all they could, particularly for developing countries," WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy told the media at the press conference held to mark the report’s public release.

He expressed hope that the WTO's 151 members could make a breakthrough in the Doha Round trade negotiations in the next few months to create the basis for a global agreement.

"By striking an ambitious and development-oriented agreement in the Doha Round we can greatly strengthen a system which has done much to make the world a better place," he said.

According to the annual report, the multilateral trading system is confronted by considerable challenges, both short-term and longer-term.

"Among the greatest challenges ... is how to integrate developing economies into the system in a manner that contributes to their growth and development aspirations," it said.

Managing the relationship between the multilateral trading system and regional/bilateral trade agreements is another continuing challenge, it added.

The report also mentioned the other challenges facing the WTO in the coming year include the crafting of improvements to the dispute settlement system, strengthening the rules on the trade in services; and finding a workable balance between protecting the global environment and promoting trade and economic development.

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