Engagement of the Asian and African Nations in the WTO: An Assessment of the Buenos Aires Ministerial Meeting
Abstract
The last WTO Ministerial Conference at Buenos Aires, Argentina, convened from 10 to 13 December 2017, and its aftermath has raised interesting questions regarding legitimacy, efficacy and necessity of the rule-based multilateral trading regime institutionalized in the WTO. An analysis of Afro-Asian countries ' stakes in the WTO furnishes convincing arguments in favour of retaining the systemic infrastructure. This article contends that orchestrating the emerging network of bilateral and or regional arrangements in the regions within the purview of the WTO shall improve the effectiveness of engagement of these countries in the organization. Also, the unambiguous affirmation of a reconfigured Doha Development Agenda is important in order to address the yet unresolved and nascent issues. Finally, the cynical approach towards the trend of resorting to plurilateralism in WTO negotiations whenever multilateral consensus appears to fail ought to be replaced by strategies to utilize the inherent flexibility of the idea of plurilateralism to initiate crystallization of consensus on issues of concern.
Keywords: WTO Eleventh Ministerial Conference, multilateralism, single undertaking, plurilateralism, Doha Development Agenda
Kennedy Gastorn; Secretary General, Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization; Email: kgastorn@gmail.com
References
Adlung, R. and Mamdouh, H. 2018. " ' Plurilateral Trade Agreements: An Escape Route for the WTO?", Journal of World Trade, 52 (1): 85- 112.
Amin, S. 2001. "Imperialism and Globalization", Monthly Review, 6- 24.
Anghie, A. 2004. Imperialism, Sovereignty and the Making of International Law, Cambridge University Press.
Arun, S. 2017, 22 November. "WTO: India resolute on food security". The Hindu, Business, http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tpbusiness/wto-india-resolute-on-food-security/article20630182.ece Accessed 06.04.18.
Azevedo, R. 2017. Address at the MC11 Closing Session-13 December 2017. WT/MIN(17)/74 https://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/minist_e/mc11_e/docume nts_e.htm Accessed 06.08.18.
Baldwin, R. 2016. "The World Trade Organization and the Future of Multilateralism", Journal of Economic Perspectives, 30 (1): 95-116.
Baldwin, R. and Evenett, S. 2011. "Why World Leaders must Resist the False Promise of another Doha Delay: Introduction to the Issues", Vox: CEPR ' s Policy Portal, http://voxeu.org/article/why-worldleaders-must-resist-false-promise-another-doha-delayintroduction-issues Accessed 11.03.18.
Baldwin, R. E. 2006. "Failure of the WTO Ministerial Conference at Cancun: Reasons and Remedies", http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.542.47 61&rep=rep1&type=pdf Accessed 05.08.18.
Bhagwati, B. 1995. "US Trade policy: The infatuation with Free trade agreements", Discussion paper series, Columbia University, https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/catalog/ac:100125 Accessed 20.01.18.
Bilal, S. 2000. "The Political Economy of Agricultural Policies and Negotiations", in Bilal, S. and Pezaros, P. (eds), Negotiating the Future of Agricultural Policies; Agricultural Trade and the Millennium WTO Round, The Hague: The Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.
Bloomberg. 2018, 24 March. "China can ' t be seen as weak against ' bully ' Trump, says Stiglitz", The Economic Times, https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/china-cant-be-seen-as-weak-against-bully-trump-saysstiglitz/articleshow/63440961.cms Accessed 06.08.18.
Chetaille, A. and Tavernier, K. 2003. "Failure of the Fifth WTO Ministerial Conference in Cancun: A Looming Crisis in the Multilateral Trade System?", https://cgspace.cgiar.org/bitstream/handle/10568/52855/cancunanalysis-en3.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Accessed 11.03.18.
Chimni B. S. 2013. "Critical Theory and International Economic Law: A Third World Approach to International Law (TWAIL) Perspective" in Linarelli, J. (ed) Research Handbook on Global Justice and International Economic Law, Edward Elgar Publishing, 251-273. Chimni, B. S. 2006a. "The World Trade Organization, Democracy and Development: A View from the South", Journal of World Trade, 40: 5-36.
Chimni, B. S. 2006b. "Third World Approaches to International Law: A Manifesto", International Community Law Review, 8: 3- 27.
Chimni, B.S. 2004. "International Institutions Today: An Imperial Global State in the Making", European Journal of International Law, 15: 137.
Croley, P. and Jackson, J. H. 1996. "WTO Dispute Procedures, Standard of Review, and Deference to National Governments", American Journal of International Law 90 (2): 213. CUTS International, Concept Paper.
Davis, J. H. and Landler, M. 2017, 10 December. "Trump Pitches ' America First ' Trade Policy at Asia-Pacific Gathering", NY Times, Asia Pacific, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/10/world/asia/trump-apecasia-trade.html Accessed 19.04.18.
De Sarkar, D. 2017, 14 December. "Is WTO Working for India and China?" Opinion, Livemint, http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/QTNmXy3tM7oNeusEwwPmiM/ Is-WTO-working-for-India-and-China.html Accessed 06.08.18.
Diebold, W. J. 1994. "Reflections on the International Trade Organization", Northern Illinois University Law Review 14(2): 335-346.
Doyle, M.W. 1986. Empires, Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Editorial. 2015, 24 December. "An Opportunity missed at Nairobi", The Hindu, http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/editorial-onwto-meeting-in-nairobi-an-opportunity-missed-atnairobi/article8022370.ece Accessed 11.03.18.
Editorial. 2017, 30 December. "Rewriting the Rules of World Trade", Economic and Political Weekly, 52 (52): 9.
Escobar, A. 1995. The Dispersion of Power: Tales of Food and Hunger in Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third World, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
European Commission. Economic partnerships, http://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/countries-andregions/development/economic-partnerships/ Accessed 05.08.18.
FAO 1999. Symposium on Agriculture, Trade and Food Security, Paper No. 3: Experience with the Implementation of the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture: Developing Country Experiences, http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/meeting/x3065E.htm Accessed 07.06.18.
FAO 2000. "State of Food and Agriculture", at Part II, Half a Century of Food and Agriculture, The 1980s, http://www.fao.org/docrep/017/x4400e/x4400e.pdf Accessed 09.01.19.
Fasan, O. 2018, 19 March. "EU-Africa trade relations: Why Africa needs the economic partnership agreements", Blog, Africa at LSE, http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2018/03/19/eu-africa-traderelations-why-africa-needs-the-economic-partnership-agreements/ Accessed 05.08.18.
Gathii, J. T. 2000. "Retelling Good Governance Narratives on Africa ' s Economic and Political Predicaments: Continuities and Discontinuities in Legal Outcomes between Markets and States", Villanova Law Review, 45: 971.
Gathii, J. T. 2007. "Imperialism, Colonialism, and International Law", Buffalo Law Review, 54 (4): 1013.
Ghosh, J. 2014. "Food Security and WTO Rules: The Need for Change", Third World Resurgence, An Imbalanced Outcome at Bali WTO Meet, No. 281/282: 37, www.twn.my/title2/resurgence/2014/pdf/281-282.pdf Accessed 18.05.18.
Goodman, P. S. 2018, 23 March. "Trump Just Pushed the World Trade Organization toward Irrelevance", NY Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/23/business/trump-worldtrade-organization.html Accessed 06.08.18.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright © by Department of Political Science and Public Administration, University of Dar es Salaam
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher, except for short extracts in fair dealing, for research or private study, critical scholarly review or discourse with an acknowledgement.
The African Review: A Journal of African Politics, Development and International Affairs [ISSN 0856-0056 (Print) & ISSN 1821-889X (Online)] is published bi-annually, June and December by the Department of Political Science and Public Administration, University of Dar es Salaam, P.O. Box 35042 €“ Dar es Salaam €“ Tanzania
