Going International

1101

Going International

Edward Thomas

 Nahoru1. GOING INTERNATIONAL

Every day the news includes more and more of the actions of international organisations. So-called globalisation is happening between both governments and business. It's a game about money, and control.

Economic:

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Civil:

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Correct answers are here¹

 Nahoru2. PRESENTING THEMSELVES: THE WTO

There are a number of ways of looking at the WTO. It‘s an organization for liberalizing trade. It‘s a forum for governments to negotiate trade agreements. It‘s a place for them to settle trade disputes. It operates a system of trade rules.

Above all, it‘s a negotiating forum … Essentially, the WTO is a place where member governments go, to try to sort out the trade problems they face with each other. The first step is to talk. The WTO was born out of negotiations, and everything the WTO does is the result of negotiations. Most of the WTO's current work comes from the 1986-94 negotiations called the Uruguay Round and earlier negotiations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The WTO is currently the host to new negotiations, under the ”Doha Development Agenda“ launched in 2001.

Where countries have faced trade barriers and wanted them lowered, the negotiations have helped to liberalize trade. But the WTO is not just about liberalizing trade, and in some circumstances its rules support maintaining trade barriers — for example to protect consumers or prevent the spread of disease.

It‘s a set of rules … At its heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by most of the world‘s trading nations. These documents provide the legal ground-rules for international commerce. They are essentially contracts, binding governments to keep their trade policies within agreed limits. Although negotiated and signed by governments, the goal is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business, while allowing governments to meet social and environmental objectives.

The system‘s main purpose is to help trade flow as freely as possible — so long as there are no undesirable side-effects — because this is important for economic development and well-being. That partly means removing obstacles. It also means ensuring that individuals, companies and governments know what the trade rules are around the world, and giving them the confidence that there will be no sudden changes of policy. In other words, the rules have to be ”transparent“ and predictable.

And it helps to settle disputes … This is a third important side to the WTO‘s work. Trade relations often involve conflicting interests. Agreements, including those carefully negotiated in the WTO system, often need interpreting. The most peaceful way to settle these differences is through some neutral procedure based on an agreed legal foundation. That is the purpose behind the dispute settlement process written into the WTO agreements.

True or False (answers on following page)

1. The WTO began through negotiations.

2. A lot of the WTO's current work comes from agreements reached through the Doha trade talks.

3. The WTO usually opposes trade barriers.

4. The WTO makes rules for international trade.

5. The WTO doesn't give out information to individuals or companies.

6. The WTO believes that rules need to be changed regularly.

7. The WTO helps to end disagreements between trading parties.

8. According to the WTO, agreements are usually clear to all parties.

Correct answers are here²

 Nahoru3. INTERNATIONAL ACTION