Global Economic Prospects 2004 : Realizing the Development Promise of the Doha Agenda

World Bank

Washington, DC

关键词: agricultural products;    agricultural protection;    agricultural sector;    agricultural support;    agricultural trade;   

DOI  :  10.1596/0-8213-5582-1
RP-ID  :  26759

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

The international community finds itselfat a crossroads as it approaches the last quarter of 2003.Will the Doha Agenda regenerate the multilateral consensusthat has been the hallmark of successive rounds of tradeliberalization since 1947 and in doing so provide newimpetus for global integration? Or will the Doha Agendacollapse in stalemate and perhaps be viewed as the momentwhen the international community retreated frommultilateralism and opened the floodgates for less desirablebilateral and regional arrangements? The round has theopportunity to remove many of the inequities in the globaltrading system that put developing countries-and poor peoplein particular-at a disadvantage in their trade. Severalissues under discussion are pivotal to development outcomes.They are the focus of this report: First, because most poorpeople live in rural areas, trade barriers in agricultureare among the most important to poverty reduction. Second,labor-intensive manufactures have been the most dynamicmarket segment for every major region, including Africa, yetmany developing countries find that their exports meetobstacles in foreign markets-high tariffs, quotas, specificduties, and "antidevelopment" tariff structuresthat discourage adding value in poor countries. Third, inservices, the potential for development-promoting reciprocalgains is especially high. Regulations in some developingcountries still protect some inefficient state monopoliesfrom competition-a drag on growth. (To be sure, properregulation in some sectors must precede liberalization toavoid potential disruptions in socially important markets,such as finance or basic services.) Also, access fordeveloping countries' services exports to industrialcountries has yet to be fully bound in the General Agreementon Trade in Services (GATS) (World Bank 2001). Finally,national laws prevent greater labor mobility that wouldotherwise contribute to higher standards of living in bothreceiving and sending countries. Fourth, reducing the costsof trading by improving international transportationservices, customs and ports, and logistics management- tradefacilitation-requires substantial new investment, additionaltechnical assistance, and coordinated multilateral efforts.Trade facilitation is fundamental to realizing the expandedtrade promise of Doha, but the WTO agenda constitutes asmall part of the challenge. Finally, the issue of specialtreatment for developing countries cuts across all of thesepolicy domains and affects trade preferences and exemptionsfrom WTO regulations. The pursuit of trade preferences andexemptions from multilateral rules have not always serveddeveloping countries particularly well, both becausepreferences have not proven reliable and because selectivecoverage has often left productivity-detracting tradebarriers in place. The residual barriers sap growth in theprotected economies and in developing-country tradingpartners that are denied access. Perhaps most important, themajority of the world's poor do not live in the leastdeveloped countries (LDCs). Trade preferences targeted atthese countries do not benefit the three quarters of theworld's poor that live on US$1 per day in othercountries. In implementing new WTO rules, new accords willbe most effective if they recognize differences amongindividual countries' capacity to undertake new,resource-intensive rules. These differences require a newapproach to special and differential treatment.