World Trade Organization - Harvard Model United Nations

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World Trade Organization Questions A Resolution Must Answer How should international institutions be involved in assisting developing countries build trade capacity? Should the WTO focus more on financial assistance or technical assistance? How should the WTO approach regulations regarding developing countries? Does the promotion of free trade hurt the initial stages of trade capacity building? Should there be bilateral partnerships or should most of the assistance be provided through international institutions? What kind of ways can the WTO help developing countries gain knowledge about the complexities of international trade regulations and rules? Should there be conditions attached to financial assistance? How big of a role should developed countries play in leading financial assistance? Where should technical or financial assistance be directed? Infrastructure? Government bureaucracies? Technological development? How should human capacity and institutional capacity develop since they are both crucial to the development of trade capacity? Bloc Positions Almost all countries and significant international financial institutions are in support of the goals and principles of Aid for Trade. Developed countries want to see the end of decades of aid money going to waste due to ineffective aid programs, corrupt bureaucracies, and poor monitoring and tracking systems. Developing countries want more financial assistance in longer term projects (i.e. building trade capacity) that would yield not only economic growth in the short run but would also build a strong economic, social, and physical foundation for the future. International financial institutions were founded on the principles of promoting trade, sustainable development, and technical and financial assistance to developing countries, and thus would naturally support “Almost all countries and significant international financial institutions are in support of the goals and principles of Aid for Trade...” such an initiative. Where these three groups differ on is the implementation and execution of this initiative. There is a whole spectrum of views regarding how to identify where aid for trade is most needed, how to fund it, and how to promote economic and social development on the national and regional levels. International Trade Center The International Trade Center (ITC) is a joint agency between the World Trade Organization and the United Nations and it strongly supports aid for trade. As an organization that’s dedicated to compiling research for technical assistance and trade policy, the International Trade Center is a crucial resource for countries seeking to reform their trade policies. Some of the biggest problems that ITC wants to see addressed with aid for trade include more incorporation and aid for smalland medium-enterprises (SMEs), the strengthening of institutional and physical infrastructure, and more focus on what recipient countries’ goals are rather than on what the goals of the donor country are. 33 World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides lending instruments to developing countries and it strongly supports aid for trade through the Integrated Framework and the Enhanced Integrated Framework. It would like to see the incorporation of trade into national growth strategies and supports a bigger role of the private sector in helping the nation build trade capacity. The biggest problems the World Bank wants to see addressed include more regional cooperation in growth and trade strategies and more ownership of local countries in their own development plans. 34 Least Developed Countries (LDCs) The least developed countries (LDCs) are ones that have the lowest national income, human resources, and economic stability. Being the ones with the most to benefit from aid for trade, they are in favor of the initiative. They see many shortcomings with the current aid for trade initiatives such as the inadequacies of the IF and JITAP in dealing with supply-side constraints. A solution they support is value chain analysis, which is the evaluation of all production stages of a certain good. The analysis should identify which segments of a good’s production could be improved to lower costs and 12 Specialized General Assembly Agencies
increase efficiency so that goods can be sold for cheaper prices on the international market. This could tell the government where to allocate its funds to decrease supply-side constraints. 35 African, Caribbean, Pacific Group of States (ACP Group) The ACP Group is a group of 79 countries and its main objectives are sustainable development and poverty reduction. It believes that aid for trade should only be an addition to other development assistances and supports country-specific aid for trade packages. One strong policy that the Group advocates is the financing of aid for trade through grants. It believes a lump sum of money would be more effective in most development assistance. In other aspects of longer term development assistance like infrastructure building, the ACP group supports longerterm concessional loans. 36 European Union and United States The European Union and United States strongly support aid for trade. They believe that through value chain analysis, developing countries and other donors can identify the areas that need the most outside financial support. Once these areas have been identified, the funding for these events that the EU and US support is in the form of public-private partnerships. These partnerships are business ventures in which private businesses are allowed to fund and execute a public project. The private businesses would assume the operational and financial risks of the project but would get special benefits such as exclusive rights or tax exemptions. These partnerships allow the government to push through smaller-scale aid for trade initiatives without sacrificing too much financial capital. With the capital, the government would instead undertake larger scale trade capacity building projects. 37 Suggestions for Further Research The sources I found most helpful were documents on the multilateral organizations such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the International Trade Center, World Bank, and the World Trade Organization. Even though Aid for Trade is a fairly new topic, there is a wealth of articles, reports, and research about situations in various recipient countries and the impact of aid for trade programs within the past few years. These are just suggestions. Feel free to explore topics mentioned in more detail if you are interested and to explore other topics mentioned only in briefing. Don’t hesitate to reach out to me if necessary! General Assembly World Trade Organization TOPIC B: TRADE AND THE ENVIRON- MENT Statement of the Problem The world economy has grown tremendously within the past five decades. Worldwide GDP has risen sixfold as the population increased from 2.5 billion in 1950 to 6 billion today. Three factors have led to this unprecedented growth in economic activity: advances in information and communication technology, reduction of trade barriers, and reduction of barriers to foreign investment. These factors have combined to lower the transaction costs of international commerce and have integrated many countries’ economies into the world. As trade increased, countries have been able to specialize in industries where they have comparative advantage, resulting in faster growth than ever before. 38 At the same time, environmental degradation has increased unprecedentedly as well. According to statistics compiled by the World Trade Organization, “global energy use has increased nearly 70 percent since 1971 and is projected to increase at more than 2 percent annually over the next 15 years. This will raise greenhouse gas emissions by 50 per cent over current levels.” On the ground, increased agricultural activity has also produced excess nitrogen (from fertilizers) that reduces soil fertility. And in the waters, 58 percent of the world’s coral reefs and 34 percent of all fish species are currently at risk from human activities. Most oceans are already overfished with declining yields. 39 Supporters of trade liberalization believe that environmental degradation results not from trade but from weak environmental policies and support more trade liberalization to help improve the environment. They believe that as societies get richer, they will have more resources to devote to pro-environment initiatives and will obtain more environmentally-preferable technologies through international transfers. These advocates also believe that liberalization, following the basic principles of economics, promotes efficient allocation of resources, including environmental resources, allowing the production of goods using the least amount of resources and energy. 40 Critics of trade liberalization point out that after three decades of trade liberalization, there is little to show for how trade promotes environmental protection and improvement. The following are some arguments that critics of trade liberalization often make: freer 13
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