Issues of Coherence in World Trading System

Abstract

An important aspect of international economic governance relates to the demand for coherence among international economic organizations. While there is coherence in the philosophy of the three main international economic organizations as they champion market processes, there is no coherence in short-run economic management or in fostering growth. A framework for growth would be particularly important for developing countries. That developing countries could prevent agreements which were against their interest for a long time, except during the Uruguay Round, was compounded by the fact that those countries could not help further their growth. The Uruguay Round agreements broke away from previous negotiations and included liberalization of trade in agriculture and textiles, sectors of interest to developing countries. The agreements also covered services and trade related intellectual property rights, and ex-tended to issues earlier considered domestic matters such as trade related investment measures. Rules regarding contingent protection and dispute settlement were made more transparent and conclusive. However, exports from developing countries continue to face substantial tariff and non-tariff non-border barriers in markets of the developed countries. The question of forming coalitions to help them achieve their objectives is fraught with many problems. Neither bloc style negotiating where all the developing countries act as a block or issue based coalitions of a mix of developed and developing countries have served their interest. As a result developing countries are still unable to get results that would help them achieve their goal of rapid growth.