Sustainable development and international trade under WTO regime

Abstract

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an organisation that intends to supervise and liberalise international trade. However, not many people realise that trade is a powerful ally of sustainable development. The WTO's founding agreement recognises sustainable development as a central principle. The purpose of trade liberalisation and the WTO's key principles of non–discrimination is a more efficient allocation of resources. WTO recognises that relation in the field of trade and economic endeavour should be conducted with a view to raising standards of living and human welfare. Article XX GATT has introduced general exceptions for GATT regulations that might support the ideas of sustainable development in international trade under WTO regime. However, the implementation of sustainable development was not clearly defined and mostly considered as a barrier of international trade. This paper tries to find out, how far the implementation of sustainable development can be exercised at international trade under WTO regime.