Member Of WTO Research Articles

TRADE DEFICIT IN NEPAL: A REVIEW ON CURRENT TRADE DEFICIT, CAUSES AND SOLUTIONS

With globalization, world trade has been growing at a rapid pace. In most developing countries like Nepal, the problem of trade deficit has always been a part of the concern. The objective of this paper is to articulate the historical trend of the trade deficit in Nepal, the major imports and exports, the causes of the trade deficit, and some recommendations to solve the trade deficit. Nepal expanded its trade relationship after becoming a member of WTO on 23rd April 2004. Nepal mainly exports readymade garments, pashmina products, leather products, pulses, handicrafts, spices, medicinal herbs. The main imports are cereals, vehicles, pharmaceuticals, Mineral fuels, oils, iron & steel, plastics, gems, machinery. Major trading partners of Nepal are India, China, the USA, UAE, Canada, Indonesia, Argentina, France, Malaysia, and Ukraine. In the fiscal year 2019/20, imports decreased by 15.63%, and export increased by 0.62%. As a result, the total trade deficit decreased by 16.83%. Landlockedness, higher production cost, political instability, devaluation of currency are the factors impeding Nepal from coming out from the labyrinth of trade deficit. Fortification of the agricultural sector, focus on hydropower, improvement of infrastructures, modified trade policy, prioritization on export potential goods can solve the trade deficit. The country should strive towards specialization, strengthening the rural economy, gaining economies of scale, exploiting entrepreneurial and management skills of the labor force.

Transformative Impacts of Globalization on the Economy of South Caucasus and Central Asia

Research background: The disappointing economic results of the global economic crises, which brought macroeconomic instability, increasing inequality, are often understood as results of globalization. In this article, besides the positive effects, the many unavoidable negative impacts of globalization on the South Caucasus and Central Asia region are discussed. It is shown that responsibility for the economic crisis is not entirely globalization but a combination of the raw material based economy, together with incorrect trade policy. In this article, an alternative view of globalization is offered, including diversification policy challenges. It also explores the main tools of dissemination of globalization, which has created many new opportunities for business in the region. Purpose of the article: The aim is to find out to what extent the countries are involved in international integration, comparative analysis transformative impacts of globalization. Methods: The methods of comparative analysis and systematization of scientific approaches were employed. The research contains an analysis of the region's position in the international trade and investment. Findings & Value added: The region has to concentrate on a new picture of the multipolar world. In the region countries, the processes of globalization were accelerated after the countries became a member of WTO, ADB and integration into the international relations. The findings in general correspond with the trends in emerging markets that the process of globalization is gradually turning into functional mechanism of competitiveness, but there are some differences. The impacts of globalization process are progressively increasing, also there are new unforeseen impacts evolving.

Transformative impacts of globalization on the economy of South Caucasus and Central Asia1

Research background: The disappointing economic results of the global economic crises, which brought macroeconomic instability, increasing inequality, are often understood as results of globalization. In this article, besides the positive effects, the many unavoidable negative impacts of globalization on the South Caucasus and Central Asia region are discussed. It is shown that responsibility for the economic crisis is not entirely globalization but a combination of the raw material based economy, together with incorrect trade policy. In this article, an alternative view of globalization is offered, including diversification policy challenges. It also explores the main tools of dissemination of globalization, which has created many new opportunities for business in the region. Purpose of the article: The aim is to find out to what extent the countries are involved in international integration, comparative analysis transformative impacts of globalization. Methods: The methods of comparative analysis and systematization of scientific approaches were employed. The research contains an analysis of the region’s position in the international trade and investment. Findings & Value added: The region has to concentrate on a new picture of the multipolar world. In the region countries, the processes of globalization were accelerated after the countries became a member of WTO, ADB and integration into the international relations. The findings in general correspond with the trends in emerging markets that the process of globalization is gradually turning into functional mechanism of competitiveness, but there are some differences. The impacts of globalization process are progressively increasing, also there are new unforeseen impacts evolving.

IMPACT OF TRADE OPENNESS ON ENVIRONMENT IN CHINA

The study investigates the impact of trade openness on pollution in China by applying wavelet-coherence analysis, phase-difference technique and Breitung and Candelon (2006) causality test. The estimated results provide some dynamic association between trade openness and pollutant variables. The results indicate that trade openness has increased pollution in China especially after 2001 when China became member of WTO. It suggests that “pollution haven hypothesis” exists in China. These results imply that trade openness has increased exports which has increased domestic production by increasing the scale of industries, which in turn has increased pollution in the country. The findings of spectral domain causality test show that trade openness causes carbon emission both in short, medium and long runs. It indicates that trade openness forecast carbon emissions in China. The results suggest that China should take suitable measures while following trade openness policy to avoid pollution.

The Effects of Trade Openness on CO2 Emissions in Vietnam

This paper investigated the relationship between trade openness and  emissions in Vietnam, using data from 1986 to 2014. We examined the consistency of the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis and the Pollution Heaven hypothesis as applied to Vietnam. In 1986, the Vietnamese government began to launch free-market economic reforms. Since then, the economy of Vietnam has experienced breakthrough innovation in trade openness. On the other hand, Vietnam has witnessed a growing level of  emissions. Our results showed that the relationship between  emissions and per capita income is an inverted U-shape, consistent with the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis. We also found that the Pollution Heaven hypothesis is supported in that energy use and international trade contribute to air pollution, but becoming a member of WTO has a positive effect on the Vietnamese environment.

TRIPS compatibility of Bangladeshi legal regime on geographical indications and its ramifications: A comparative review

This paper, as the title suggests, explores TRIPS compatibility of Bangladeshi legal regime on geographical indications along with its challenges and potential impacts. The global transformation of IPRs regime, as significantly developed by TRIPS Agreement, was and still is not a pleasant journey for many countries in general and for the least developed countries (LDCs) in particular. Arguably, the developing nations and LDCs were not able to negotiate their interests adequately in the drafting process of TRIPS. However, TRIPS is a global reality now and WTO members are inherently under an obligation to replicate TRIPS principles and guidelines in their domestic legal regimes. Bangladesh, as a member of WTO, has started to redesign its legal frameworks to be among the TRIPS compliant countries. In this process of transformation, sui generis Legislation along with a Rule for the protection of geographical indications has been enacted by Bangladesh. This paper sheds light on the two key issues—TRIPS compatibility of Bangladeshi GI legal regime and unexplored challenges of geographical indications of Bangladesh. Placing the TRIPS as the guiding document, this paper compares the Geographical Indication Law of Bangladesh and provides some critical observations in appropriate cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intellectual Property and Principles of IPR in Bangladesh

Intellectual Property ordinarily includes patent, design, trademark and copyright. Due to the technological growth and globalization. Intellectual Property (IP) has acquired an international character. The greater importance on Intellectual Property all over the world can be traced from the concern of different international organization. WIPO and WTO are playing the leading role jointly for the protection of Intellectual property. Under the WTO agreement developing countries and transition economies were given use years to ensure that their laws and practices conform with the TRIPS agreement (1995 to 2000). Least-developed countries had 11 years, until 2006 conform to the TRIPS agreement. At present this period was extended to 2013 in general, and to 2016 for pharmaceutical patents and undisclosed information. This papers describe about Bangladesh that is a member of both the WIPO and WTO. Being a member of WTO, it has also to conform its national law to conformity with the TRIPS agreement within the stipulated time. Presently IP protection is governed by the Patents and Designs Act. 1911, The Trademark Ordinance. 2008 and the Copyright Act, 2000. The law relating to trademark and copyright has been modified to greater extent but patent and design law of our country was not modified yet to cope with the present situation.

Model for evaluating the international competitiveness of financial system with fuzzy number intuitionistic fuzzy information

At present, China has been a member of WTO for five years, the protection period has been past. So it is pretty meaningful to discuss how to improve the competitiveness of Chinese financial system both in theories and reality. The premise of improving competitiveness of Chinese financial industry i s to correctly assess the present Chinese financial industry’s competitiveness level. It is under the above background that the author tries to analyze and evaluate the competitiveness level of Chinese financial industry. In this paper, we investigate the multiple attribute decision making problems with fuzzy number intuitionistic fuzzy information. Firstly, we analyze several operations on the fuzzy number intuitionistic fuzzy sets. We develop the induced fuzzy number intuitionistic fuzzy Hamacher correlated geometric (IFNIFHCG) operator. Then, we use the IFNIFHCG operator to solve multiple attribute decision making with the fuzzy number intuitionistic fuzzy information. Finally, an illustrative example for evaluating the international competitiveness of financial system is given to verify the developed approach.

The Significance of Plant Variety Protection System: A Sri Lankan Perspective

Sri Lanka has been identified as a rich biodiversity hotspot of endemic species among flora and fauna in the world. Currently, its biodiversity is under threat due to the actions of bio piracy. In the domestic scenario, the importance of strengthening the protection for plant varieties has been highlighted through a series of increasing incidents regarding the bio piracy. Sri Lanka has enacted some legislation to protect plant varieties which provide only the physical protection of the plant resources. The lack of proper legal protection for the genetic resources of plants is a great weakness of the existing legal framework of Sri Lanka. The importance of protecting plant varieties through intellectual property rights are addressed by the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual property rights (TRIPS). Furthermore, the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) aims to encourage the development of new varieties of plants and provides some standards and guidelines for such protection. Sri Lanka being a member of WTO is bound to implement TRIPS agreement in its legal framework. Sri Lanka enacted the Intellectual Property Act No 36 of 2003 in order to fulfill its commitment under TRIPS. One of the requirements of TRIPS Article 27.3(b) is that plant varieties should be protected either by patents or by an effective sui generis system or some combination thereof. The Intellectual Property Act specifically excludes plants and animals from patentability within its application. Hence, it is important to provide protection through other mechanism. Like many developing countries Sri Lanka has opted for s sui generis system for the protection of plant varieties and taken steps by introducing a Bill on Plant Variety Protection (Breeder’s Rights) which was drafted in 2001 to comply with the requirements of TRIPS Article 27. Sixteen years later, there is still no progress regarding it. Therefore this paper discusses the problem of protecting plant varieties in Sri Lanka and expects to make suggestions to strengthen the drafted Bill on plant variety protection. This is a qualitative research based on literature review and mainly carried out by reference of primary and secondary sources such as Statutes, international treaties, academic writings and e-sources. The comparative analysis of successful legal position in India has been used in reaching the conclusion.Keywords: Patent, Plant variety protection, Sri Lanka, TRIPS, India

COMPETITIVENESS OF DAIRY PRODUCTS EXPORT TO RUSSIA AND ALTERNATIVE MARKETS

In order to protect certain sectors, Russia has introduced some new protectionist measures for EU agricultural products such as meat and dairy products. Russia is a member of WTO for four years, but is still not respecting its WTO commitments concerning the liberalisation of trade regime. The research was conducted in order to measure the level of competitiveness of Lithuanian dairy products in trade with Russia and in alternative markets. Measuring the competitiveness, International competitiveness index in the specific (local) region (LIIC) was used. The research has found an increase in the competitiveness of export of dairy products in EU-28 countries and countries outside the EU markets. The results differed by level of competitiveness among two groups of countries. In the period of analysis, LIIC index was higher in the first group than in the second group of EU countries.

Impact of World Trade Organization on Demand Pattern and Opportunities to Tea Farmers in Nepal

Nepal became member of WTO after it adopted open market and economic liberalization policy. Obviously, this kind of membership tow TO could have some kind of implications on Nepalese market. This article is based on the empirical data generated through intensive fieldwork. This article reveals that after Nepal became member of WTO it has direct impact on the demand pattern of Nepalese market. But there is no influence in the creation of new employment opportunities. However, farmers have got different opportunities of getting trainings and access to formal and informal education. More importantly, access to WTO has transformed tea farming from subsistence to commercial and thus increasing the demand of Nepalese tea in international market.

Accession of the Russian Federation to the World Trade Organization: A New Player Joins the Trade Game

To date, no country has taken longer to join the World Trade Organization than the Russian Federation despite the fact that the ussr (of which the Russian Federation is the legal successor) participated in the drafting conference of the Charter to the International Trade Organization, i.e., the original source of the rules of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and the later wto. While the ussr never joined the ito, Russia finally joined the wto in 2012, eighteen years after its first application had been made. The reasons for the lengthy accession process were partially economic, as the wto was established to remove trade impediments; however, the context also was highly politicized. The economic aspects of the wto accession process are the concessions made to existing members. These entail removing the cover offered to domestic producers by opening up to international competition. This process also has political aspects, as domestic lobbies representing economic sectors likely to suffer from an increasingly competitive international environment seek compensation. The politicization is facilitated by a custom contra legem in wto decision-making procedures that gives a de facto veto to existing members. Georgia used this to reassert its position on South Osetiia and Abkhaziia. China brought a border dispute into the process, and the us entangled the process in a broad-ranging debate linked to human rights. In joining the wto, a dual process of domestic and international negotiations results in the final package of commitments to which an acceding member needs to agree as it joins the wto. Part of our focus in this article will be on key economic and political obligations that the Russian Federation took upon itself by becoming a member of the wto.

A Probe into Cultivation of Intercultural Communication Competence in Business English Learning

This paper starts with an introduction of the importance of the current need for the development of intercultural communication competence. That is, with the development of global economy, intercultural communication becomes increasingly significant and frequent today. China, as a member of WTO, gets involved in more communications with other countries. More talents who have a good command of English knowledge and intercultural communication competence are in great need for China. Thus students majoring in Business English are faced with both great opportunities and challenges. They should not only understand what is culture and intercultural communication, but also master intercultural communication strategies and improve intercultural communication competence in their study. Armed with these essential competences, they can overcome culture barriers and reduce culture conflicts on international business occasions. This paper introduces the definition of culture and intercultural communication and comes up with three suggested ways to foster Chinese learners to develop their intercultural communication competence in Business English learning. It analyzes the importance and necessity of business communication from a global perspective, aiming to help the Business English learners to strengthen the awareness of intercultural communication, cultivate the strategies of intercultural communication and improve their communication competence.

Implementation of SPS/TBT Agreements - Experiences from Other Countries and Lessons for Vietnam

Although Vietnam has been an official member of WTO since 2007, non-tariff measures such as Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures in WTO agreements are not familiar to many corporate or governmental entities. Therefore, TBT and SPS measures are not consistently implemented and the advantages of such agreements are not realized. It was determined that international policy learning, searching international experience for transferable ‘best practice’ and identifying common trends and pressures that affect other systems, would be an avenue toward amending domestic policy to facilitate compliance with TBT and SPS agreements.Given that the plastics and agricultural industries are fast emerging markets of particular importance to Vietnam’s economy, they were chosen as the focus of our study. Two other Southeast Asian countries, Malaysia and Thailand were selected for our policy learning study. Historical to date trade data with country specific policy development trends and strategies were collected and processed. Local experts in Malaysia, Thailand and WTO were consulted. It was discovered that the plastics industry is not an industry with a long history of development in Malaysia but which is one of the most important export products of Malaysia. Thailand is a leading agricultural products exporter even to markets which set up strict TBT and/or SPS measures. Export value, product structure and export market structure were all analyzed. Results suggest that the achievements of Malaysia and Thailand area attributable to well-engineered Government policy, as well as corporate compliance with TBT and SPS measures in both countries. In order to determine how the products of this study might reasonably inform domestic policy and industry practice a better knowledge of the current state of the industries with regard to implementation of TBT and SPS measures was required. Questionnaires were submitted to traders, producers and industry associations in Vietnam to document SPS and TBT agreements compliance practices. Results of the questionnaire illustrate how and to what extent lessons garnered from the policy learning study can be successfully employed in Vietnam.

The dynamics of China-Ethiopia trade relations: economic capacity, balance of trade & trade regimes

China’s trade with Ethiopia currently at 1.3 billion USD annually is expected to rise to US$3 billion by 2015. This not only informs the level of bilateral trade ties that Ethiopia has had with China as compared to any other country in the region but also signifies the highest and the closest level of bilateral relations that Ethiopia has built upwith China over the past decade since the new government under Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) took over power in 1991. There have been extensive debates on China’s role in Africa - whether it could be viewed as a constructive partner or otherwise. This essay puts forward the argument that while trade ties as one important channel of bilateral relations that China has embarked with the outside world and particularly with Africa is uneven and lop-sided. This is true of the Ethiopian context as well particularly when we look at the economic capacity, balance of trade and at the two countries relations with international trade regimes. While China is a full member of WTO for over a decade Ethiopia on the other hand has been aspiring to become a member for some time now and hence one of the important aspect of Ethio-China trade relations is the heavy reliance on bilateral/international trade regimes. Therefore, this research is aimed at unraveling the dynamics in Sino-Ethiopia trade relations with emphasis on the economic capacity of the two countries, balance of trade and explore whether Ethiopia’s attempts to join WTO would lead to a more predictable trade relations between the two countries. In this attempt the research would largely rely on the analysis of relevant archival resources and literatures directly relating to the themes in this paper.

The Protection of Domestic Industry through Safeguards Instrument GATT/WTO and Its Implementation on Downstream Steel Industry In Indonesia

World Global Crisis causes all trade world find difficulties. There will be increasing particularly import product in a country, including to Indonesian market. This situation faced by national industry. This getting worse by the implementation of free trade agreement between ASEAN member and China in the form of ASEAN China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA). Steel as national strategic industry is a vital industry for developing country like Indonesia, so government should protect it against incursion of import products. Increasing imported products directly impact to most downstream steel industry, such as nail, successor steel, strand metal, steel wire rope, nut, boltand other. Indonesia as member of WTO can use GATT/WTO safeguards instrument to protect domestic downstream steel industry from increasing import of downstream steel product. This article analyzes: first, how to protect domestic industry through safeguards GATT/WTO instrument in Indonesia and, how does implementation of safe guards instrument has protecting Indonesia domestic downstream steel industry. The protection for domestic industry through safeguards GATT/WTO instrument in Indonesia executed under trade security instruments, namely President Decision (Kepres No. 84 Year 2002) and Act 17/2006 (UU No. 17 Year 2006). Some provisions in these instruments have not yet in accord to Safeguards Agreement and growth of industry progress. Safeguards regulations do not give protection to downstream steel industry effectively. There are numbers of constraint faced by downstream steel industry and by KPPI. Keywords: Protection, Domestic Industry, Safeguards, Downstream Steel Industry

A Study of India's Trade Relations with China in WTO Era

China's joining of WTO in 2001 has completely changed its economic structure and its entry in WTO proved to be a landmark event in the global economy. As a result, China's trade relations with the world have improved significantly particularly with India. Both, India and China are the fastest growing economies in the world since they have grown at rate of 8% and 10% GDP respectively. The total trade between India and China was reached to $60 billion in 2010. However, the major change in the trade relations between India and China has come after China's joining of WTO in 2001. In the above background, this paper is divided into three parts. The first part of the paper examines the direction of foreign trade of China after becoming a member of WTO and, the second part analyzes India's trade relations with China (Pre and Post China's joining of WTO). The final section of the paper delineates the major constraints between India and China for improving trade relations.

THE LESSON OF IMPLEMENTING NON-DISCRIMINATION PRINCIPLE ON INDONESIA-US CLOVE CIGARETTES CASE

The Indonesian government recently won for keeping its rights on Clove Cigarette Case in WTO. It became a winning diplomacy on Indonesia trade. Indonesia has an objection on United States cigarette policy, which prohibit product of clove cigarette (mostly imported by Indonesia) in United States, because such policy violate one of the most important principle on WTO, Non-Discrimination Principle, which are Most Favoured Nations (MFN) and National Treatment. Indonesia won this case in both, Panel and Appellate Body. This winning is not only important for Indonesia but for all country, mainly for Developing and Less Developing Country member of WTO. This paper will examine the significance and contents of Non Discrimination Principle from the perspective of Indonesia-United States Tobacco Case.

National seed legislation: Harmonization with international treaties and conventions

Government of Nepal (GoN) started seed legislation by framing different acts such as Seed Act, 1988 (2045), Seed Regulation 1997(2054) and Seed Policy, 1999 (2056) to regulate seed and seed related issues. Some of these acts have been amended and redrafted according to needs. During this period, GoN, became a contracting party to Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD), 1992 and International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), 2001. It also signed the Cartagena Protocol, 2000 and received the member of WTO in 2004. In these treaties and convention, Nepal has made commitments in international forum to provide plant variety protection with protecting the rights of farmers and related stakeholders on seed to establish sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures for bio-safety. In this context, it is necessary to reframe the national seed legislations in order to remove its present legal complications and to harmonize it with international treaties and conventions. Agronomy Journal of Nepal (Agron JN) Vol. 3. 2013, Page 138-149 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ajn.v3i0.9016

A Study on Evaluation Method and Application of Service Marketing Management with Hesitant Fuzzy Information

With the entry of China member of WTO, service industry is facing intensive competition from internal and international service enterprises. How to provide quality service has become an important subject of the research on service marketing. There is similarity in service marketing in the formation of customer satisfaction and service quality. Service quality, which is formed by every specific experience in the process of being serviced, and evaluation to service price determine the extent of customer satisfaction. So the extent of perceived service quality determines the extent of customer satisfaction degree. After enjoying the service, the customer will give a judgment on total service quality based on the evaluation of every part of the service. Total service quality results in total customer satisfaction. In this paper, we investigate the decision making problems for evaluating the service marketing management with hesitant fuzzy information. We utilize the induced hesitant fuzzy ordered weighted averaging (IHFOWA) operator to aggregate the hesitant fuzzy numbers corresponding to each alternative and derive the overall value of the alternatives, then rank the alternatives. Finally an illustrative example has been given to show the developed approach.