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The 10 misunderstandings
y 1. The WTO dictates policy
y 2. The WTO is for free trade at any cost
y
3. Commercial interests take priority over development y 4. and over the environment
y 5. and over health and safety
y 6. The WTO destroys jobs, worsens poverty
y 7. Small countries are powerless in the WTO
y 8. The WTO is the tool of powerful lobbies
y 9. Weaker countries are forced to join the WTO
y 10. The WTO is undemocratic
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y The WTO does not conduct theretrade policies rather its a memberdriven organization
y
The decision taken in WTO arenegotiated, accountable, anddemocratic.
y The WTO does not dictate togovernment to adopt or droppolicies.
.y In fact : its the government who
dictate the WTO.
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y
Provide forum for negotiatingliberalization and also providethe rule that how liberalizationcan take place
y
Lower trade barriers by thecountry & allow trade to flowfreely .
y One countrys commitmentbecome another countrys rightand vice-versa
y It all depends upon whatcountries want to bargain
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y The WTO agreements arefull of provisions taking theinterests of developmentinto account.
y The WTO is not onlyconcern about commercialinterest, this does not takeplace over development.
y Developing countries areallowed more time to applynumerous provisions of theWTO agreements.
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y In the WTO, commercial interests doNOT take priority over environmentalprotection.
y Many provisions take environmentalconcerns specifically into account.
y umbrella clauses (such as Article 20 of
the General Agreement on Tariffs andTrade) which allow countries to takeactions to protect human, animal orplant life or health, and to conserveexhaustible natural resources.
y Environmental objectives arerecognized specifically in the WTOagreements dealing with product
standards, food safety, intellectualproperty protection, etc.
y the system and its rules can helpcountries allocate scarce resourcesmore efficiently and less wastefully
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y The WTO does NOTdictateto governments on issuessuch as food safety, andhuman health and safety.Again commercial interestsdo NOT override
y The agreements werenegotiated by WTO member
governments, and thereforethe agreements reflect their
Concerns.y Safety concerns are built
into the WTO agreements
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y The WTO does NOT destroyjobs or widen the gapbetween rich and poor
y The accusation is inaccurateand simplistic. Trade can be apowerful force for creatingjobs and reducing poverty.Often it does just that.Sometimes adjustments arenecessary to deal with job
losses, and here the picture iscomplicated. In any case, thealternative of protectionism isnot the solution.
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y Small countries are NOT powerless in theWTO.
y Small countries would be weaker withoutthe WTO. The WTO increases theirbargaining power.
y In short, in the WTO trading system,everyone has to follow the same rules.
y In the WTOs dispute settlementprocedure, developing countries havesuccessfully challenged some actionstaken by developed countries. Withoutthe WTO, these smaller countries wouldhave been powerless to act against theirmore powerful trading partners.
y Everyone has to follow the same rules
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y The WTO is NOT thetool of powerfullobbies
y The WTO system offersgovernments a means toreduce the influence of
narrow vested interests.
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y Weaker countries do have achoice, they are NOT forced to
join the WTO
y Most countries do feel that its
better to be in the WTO systemthan to be outside it. Thats whythe list of countries negotiatingmembership includes both largeand small trading nations.
y B
y joining the WTO
, smallcountries can also increase theirbargaining power by formingalliances with other countriesthat have common interests.
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y Decisions in the WTO are generallyby consensus.
y In principle, thats even moredemocratic than majority rule
because no decision is taken untileveryone agrees.
y It would be wrong to suggest that
every country has the same
bargaining power. ,
the consensus rule means everycountry has a voice, and everycountry has to be convinced beforeit joins a consensus.