Development and building trade capacity

Making trade work for women goes to the core of the WTO’s purpose because women’s economic empowerment is central to achieving the WTO’s founding objectives of raising living standards, creating jobs and promoting sustainable development.

La présente publication conjointe de la Banque mondiale et de l'OMC repose sur une vision partagée selon laquelle les changements structurels associés à une économie mondiale plus centrée sur les services et sur la contribution essentielle que l'expansion du commerce et de l'investissement dans ce secteur peuvent apporter à la croissance économique et au développement justifient qu'une plus grande attention soit portée aux politiques et que la coopération internationale soit redynamisée. Un objectif important de cette publication et une raison essentielle de son caractère conjoint sont de rappeler les avantages qu'il y a à faire progresser l'ordre du jour des négociations sur le commerce des services et les coûts d'opportunité qui en résulteraient en cas d'inaction. Il s'agit donc de stimuler la réflexion sur les meilleurs moyens de mobiliser un soutien supplémentaire – et une aide de meilleure qualité – qui permettent aux économies en développement et aux économies les moins avancées de mettre en oeuvre des réformes du secteur des services, afin de tirer aussi parti de l'expansion du commerce et de l'investissement dans ce secteur pour favoriser leur développement.

La composition du commerce mondial des services a profondément changé au cours des dernières années, période pendant laquelle les économies en développement ont enregistré des gains importants à l'exportation, malgré l'impact sévère de la pandémie de COVID-19. Ces gains concernent une multitude de services non traditionnels à forte valeur ajoutée, qui sont plus faciles à fournir aujourd'hui grâce aux moyens numériques.

La présente publication est le fruit d'une collaboration entre la Banque mondiale et l'OMC. Elle a été corédigée et coordonnée par Martin Roy, de l'OMC, et Pierre Sauvé, de la Banque mondiale, sous la supervision de la Directrice générale adjointe Anabel Gonzalez et de Xiaolin Chai, Directrice de la Division du commerce des services et de l'investissement, de l'OMC, ainsi que de Mona Haddad, Directrice mondiale pour le commerce, l'investissement et la compétitivité et de Sébastien Dessus, Responsable Pratique, commerce et intégration régionale, de la Banque mondiale. Le texte a été mis au point par Ross McRae et Anthony Martin, de l'OMC.

Les services sont devenus la force motrice qui détermine le paysage économique des pays de tout niveau de développement. Ils constituent la majeure partie de l'activité économique mondiale avec plus des deux tiers du PIB, emploient la plupart des travailleurs et sont la source de la plupart des créations d'emplois, notamment chez les femmes et les jeunes. Parallèlement, le commerce des services est devenu un élément essentiel des stratégies de croissance, apparaissant comme la composante la plus dynamique du commerce mondial au cours de la période récente et créant des emplois à plus forte valeur ajoutée.

The clean energy transition is critical to achieve net zero goals and is a key element of most economies’ nationally determined contributions under the Paris Agreement, to keep global warming under a 1.5° Celsius threshold. The clean energy transition also has trade integration potential, as it helps to advance industrial development and addresses capacity constraints in energy generation capacity.

Nearly 40 per cent of anthropogenic GHG emissions are caused by burning fossil fuels to produce electricity (IEA, 2022b). Decarbonizing electricity generation is a critical step toward achieving net zero goals. Target 7.2 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) calls for a substantial increase in the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix by 2030 (UN General Assembly, 2015).

This publication is the result of a joint effort of the OECD and the WTO and was prepared under the overall guidance of Michael Roberts (Head, Aid for Trade Unit, Development Division, WTO) and Olivier Cattaneo (Head of Unit, Architecture and Analysis, Development Co-operation Directorate, OECD). WTO Deputy Director-General Xiangchen Zhang, Taufiqur Rahman (Director of the Development Division, WTO) and María del Pilar Garrido Gonzalo (Director for Development Co-operation, OECD) supervised the work. The publication was edited and reviewed by Ross McRae and Anthony Martin of the Information and External Relations Division of the WTO, and by Henri-Bernard Solignac Lecomte, Head of Communications of the OECD Development Cluster. Additional contributions were provided by Masato Hayashikawa (Development Co-operation Directorate, OECD).

The past quarter of a century has witnessed an unprecedented level of income convergence, accompanied by the integration of many developing economies into global markets. Despite this, some economies have been left behind. This chapter discusses how the participation of developing economies in global trade and investment flows can accelerate structural transformation and enhance productivity growth, thereby helping lowand middle-income economies to achieve the economic growth that ensures convergence with high-income economies. The chapter also examines why some economies have taken little advantage of globalization, and focuses on barriers to maximizing the gains from trade participation, such as trade costs and commodity dependence. Finally, the chapter discusses how recent trends in the global economy are shaping future opportunities and challenges for developing economies to leverage trade and foreign direct investment for economic growth, and which policies can help to achieve convergence in the upcoming decade.

This chapter discusses how the multilateral trading system has helped some economies to take advantage of trade to further their development, but has not succeeded in helping others to harness trade for growth and considers what could be done to ensure that the WTO leaves no economy behind. It also examines the effect of the WTO on how the benefits of trade are shared out within economies, and discusses how the WTO and trade can be made more inclusive for people and firms. Finally, the chapter outlines the areas in which work at the WTO could be coordinated with work at other international organizations to help make trade more inclusive, such as by enhancing infrastructure and digital connectivity to bridge the digital gap or by ensuring coherence between trade and environmental policies.

Trade has raised aggregate welfare and reduced poverty without necessarily raising inequality in many economies, but the impact of trade is more complex for individuals. People may benefit from cheaper prices, larger variety and export opportunities, but they may also face increased competition and may, therefore, either gain or lose from trade. This chapter reviews why, although most people gain from trade, some suffer losses. These losses can be aggravated by distortions and barriers, such as mobility costs or monopolies, that tend to impact more vulnerable groups disproportionately, and may prevent them from adjusting to import competition and accessing export opportunities. The chapter also examines why using restrictive trade policy to redistribute gains from trade is often unsuccessful and can have unintended consequences, such as retaliation by trade partners. In contrast, domestic policies, such as education and social protection, are more effective in addressing inequality. Their importance is likely to grow as the digital revolution, climate change and geopolitics continue to shape the distributional impacts of trade.