Economic research and trade policy analysis
The WTO and the global economy: Contemporary challenges and possible responses
The high economic growth rates that have been achieved by many countries in Asia have led to a contemporary world economy that is multipolar. This has had repercussions for the WTO as well as for other multilateral organisations. The deadlock in the WTO’s Doha Round has led the United States and the European Union increasingly to turn their attention towards the negotiation of preferential trade agreements including so-called ‘mega-regional’ partnerships. This chapter discusses some of the implications for – and possible responses by – the economies that have the greatest stake in a well-functioning multilateral trading system. These economies may find themselves caught in the midst of disagreements between the major trading nations with few prospects of participating in the mega-regionals. The chapter argues that these economies – including those that have acceded to the WTO since its creation – need to take a more proactive leadership role in the WTO to enhance the transparency of what is done in the ‘megaregionals’ and to facilitate the pursuit of rule-making initiatives in the WTO on a plurilateral basis.
Supply chain connectivity and trade in Asia
The term logistics is an ancient one. Historically the military has been lauded as the key underpinning example for good logistics practices given their emphasis on good movement practices and operational excellence. Good logistics practice can be taken to denote the set of activities undertaken to ensure the smooth passage of goods and services from one location to another relying on supply liaison officers to provide the necessary connection between stakeholders in a convoy. Indeed it is the very adept use of logistics (both hard and soft) that has provided certain military forces with superior competitive advantage the result of which is well documented in history.
Foreward
Global value chains (GVCs) have been a feature of the international economic architecture for many years but scholarly interest in the phenomenon is more recent. Today that interest is intense emanating from an array of academic disciplines as well as from the policy world. This volume jointly produced by the Fung Global Institute and the World Trade Organization is an attempt to capture the core features and themes of the exploding literature on GVCs. Our review of the literature demonstrates the eclectic nature of existing work on GVCs which in turn is a reflection of the complex character of these international production arrangements. Apart from seeking to capture the different strands of the literature it is our hope that the volume may contribute to a deeper mutual understanding among different disciplinary perspectives including economic political economy business and management development social and public policy analyses.
Trade policy and natural resources
This section looks at the ways government policy responds to the unique features of natural resources. It examines how the unequal distribution of natural resources give importing and exporting countries incentives to use restrictive trade and domestic measures to “capture” monopoly rents. It analyzes how governments can use trade restrictions and domestic measures to strengthen property rights or reduce the exploitation of the natural resource. Where the consumption or extraction of a natural resource affects the environment it considers the steps governments could take to make producers and consumers take account of the social costs of their activities. However the use of trade and domestic policies will have consequences for trade partners through changes to their terms of trade. In some instances the availability of large resource rents may make government policies hostage to vested interests involved in the extraction and trade of natural resources. Finally this section will consider how regional trade cooperation can assist in mitigating or resolving these potential frictions in natural resources.
Domestic regulation: What are the costs and benefits for international trade in services?
Services have been considered non-tradable and therefore outside the scope of trade policy-making until quite recently. A logical consequence is that explicit policy barriers to cross-border trade in services are rare. What segments markets for tradable services is therefore largely in the realm of domestic regulation. Both the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and a number of regional trade agreements (RTAs) aim at developing disciplines on domestic regulation. GATS Article VI states that disciplines on qualification requirements and procedures technical standards and licensing requirements shall be established to ensure that regulation is not more burdensome than necessary to ensure the quality of the service. Such disciplines are however yet to be established but a reference paper on pro-competitive domestic regulation in telecommunications has been included in a number of World Trade Organization (WTO) members’ GATS schedules of commitments and some RTAs have quite detailed disciplines on domestic regulation in this sector.
Introduction
No doubt the world looks a little different today than it did at the end of 2019 when we first published the Periodic Table of DLT in Trade. A natural year’s worth of progression has been both accelerated and in some areas stunted by the forces of the COVID-19 pandemic the widespread and long-lasting implications of which still remain unknown.
Introducción
Las subvenciones son uno de los numerosos instrumentos de política general sujetos a normas en el sistema multilateral de comercio pero plantean cuestiones más complejas para quienes adoptan las políticas que otros muchos instrumentos sometidos a las normas de la OMC o del GATT. Uno de los motivos de ello es que las subvenciones se pueden definir de diferentes maneras. Otro es que se utilizan para conseguir objetivos muy variados. Incluso cuando no van dirigidas al comercio pueden influir en los flujos comerciales. El presente Informe se centra esencialmente en las subvenciones que conceden una ventaja a determinados productores nacionales por lo que afectan al comercio. La difícil tarea de determinar qué tipos de subvención plantean problemas desde el punto de vista del sistema comercial y qué cabe hacer al respecto ocupa un importante lugar en el programa de trabajo del sistema del GATT y la OMC.
A podium perspective: Experiences and challenges of chairing a working party
What is the perspective from the podium? what are the challenges that face the chairperson of an accession working party? The role of a chairperson of an accession working party is tough and challenging and the functions of a chairperson can only be successfully exercised if he or she has the trust and confidence of parties involved. This role is best understood as that of a referee assisted by the Secretariat. The accession of the Russian Federation demonstrated that ‘the real work in WTO accession negotiations is done “beyond the gavel”. If the chair could only work with the gavel the accession process would get nowhere.’ Critical to any progress in the complexity of accession negotiations is political will and the ability to compromise as geopolitics may add a thick layer of complexity to the process. The reality of accession negotiations is that all participants have to be accommodated.
The WTO- Plus Obligations: Dual Class or a Strengthened System?
Obligations in accession protocols that go beyond the multilateral trade agreements are commonly referred to as ‘WTO-plus’ obligations. This chapter reviews the so-called WTO-plus obligations and argues that even though they are perceived to expand the existing obligations under multilateral trade agreements they in fact do not create two classes of membership within the World Trade Organization (WTO). First all accession processes are conducted on a case-by-case basis and thus result in different obligations for each acceding government. Second the WTO legal system is evolving continuously; therefore to adopt new rules and advance the legal system obligations cannot remain the same as in previous accessions. Third non-discrimination remains one of the fundamental principles of the multilateral trading system. Accessions to WTO follow this principle and hence WTO-plus obligations have been and will continue to be set on a non-discriminatory basis. At the same time WTO-plus obligations help upgrade the rules-based multilateral trading system. They fill gaps in the WTO rules on anti-dumping countervailing and safeguard regimes and they advance WTO rules by promoting plurilateral agreements.
Supply chains and offshoring
The shuffle of jobs offshore (or back onshore) has caught the attention and concerns of policy makers. The structural shifts in industrial structures are creating new winners and losers. Unskilled labour-intensive parts of the manufacturing production process have been increasingly offshored by advanced country firms to relatively unskilled labourabundant developing economies. This “offshoring” phenomenon is expected to reduce jobs for low- and semi-skilled workers in advanced economies while increasing them in developing economies. At the same time resulting productivity increases in advanced economies can raise the demand for native workers – at least in complementary tasks. The empirical literature suggests that fears of job-losses due to offshoring in advanced economies are often exaggerated – restricted largely to the short-run. Policy makers can address these concerns through strengthening social safety nets in the short run and instituting skills-upgrading programmes to create a more flexible labour force in the long run. Greater challenges lie ahead for these policy makers with an increasing number of services jobs being offshored from developed to developing economies. Even in developing economies services offshoring can worsen inequality by raising skill premiums thereby making investment in education equally crucial there. Looking ahead given increasing wages in certain developing economies increasing transport costs new technologies and concerns about separating R&D from manufacturing activities there is a possibility of a large number of manufacturing and services tasks returning to advanced economies.
Industry Wages and Tariffs ofthe Rest of the World
There is widespread evidence that countries use trade policy to protect their workers. Sector-level tariffs typically correlate positively with sector wages and employment. This chapter examines the mirror question of how tariffs of other countries of the world affect industry wages at home. To answer this question we rely on an industry-level analysis of wages in a sample of developing and developed countries spanning from 1976 to 2004. The effect of trade policy is identified through differential exposure of trade policy changes abroad for workers in different industries.
Las normas en el sistema multilateral de comercio
La presente sección se ocupa de los textos jurídicos y la jurisprudencia pertinente de la OMC relativos a las normas. En ella se examinan en primer lugar los propios textos para analizar después detalladamente algunos de los conceptos fundamentales pertinentes a las normas recogidos tanto en los Acuerdos OTC y MSF como en el GATT de 1994. Seguidamente se sitúan los Acuerdos en el contexto del análisis económico expuesto en las secciones anteriores y se hace también referencia a la jurisprudencia acumulada en relación con las normas. Dado que el presente informe se centra en las normas de productos sólo se analizarán los textos jurídicos y la jurisprudencia de la OMC relativas a las “mercancías”. No obstante es importante señalar que el Acuerdo General sobre el Comercio de Servicios (AGCS) contiene también disposiciones relativas a las normas en la esfera de los servicios especialmente en los párrafos 4 y 5 de su artículo VI.
Openness to trade and informality
Globalization and the opening of markets in developing economies to trade is believed to have affected informal employment in these countries. This chapter summarizes the theoretical arguments for such a link and presents the relevant empirical evidence. In particular it asks the questions: What roles do trade reforms and trade expansion play in explaining changes in the share of informal employment? How does trade opening affect the relative wage of informal compared to formal workers? While the long-term allocative effects of trade opening have been extensively studied by trade economists since at least the eighteenth century the short- and medium-term impact of trade reforms on the composition of employment the wage structure and unemployment only started to attract the attention of researchers in the early 1990s (Agénor 1995). This chapter contains two parts. First a summary of theoretical approaches concerning the impact of trade on informality is provided. Second empirical studies aimed at validating different theoretical hypotheses are discussed.
Évolution du marché du travail
La présente section vise à mettre en perspective la discussion sur les effets du commerce et de la technologie sur le marché du travail. L’analyse ciblée de ces effets peut donner à tort l’impression que le commerce et/ou la technologie sont les principaux déterminants de l’emploi et des salaires. Toutefois comme on le verra dans cette section les niveaux d’emploi ou de chômage et le niveau des salaires sont largement déterminés par la façon dont fonctionne le marché du travail. Autrement dit les effets de la technologie et du commerce sur le comportement du marché du travail dépendent dans une large mesure des conditions institutionnelles du marché du travail des changements économiques concomitants et de la diversification des possibilités d’emploi lorsque des chocs se produisent.
Is Tunisian Trade Policy Pro-poor?
Trade liberalization policies affect the domestic economy through their impact on prices of goods and services. Consequently these policies also can affect average productivity and lead to industrial restructuring. The main goal of this research is to estimate the distributional effects of trade policy at the micro level using household survey data and to determine whether trade liberalization affected different groups of poor people differently. To our knowledge this question has not yet been addressed for Tunisia.
The ITA and innovation
The general-purpose nature of information technology (IT) means that its widespread use in other economic sectors helps induce organizational and technological innovation throughout the economy. Innovation in IT itself has a magnified effect on economic productivity.
Le commerce à l’heure de la mondialisation
L’intégration économique progresse à un rythme sans précédent dans le monde entier. La mondialisation a eu des retombées très bénéfiques pour de nombreux pays et de nombreuses populations. Mais elle fait aussi beaucoup de perdants et l’opposition à la poursuite du processus va croissant pour de multiples raisons. Le commerce n’est qu’un aspect de la mondialisation et ses liens avec les forces économiques politiques et technologiques en général sont multiples et complexes. Certains des arguments contre l’ouverture commerciale sont alimentés par des facteurs très divers – y compris la peur générale du changement – qui n’ont pas grand-chose à voir avec la poursuite de l’ouverture. Les gouvernements qui cèdent aux pressions contre le commerce exercées par les adversaires de la mondialisation risquent de faire de mauvais choix politiques. Le scepticisme à l’égard du commerce est à l’évidence un sujet de préoccupation surtout à un moment où les Membres de l’OMC s’efforcent de mener à bien le Cycle de Doha. À ce moment crucial il semble opportun de réexaminer la justification du commerce et de se demander si les arguments traditionnels en faveur du libre-échange tiennent encore.
Executive summary
The World Trade Report 2006 begins with a short summary of salient trends in international trade based on the Secretariat’s earlier Report issued in April. We also provide brief analytical commentaries on certain topical trade issues which this year cover recent trends in trade in textiles and clothing an examination of the evolution of international royalty and fee payments developments in the trade of least-developed countries and an analysis of the effects of natural disasters and acts of terrorism on international trade flows. The core topic for analysis in WTR 2006 is subsidies. The Report explores this area of policy in terms of how subsidies are defined what economic theory can tell us about subsidies why governments use subsidies the most prominent sectors in which subsidies are applied and the role of the WTO Agreement in regulating subsidies in the context of international trade.
Executive summary
This study is the product of a collaborative effort by the Secretariat of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the International Labour Office (ILO) aimed at providing an impartial view of what can be said and with what degree of confidence on the relationship between trade and employment an often contentious issue of public debate. It attempts to do this through a review of the academic literature both theoretical and empirical. A huge amount of research has been undertaken on this subject and within this there are numerous excellent literature surveys. This study intends to distinguish itself from the existing surveys by focusing on the connections between trade policies and labour and social policies.
Foreword
Trade has improved the living standards of billions of individuals many of whom are women. Ample empirical evidence shows that trade has led to higher productivity greater competition lower prices higher incomes and improved welfare. As the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed however trade can be seriously disrupted. There is a risk that some of the economic gains women have reaped through trade could be reversed by the COVID-19 crisis. Cooperation is therefore essential to preserve the conditions for a fast recovery and to create those for more inclusive and sustainable trade in the future.
Pourquoi le commerce des services compte
La présente section examine le rôle que le commerce des services joue pour aider les pays à parvenir à une croissance rapide et inclusive. La section C.1 analyse et tente de quantifier dans quelle mesure le commerce des services est bénéfique pour l’économie et promeut la croissance. La section C.2 étudie le rôle que le commerce des services joue dans l’amélioration de la compétitivité des entreprises nationales non seulement dans le secteur des services mais aussi dans le secteur manufacturier. La section C.3 examine de quelle façon le commerce des services promeut l’inclusion dans un certain nombre de domaines comme les compétences l’égalité hommes-femmes et la localisation de l’activité économique. La section C.4 sert de conclusion.
Avant-propos du Directeur général
Le Rapport sur le commerce mondial 2010 traite du commerce des ressources naturelles. Ce sujet revêt une importance croissante dans les relations commerciales internationales. Les ressources naturelles sont en effet à l’origine d’une grande partie de l’activité économique; elles jouent un rôle essentiel dans de nombreuses économies et leur part dans le commerce mondial va en augmentant. Plusieurs caractéristiques qui leur sont propres expliquent pourquoi elles occupent une place particulière dans l’analyse économique et dans l’analyse de l’économie politique et des politiques publiques.
Résumé analytique
La première section du Rapport sur le commerce mondial 2004 examine l’évolution récente de la structure de la valeur et du volume des échanges internationaux de biens et services ainsi que les perspectives du commerce pour 2004. Elle propose également une analyse des préférences non réciproques du mouvement international des personnes fournissant des services et des indications géographiques. La seconde section du rapport porte sur la question de la cohérence des politiques suivies et souligne qu’il importe que les mesures prises à l’échelle nationale soient complémentaires pour que la libéralisation économique bénéficie davantage à la société. Elle s’articule autour de quatre volets importants de la gestion économique à savoir: i) les politiques macro-économiques ii) l’état des infrastructures et des services d’infrastructure notamment dans des domaines étroitement liés aux performances commerciales (transports télécommunications services financiers et services aux entreprises) iii) la structure des marchés et en particulier le degré de concurrence et l’existence d’externalités et iv) la qualité des institutions. Enfin la dernière partie de la seconde section du rapport est consacrée aux dimensions internationales de la cohérence. Elle montre comment la coopération internationale peut favoriser la cohérence des politiques formulées à l’échelle nationale dans le domaine commercial surtout.
Supply chains and business models
While the term “business model” might seem ubiquitous today its use only arose in the 1990s with the information and communications technology (ICT) revolution. Since then the business model literature has advanced definitions and conceptualisations that describe and prescribe a range of supply chain architectures. In the age of network competition the business model concept now rests upon the focal unit of the supply chain and no longer upon the individual firm. Theory has emerged to aid the practitioner in designing supply chains and in understanding the latest business models. While not as directly relevant policy makers also stand to gain from this literature in understanding the considerations that businesses take into account for their business design decisions.
El comercio de servicios en cifras
En esta sección se expone la importancia del comercio de servicios en la economía mundial utilizando los datos sobre el comercio de servicios por modos de suministro (TISMOS) una base de datos experimental desarrollada por la OMC. Esta base de datos presenta los servicios prestados a través de los cuatro modos de suministro clasificados en el Acuerdo General sobre el Comercio de Servicios (AGCS) de la OMC; las estadísticas tradicionales sobre el comercio de servicios solo abarcan tres de los modos de suministro del AGCS. En la sección también se examina la participación de las economías en desarrollo incluidas las de los países menos adelantados (PMA) la importancia de las microempresas y las pequeñas y medianas empresas (MIPYME) y el papel de la mujer en el comercio de servicios. Por último la presente sección explora el valor añadido por los servicios a las cadenas de valor mundiales.
Trade, value chains and labor markets in advanced economies
Trade is a major source of employment. Nevertheless trade has recently been caught in the crossfire in discussions around the decline of manufacturing employment and the polarization of labor markets in advanced economies. In this chapter we examine what the academic literature has to say on the relationship between trade and labor markets with a specific focus on studies with a value chain perspective. We find that trade has only modest effects on aggregate employment and is unlikely to have been a major contributor to the decline of manufacturing. However the effects vary considerably across regions and individuals with different skill levels. This implies that policy has a central role to play in making sure that the gains from trade are shared evenly. Our findings highlight that a value chain perspective is important for assessing the impact of trade on labor markets. The emergence of value chains has strengthened linkages between sectors magnified trade’s impact on skill demand and requires novel trade statistics. Ignoring this leads to a biased view of trade and overestimates its role in the decline of manufacturing employment.
Conclusions
Au cours des dernières décennies les services sont devenus la pierre angulaire de l’économie mondiale et la composante la plus dynamique du commerce international. Ils sont de plus en plus faciles à échanger en grande partie grâce au numérique. De la formation en ligne aux cabinets juridiques virtuels la technologie pénètre tous les secteurs de services transformant les services qui nécessitaient habituellement une proximité physique en services marchands fournis à distance. Le commerce longtemps dominé par les échanges de marchandises fait de plus en plus intervenir les services un processus qui transforme l’économie mondiale.
Apéndice estadístico
La definición de recursos naturales que figura en la subsección 1 es suficiente en muchos análisis pero se necesita una definición estadística más precisa para tratar de forma coherente los datos relativos a las corrientes comerciales que es el tema en el que se centra la subsección 2. Cuando se examinan productos que no son objeto de comercio es necesario basarse en una concepción más amplia aún de los recursos naturales. Este apéndice facilita información detallada sobre las diferentes definiciones posibles de recursos naturales para presentar después cuadros resumidos del comercio por países y mapas que ilustran diversos aspectos del suministro y el comercio de recursos naturales.
Situation du commerce en 2008-2009
Les signes d’une forte dégradation de l’économie mondiale sont devenus manifestes au second semestre de 2008 et dans les premiers mois de 2009 avec la contraction des flux commerciaux et la chute de la production d’abord dans les pays développés puis dans les pays en développement. Bien que le commerce mondial ait augmenté de 2 pour cent en volume en 2008 sa croissance s’est essoufflée au cours des six derniers mois de l’année pour tomber à un niveau nettement inférieur au niveau de 6 pour cent enregistré en 2007. La croissance de la production mondiale mesurée par le produit intérieur brut (PIB) réel a aussi connu un ralentissement notable tombant à 17 pour cent en 2008 alors qu’elle était de 35 pour cent l’année précédente.
Executive summary
The health and economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has been a massive stress test of the world trading system delivering unprecedented shocks to global supply chains and trade relations among countries. In 2020 the value of global trade in goods and services in nominal dollar terms fell by 9.6 per cent while global GDP fell by 3.3 per cent in the most severe recession since World War II.
Réponses politiques pour promouvoir les avantages que les femmes peuvent tirer du commerce
Le présent chapitre porte sur les efforts des gouvernements de la société civile du secteur privé et des institutions multilatérales concernant le commerce et l’autonomisation économique des femmes. L’accent y est mis sur les mesures qui pourraient être les plus efficaces pour ouvrir les marchés aux femmes et renforcer leur capacité de faire du commerce. Les risques que présente le commerce pour les femmes en tant que travailleuses sont également recensés et des politiques d’atténuation sont suggérées. En conclusion ce chapitre propose une discussion sur les efforts de la Banque mondiale et de l’Organisation mondiale du commerce (OMC) concernant le commerce et l’égalité hommes-femmes.
How Post- TRIPS Negotiations Reframe the ‘Trade- Related Aspects’ of Intellectual Property after TRIPS: The Lessons of WTO Accessions
The WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) established the first multilateral understanding of what constitutes a standard for ‘adequate’ and ‘effective’ protection of intellectual property rights and established a new mechanism for monitoring and reviewing how these standards are met. The policy and legal framework defined by the TRIPS Agreement has in the two decades since it entered into force progressively gained acceptance as a legitimate balanced and transparent set of standards. Since then however two parallel sets of negotiations have revisited the standards defined by TRIPS: the multilateral WTO accession negotiations and bilateral and regional trade negotiations outside the WTO. In each case TRIPS standards have been further elaborated and timelines for their implementation altered in a manner that produces a layering of rules upon the foundation of TRIPS. However the institutional legal and policy implications of these two lines of development contrast sharply. This chapter reviews the main lines of development of rules relating to intellectual property in the accession processes and contrasts these with the parallel developments outside the WTO. It concludes with an analysis of the policy and practical lessons that can be derived from contrasting these two processes.
Notes techniques
Les Membres de l'OMC sont souvent désignés sous le nom de « pays » bien que certains ne soient pas des pays au sens habituel du terme mais officiellement des « territoires douaniers ». La définition des groupements géographiques ou autres dans le présent rapport n'implique de la part du Secrétariat aucune prise de position quant au statut d'un pays ou territoire au tracé de ses frontières ou aux droits et obligations des Membres de l'OMC dans le cadre des Accords de l'OMC. Les couleurs tracés de frontières dénominations et classifications figurant dans les cartes n'impliquent de la part de l'OMC aucun jugement quant au statut juridique ou autre d'un territoire ni la reconnaissance ou l'acceptation d'un tracé de frontières.
Executive summary
The World Trade Report 2009 focuses primarily on certain contingency measures available to WTO members in the import and export of goods. The legal framework for such measures is much less developed in services trade although this is also discussed.
Constraints faced by the poor
Analysis of the role of trade in contributing to poverty reduction needs to go beyond its impact on economic growth. As discussed in the preceding chapter economic growth will remain the key driver of poverty reduction globally and trade will continue to be a critical driver of growth. Nevertheless in the areas in which extreme poverty is now concentrated — South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa — with predicted growth more than 370 million people in these regions are likely to remain extremely poor in 2030 amounting to around 4.5 percent of the global population. Strikingly 80 percent of these extreme poor will be in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The future of trade in services for developing countries
The question in this theme chapter is: what is the impact of services policy reform on the welfare of poor households? As explained below there is a variety of channels through which services can be provided and it is important to consider the whole portfolio of options in order to identify the ways in which poor households might be affected. Hoekman (2006) reviews the nature of services trade liberalisation and its scope to generate welfare gains.
Conclusions
Economic progress involves economic disruption and there has always been an inherent and unavoidable trade-off between the benefits of growth on the one hand and the cost of adjustment on the other. Today is no exception. The expansion of the global economy – spurred by technological advances and market opening – is enhancing the welfare and improving the living conditions of billions of people around the world. But it is also resulting in economic change displacement and disruption – creating enormous pressure for individuals and societies to adjust and adapt if they are to keep up with and share in the benefits of economic progress.
Integrating small and medium-sized enterprises into global trade flows: The case of China
In China the term “small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)” refers to “different forms of enterprises under different ownerships that are established within the territory of the People’s Republic of China that meet the social needs and create more job opportunities and comply with the industrial policies of the State”. This definition is rather more complex than that in other countries where the definition of SMEs tends to be based purely on their size. It is nevertheless the case that in China also SMEs tend to be enterprises which have fewer employers lower sales volume and lower gross assets. Most Chinese enterprises are SMEs. Indeed they account for more than 98 per cent of industry and contribute to 60 per cent of China’s GDP 75 per cent of its industrial value-added output and 50 per cent of its revenue (as of June 2012). Chinese SMEs also provide for 75 per cent of China’s urban employment opportunities and absorb more than 50 per cent of the workers laid off from the state-owned enterprises. They employ more than 70 per cent of the new entrants to the labour market (Jianjun 2006). Hence Chinese SMEs play an important role in China’s economic development due to their contribution to GDP and the employment they create as well as their vigorous creative ability.
La chaîne de blocs peut-elle révolutionner le commerce international ?
Les gros titres annonçant que la chaîne de blocs peut révolutionner différents domaines du commerce international du financement du commerce aux procédures douanières en passant par la propriété intellectuelle sont légion. Le caractère transparent décentralisé et immuable de la chaîne de blocs a éveillé l’intérêt des acteurs privés – et des gouvernements – qui veulent explorer le potentiel de cette technologie afin d’améliorer l’efficacité des processus commerciaux et une multitude de preuves de concept et de projets pilotes utilisant la chaîne de blocs ont été menés dans quasiment tous les domaines du commerce international.
Evolution du commerce et des politiques commerciales
La croissance de la production et du commerce dans le monde a connu au second semestre de 2003 une vive accélération qui s’est traduite par une hausse moyenne de 25 pour cent du PIB mondial et de 45 pour cent des exportations de marchandises. Il s’agit d’une amélioration plus forte que prévu par rapport à l’année précédente même si la croissance du commerce est restée inférieure à la moyenne enregistrée durant les années 90. Ces résultats annuels ont subi l’influence défavorable d’une combinaison de facteurs inhabituels et temporaires et de faiblesses structurelles à plus long terme dans un certain nombre de grandes puissances économiques (en particulier l’état du système bancaire au Japon et les marchés du travail en Europe occidentale). L’un de ces facteurs temporaires a été l’apparition du Syndrome respiratoire aigu sévère (SRAS) en Asie de l’Est. Bien que l’épidémie de SRAS soit restée limitée par rapport à celles du paludisme et du SIDA elle a eu des conséquences dramatiques à court terme sur le mouvement des personnes et le secteur touristique dans la région. La montée des tensions ayant abouti au conflit militaire en Iraq a fait reculer la confiance des consommateurs et des entreprises dans de nombreuses régions au premier trimestre. Dans les pays de l’OCDE l’indicateur précurseur composite (entreprises) est descendu à son plus bas niveau en mars 2003 avant d’entamer une remontée en mai. Les grandes places boursières ont suivi la tendance avec une baisse accentuée jusqu’en mars suivie d’une reprise et d’une expansion marquée jusqu’à la fin de l’année.
Avant-propos du Directeur général de l’OMC
Les services sont souvent largement négligés dans les discussions sur le commerce mondial ; pourtant ils représentent la majeure partie des échanges dans de nombreuses économies développées et progressent rapidement dans bon nombre de pays en développement également. Cela s’explique peutêtre par le fait que les services sont moins tangibles et que les questions sur le commerce des services sont souvent plus complexes. Le présent rapport vise donc à démystifier le commerce des services. Son objectif est d’apporter un nouvel éclairage sur cette composante essentielle du commerce mondial de dresser un état détaillé de la situation actuelle en la matière et d’examiner comment le commerce des services pourrait évoluer dans les années à venir sous l’effet en particulier des nouvelles technologies qui rendent certains services plus facilement échangeables.
The landscape of regional trade agreements and WTO surveillance
Regional trade agreements (RTAs) have become so prominent in recent years that they permeate much of the discourse on international trade. The current scale of RTA proliferation is unprecedented both in quantitative and qualitative terms. A bewildering range of geographical configurations and varying policy content characterize the new agreements. This trend is likely to continue. The embrace of RTAs by virtually every trading nation carries systemic implications for the multilateral trading system most notably through increased discrimination and complexity in trade relations and by undermining the transparency and predictability of trade relations.
Global value chain-oriented industrial policy: The role of emerging economies
In the past two decades profound changes in the structure of the global economy have reshaped global production and trade and altered the organization of industries and national economies. The geographic fragmentation of industries where value is added in multiple countries before products make their way to consumers has been accompanied by vast improvements in the functional integration of these far-flung activities creating what have come to be known as global value chains or GVCs. As supply chains become global in scope more intermediate goods are traded across borders and more imported parts and components are embodied in exports (Feenstra 1998). In 2009 world exports of intermediate goods exceeded the combined export values of final and capital goods for the first time representing 51 per cent of non-fuel merchandise exports (WTO and IDE-JETRO 2011). Governments and international organizations are taking notice of the effects of GVCs on global trade and development (OECD 2011; WTO and IDE-JETRO 2011; UNCTAD 2013; World Economic Forum 2013).
Agradecimientos y Descargo de responsabilidad
El Informe sobre el comercio mundial 2019 ha sido elaborado bajo la responsabilidad general de Xiaozhun Yi Director General Adjunto de la OMC y Robert Koopman Director de la División de Estudios Económicos y Estadística. El informe de este año ha sido coordinado por Emmanuelle Ganne y Stela Rubínová (División de Estudios Económicos y Estadística) y por Antonia Carzaniga (División de Comercio de Servicios e Inversión). Los principales autores del Informe son Barbara d’Andrea Andreas Maurer Roberta Piermartini y Robert Teh (División de Estudios Económicos y Estadística) y Antonia Carzaniga. Otros autores son Marc Auboin Eddy Bekkers John Hancock Kathryn Lundquist José-Antonio Monteiro Coleman Nee Victor Stolzenburg Ankai Xu y Qing Ye (División de Estudios Económicos y Estadística); Pamela Apaza Markus Jelitto Joscelyn Magdeleine Juan Marchetti Martin Roy y Lee Tuthill (División de Comercio de Servicios e Inversión); y Rainer Lanz (División de Desarrollo).
Commerce des marchandises et des services en valeur (nominale) en 2009
La valeur en dollars du commerce mondial des marchandises a diminué de 23 pour cent en 2009 pour s’établir à 12 100 milliards de dollars EU contre 16 100 milliards en 2008 (voir le tableau 1 de l’Appendice). Cette baisse a été due en partie à la diminution du volume des échanges le reste s’expliquant principalement par la baisse des prix des produits de base en particulier le pétrole en 2009. Après avoir atteint des niveaux record en 2008 les prix mondiaux du pétrole brut ont baissé de 37 pour cent en 2009 passant de 95 dollars EU à 60 dollars EU le baril en moyenne. De ce fait l’évolution du commerce en valeur nominale dans certains pays et régions peut être très différente de son évolution en volume en particulier dans le cas des exportateurs de pétrole et des importateurs de pétrole.
Why services trade matters
This section examines the role of trade in services in helping countries to achieve rapid and inclusive growth. Section C.1 discusses and attempts to quantify how services trade benefits the economy and promotes growth. Section C.2 discusses the role trade in services plays in enhancing domestic firms’ competitiveness not only in the services sector but also in manufacturing. Section C.3 considers how services trade promotes inclusiveness in a number of areas such as skills gender and location of economic activity. Section C.4 concludes.
Dictionary of Trade Policy Terms
This is an accessible guide to the vocabulary used in trade negotiations. It explains about 2500 terms and concepts in simple language. Its main emphasis is on the multilateral trading system represented by the agreements under the World Trade Organization (WTO). In addition it covers many of the trade-related activities outcomes and terms used in other international organizations such as the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development(UNCTAD) the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the OECD. The last five years have seen a rapid spread in the formation of freetrade areas in all parts of the world. This dictionary allocates generous space to the vocabulary associated with such agreements. It offers clear explanations for example of the concepts used in the administration of preferential rules of origin. Additional areas covered include emerging trade issues and issues based particularly on developing-country concerns.
Prefacio del director general
En los últimos meses el comercio ha sufrido su mayor contracción desde el decenio de 1930 como consecuencia del considerable deterioro económico global provocado en primer lugar por el colapso de importantes instituciones financieras. El crecimiento del comercio se expresará este año en cifras fuertemente negativas y es poco probable que antes de 2010 vuelva a registrarse un crecimiento sostenido. Esta adversidad está poniendo a prueba severamente la imaginación política de los gobiernos en todo el planeta y en un mundo interdependiente como el de hoy su voluntad de hacer causa común en la tarea de afrontar desafíos que son de todos. Hoy como nunca son imprescindibles la cooperación internacional efectiva y los mercados abiertos.
Services market opening: Salience, results and meaning
This chapter is structured around three questions. What advances have been made on services market opening? what have been the specific market access commitments of least-developed countries (LDCs)? And what is the progress made with domestic regulation disciplines? This chapter examines the extent to which the services-specific commitments and domestic regulatory disciplines of Article XII members differ from those undertaken by original WTO members at similar levels of development. Although no single indicator exists that can be used to make this comparison given the textual nature of specific commitments as opposed to the numerical properties of tariffs several other possible parameters exist which could be used alone or in combination to assess such departures. The evidence and patterns in Article XII members’ services market access commitments and regulatory state-of-play and advances are examined. The trends and patterns in the depth and sectoral coverage of commitments are identified. The results from accession negotiations on the rules are reviewed with particular focus on how they compare to the envisaged disciplines on domestic regulation under the General Agreement on Trade in Services Article VI:4. Finally the performance of Article XII LDC members in their WTO accession services negotiations is reviewed. Overall the evidence indicates that Article XII members’ services bindings go further than those of original WTO members.
Conclusión
El mundo tal como lo conocemos ha sido definido por las innovaciones tecnológicas. Muchas personas han acogido la aparición de una nueva tecnología la cadena de bloques (una tecnología de registro distribuido) a la que consideran el próximo gran factor de cambio con entusiasmo y optimismo. La cadena de bloques que permite compartir registros digitales y datos de manera segura transparente e inalterable sin necesidad de depender de un único tercero de confianza promete avances interesantes. Esta tecnología podría permitir a los particulares y a las empresas de todo el mundo efectuar transacciones de manera más eficiente más barata y más rápida preservando al mismo tiempo un elevado nivel de seguridad. Al simplificar y digitalizar procesos en los que participan múltiples partes interesadas y que hasta ahora dependían en gran medida del papel reduciendo así los costes de procesamiento verificación seguimiento coordinación y transporte podría tener repercusiones importantes en la forma en que se realizan las operaciones comerciales ya se trate de transacciones comerciales transfronterizas financieras o físicas. Podría reducir el fraude mejorar la gestión de los derechos de propiedad intelectual mejorar la rastreabilidad y la confianza en las cadenas de valor y brindar nuevas oportunidades a las pequeñas empresas.
Globalization and economic volatility
Businesses and households face substantial idiosyncratic and aggregate economic risk. As a general principle economic risk for businesses reflects the myriad of factors that impact the profitability of the business while for individuals economic risk reflects the myriad of factors that impact the earnings and employment outcomes of household members. While aggregate risk gets most of the headlines the volatility of profitability and income that an individual business or household faces is dominated by idiosyncratic risk. That is of the plethora of economic shocks impacting the outcomes for households and businesses the evidence shows that the variance of idiosyncratic shocks is at least an order of magnitude larger than the variance of aggregate shocks. For example whether a business is profitable reflects primarily idiosyncratic factors such as product quality product mix and choice of technology broadly defined including the choice of business organization factor mix location and business-specific productivity and cost and demand factors. Similarly for households earnings and employment outcomes primarily reflect the education and skills of household members as well as whether household members are well matched in the labour market.
Conclusion
The health and economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted both the vulnerabilities and the strengths of the interconnected global economy which has at its core the multilateral trading system. This report has examined the resilience of the global economy to crises how trade plays a pivotal role in developing resilience and in what ways the global trade system can be improved to allow countries to prepare for cope with and recover from crises.
Responses to Trade Opening: Evidence and Lessons from Asia
Over the last 3 decades several developing countries have liberalized their trade regimes. This may have happened either due partially to conditionalities imposed by international organizations such as the International Monetary Fund in response to emergency requests for loans in the context of a country’s accession to the World Trade Organization or as a result of the signature of a preferential trade agreement. In many cases the reforms may have stemmed from a country’s own disappointment with its growth performance during its import substitution phase. While movement toward free trade is expected to expand the size of the overall economic pie such changes always produce both losers and winners. In fact it is this creation of winners and losers along with “individualspecific uncertainty” (Fernandez and Rodrik 1991) about who benefits and who loses from reforms that has led to the delays in trade reforms appropriately called “status quo bias.”
Introduction
Trade and production networks are not new. Firms have been producing items with components sourced from around the globe for centuries. Businesses have continuously sought out new markets for their products. What have changed however are the speed scale depth and breadth of global interactions. Increasingly new players have become active in what have come to be called global value chains or global supply chains. This process of organization has brought entirely new issues to the table for consideration.
Foreword by the Director-General
The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade is the world’s first general multilateral trade agreement. It was signed in 1947 and came into force on 1 January 1948. As the contracting parties began to implement what is more widely known as the GATT 1947 it is unlikely they would have foreseen the full magnitude of the political and economic importance of their accord and its enduring impact as a fundamental framework for multilateral trade right up to the present day.
Les engagements en matière de politique commerciale et les mesures contingentes
Les accords commerciaux définissent les règles régissant la conduite de la politique commerciale. Ces règles doivent établir un équilibre entre les engagements et la flexibilité. Un excès de flexibilité peut affaiblir la valeur des engagements mais un manque de flexibilité peut rendre les règles politiquement inapplicables. Cette tension entre des engagements crédibles et une flexibilité n’est jamais loin de la surface dans les négociations commerciales. Par exemple la question d’un “mécanisme de sauvegarde spéciale” (c’est à dire la question de savoir dans quelle mesure les pays en développement pourraient protéger leurs agriculteurs en cas de poussée des importations) a été cruciale dans les discussions qui ont eu lieu lors de la miniréunion ministérielle de juillet 2008 qui visait à l’adoption des modalités de négociation - ou d’un schéma final - pour l’agriculture et pour l’accès aux marchés pour les produits non agricoles (AMNA).
Comercio de servicios de transporte aéreo: Evolución reciente y asuntos de política
El transporte aéreo al igual que los demás servicios de transporte está relacionado con el comercio internacional de dos maneras claras. En primer lugar el transporte aéreo es objeto de comercio como servicio por derecho propio. En segundo lugar es un servicio intermediario fundamental para muchos otros tipos de comercio tanto en la esfera de los bienes como en la de los servicios (por ejemplo en el turismo). Son muchos los estudios en los que se ha destacado la importancia de una infraestructura de transporte aéreo eficiente efectiva y fiable especialmente en los países en desarrollo para lograr que se materialicen los beneficios derivados del comercio (OMC 2004). En esos estudios se destaca también la importante contribución de la aviación civil internacional al proceso de desarrollo y su influencia en las decisiones tanto de carácter comercial como de ocupación del tiempo libre de muchas personas. Se espera que esa importancia aumente como consecuencia de las innovaciones tecnológicas la desreglamentación y el mayor acceso a los mercados para las empresas extranjeras factores todos ellos que están haciendo que el transporte aéreo sea más accesible a un conjunto mayor de clientes y a una gama más amplia de países.
Comment les contraintes et les possibilités façonnent les rôles des femmes dans le commerce
Les femmes ont tout à gagner du développement du commerce mais elles sont confrontées à des obstacles qui empêchent ou entravent leur accès aux nouvelles possibilités. Ces contraintes contribuent à expliquer pourquoi les femmes travaillent dans certains secteurs détiennent et dirigent certains types d’entreprises consomment certains types de marchandises ou prennent certaines décisions dans leurs foyers – comme expliqué en détail dans le chapitre 1. Le rôle croissant des services dans l’économie et le commerce mondiaux (ci-après servicification) l’essor des chaînes de valeur mondiales (CVM) et l’adoption de nouvelles technologies créent pour les femmes des possibilités nouvelles et prometteuses de faire davantage de commerce et d’en tirer un meilleur parti. Un examen de ces tendances sous l’angle de l’égalité hommesfemmes permet de montrer comment les femmes peuvent s’emparer d’une part plus importante des avantages du commerce.
The Benefits Of Taking Part
Part I described the system of food standards and trade rules created by members for members. With such a system in place what is then required to keep it working and fit for purpose? And how can members take advantage of the benefits it has to offer?
Conclusion
This Report has ranged widely. The Executive Summary attached to the beginning of the Report outlines the main areas covered and observations made. A report of this nature is itself a summary of complex issues and has to rely heavily on the more detailed and analytical work of others. References have been made in the text to this work. Many of the issues addressed here are “moving targets” particularly where governments are constantly exercising policy options that exert an influence on outcomes and where WTO Members are actively engaged in a major trade negotiation.
The role of services in global value chains
The intangibility of services makes them analytically and statistically elusive. Systematic efforts to deepen our understanding of the economic role played by services – particularly at the international level – have only occurred in the last thirty years. These efforts have intensified recently with the increased presence of global value chains where services fulfill a vital and complex role.
Le rôle du commerce et de la politique commerciale dans le processus de développement
Depuis sa création le système commercial international a été modelé conformément à des principes conjugués au pragmatisme. Les relations commerciales ne peuvent pas être déterminées seulement sur la base de principes simples et inviolés définis et convenus d’entrée de jeu. Des considérations pratiques des questions politiques et les expressions particulières de l’intérêt national contribuent inévitablement à déterminer les positions prises par les gouvernements. Certains commentateurs font allusion à cette réalité lorsqu’ils évoquent à propos d’une mesure ou d’une approche adoptée par des pouvoirs publics «de la mauvaise économie mais de la bonne politique». Cependant la solidité et le succès historique du système commercial multilatéral reposent en grande partie sur la volonté des gouvernements de s’engager a priori en faveur d’un ensemble de principes et de règles étayés par des arrangements contraignants concernant le règlement des différends commerciaux.
Globalization and within-country income inequality
Since the 1980s many developed and developing countries have experienced increases in within-country inequality. The growing income gap has coincided with the period of increasing exposure of countries to globalization through increased flows of goods services capital and labour across international borders. These developments have instigated a large debate in the academic and policy circles as to whether globalization is responsible for the growing inequality within countries.
Standardization initiatives
A crucial step towards end-to-end trade digitalization is creating an ecosystem that allows for seamless exchanges of data between existing platforms. This requires developing and implementing globally accepted digital standards for trade. As these initiatives play a crucial role in shaping the landscape within which each DLT-in-trade project operates standardization initiatives have been included in more detail in this updated version. To this end these initiatives will be separated into standalone sections with a corresponding tables and each project will be examined more deeply.
Les ressources naturelles: Définitions, structure des échanges et mondialisation
Cette section donne un aperçu général du rôle du commerce des ressources naturelles dans l’économie mondiale. Elle commence par un examen des définitions et de la terminologie en mettant l’accent sur les principales caractéristiques qui distinguent les ressources naturelles des autres types de marchandises faisant l’objet d’échanges. Ces caractéristiques sont notamment le caractère épuisable des ressources naturelles leur répartition géographique inégale la présence d’externalités liées aux retombées de l’extraction et de l’utilisation des ressources naturelles la prédominance du secteur des ressources naturelles dans de nombreuses économies nationales et la forte volatilité des prix de cette catégorie de marchandises. Diverses données statistiques concernant les ressources naturelles sont ensuite présentées pour montrer l’importance et l’orientation des flux commerciaux.
Acknowledgements and disclaimer
The World Trade Report 2021 was prepared under the general responsibility and guidance of Anabel González WTO Deputy Director-General and Robert Koopman Director of the Economic Research and Statistics Division. The report was coordinated by Eddy Bekkers and José-Antonio Monteiro. The authors of the report are Marc Auboin Marc Bacchetta Francesco Bellelli Cosimo Beverelli Eddy Bekkers Emmanuelle Ganne John Hancock Katharina Laengle Kathryn Lundquist José-Antonio Monteiro Roberta Piermartini Yves Renouf Victor Stolzenburg and Ankai Xu (Economic Research and Statistics Division).
Resumen ejecutivo
En la primera sección del Informe sobre el Comercio Mundial 2004 se examinan la evolución reciente de la estructura el valor y el volumen del comercio internacional de bienes y servicios y las perspectivas del comercio para 2004. Se analizan también las preferencias no recíprocas el movimiento internacional de personas proveedoras de servicios y las indicaciones geográficas. En la segunda sección se examina el tema de la coherencia de las políticas subrayando la importancia de las políticas nacionales complementarias para que la liberalización del comercio pueda reportar mayores beneficios a la sociedad. Se centra en cuatro importantes esferas de la formulación de las políticas económicas: i) macroeconomía; ii) situación en materia de infraestructura y servicios de infraestructura en particular en esferas estrechamente relacionadas con las actividades comerciales (transporte telecomunicaciones servicios financieros y servicios prestados a las empresas); iii) estructura de los mercados haciendo especial hincapié en el nivel de competencia y la existencia de externalidades (factores externos); y iv) calidad de las instituciones. En la última parte de esta segunda sección del Informe se estudia la dimensión internacional de la coherencia y se determina la función de la cooperación internacional en apoyo de la formulación de políticas coherentes a nivel nacional especialmente en la esfera de la política comercial.
Technical notes
WTO members are frequently referred to as “countries” although some members are not countries in the usual sense of the word but are officially “customs territories”. The definition of geographical and other groupings in this report does not imply an expression of opinion by the WTO Secretariat concerning the status of any country or territory the delimitation of its frontiers nor the rights and obligations of any WTO member in respect of WTO agreements. The colours boundaries denominations and classifications in the maps of the publication do not imply on the part of the WTO any judgement on the legal or other status of any territory or any endorsement or acceptance of any boundary.
Natural resources, international cooperation and trade regulation
This section discusses international regulation of trade in natural resources. It starts with an overview of the legal framework of the WTO and briefly addresses how natural resources fit within this. Rather than attempt an exhaustive treatment of every WTO rule that may have a bearing on trade in natural resources this section sets out the rules that have particular relevance for this kind of trade and considers whether and to what extent these rules respond to the salient characteristics of natural resource sectors. This section also presents a selection of international agreements that regulate trade in natural resources and discusses their relationship with WTO disciplines. It ends by focusing on a number of issues in this sector that appear to be of actual or potential relevance to international cooperation and to the multilateral trading system.
Executive summary
International trade is integral to the process of globalization. Over many years governments in most countries have increasingly opened their economies to international trade whether through the multilateral trading system increased regional cooperation or as part of domestic reform programmes. Trade and globalization more generally have brought enormous benefits to many countries and citizens. Trade has allowed nations to benefit from specialization and economies to produce at a more efficient scale. It has raised productivity supported the spread of knowledge and new technologies and enriched the range of choices available to consumers. But deeper integration into the world economy has not always proved popular nor have the benefits of trade and globalization necessarily reached all sections of society. Trade scepticism is on the rise in certain quarters and the purpose of this year’s core topic of the World Trade Report entitled “Trade in a Globalizing World” is to remind ourselves of what we know about the gains from international trade and the challenges arising from higher levels of integration.
What role for international cooperation on services trade policy?
Trade in services continues to evolve. Technology and regulatory reforms are driving a fundamental transformation creating new demand while simultaneously helping to reduce trade costs and opening further opportunities to trade services. Under the impetus of global value chains demographic trends rising per capita incomes in emerging markets and environmental concerns demand for foreign-supplied services is on the rise. The evolving avenues actors and composition of services trade increase its potential to contribute to inclusive economic growth and development but also present a number of challenges that need to be addressed to fulfil this potential.
Foreword
The World Trade Report is a new annual publication produced by the WTO Secretariat. Each year the WTR will explore trends in world trade and highlight important issues in the world trading system. In addition to monitoring and interpreting trade developments the Report seeks to deepen public understanding of pressing policy issues. The WTR does not pretend to provide comprehensive answers to complex and many-sided questions subject to continuing debate among governments and their constituencies. Rather by explaining the origin of issues and offering an analytical framework within which to address them the WTR aims to contribute to more informed discussion and a better appreciation of the options available to address policy challenges.
Los aspectos económicos de las normas y el comercio
Vivimos en un mundo firmemente basado en normas de productos. Es posible enviar un fax a cualquier lugar del mundo porque los aparatos de fax obedecen a un protocolo común. Es posible compartir archivos informáticos porque los ordenadores utilizan modelos normalizados de equipo y programas informáticos. La necesidad de normas de productos no es nueva. Ya en tiempos bíblicos la falta de un idioma común (normalizado) hizo estragos en la Torre de Babel (Shapiro 2000). En tiempos más recientes durante el gran incendio de Baltimore de 1904 los bomberos que acudieron de ciudades vecinas no pudieron luchar contra el fuego de manera eficaz porque sus mangueras no encajaban en las bocas de incendio de Baltimore.
Foreword
This is a critical year in the world’s collaborative effort to end global poverty and boost the incomes of the poorest. We will endorse the Sustainable Development Goals develop a plan for financing for development and reach for a landmark agreement to mitigate and adapt to climate change. If we are to end extreme poverty by 2030 we must do all we can in this final push to raise the incomes of the extreme poor. The Role of Trade in Ending Poverty makes the case for how trade can contribute to this ambitious goal.
Temas escogidos sobre comercio y política comercial
El comercio Sur-Sur se ha promovido desde hace mucho tiempo como medio de reducir la dependencia de los países en desarrollo respecto de los mercados de los países desarrollados y de aumentar la diversificación de las exportaciones del Sur para que éstas no se limiten a productos primarios. La mayoría de los mecanismos creados para fomentar la cooperación entre los países en desarrollo eran principalmente de alcance subregional y regional y muchos de ellos de carácter preferencial. En los decenios de 1950 y 1960 el fomento del comercio Sur-Sur fue en muchos casos parte de una serie de medidas normativas basadas en una estrategia de sustitución de las importaciones que entrañaba grandes obstáculos al comercio. El comercio Sur-Sur creció en forma intermitente a medida que las economías en desarrollo atravesaban ciclos de expansión y contracción. Pese a las medidas tomadas para promover y diversificar el comercio Sur-Sur los productos primarios siguieron predominando en esas corrientes en la mayoría de las regiones y para 1990 ese comercio representaba sólo el 65 por ciento del comercio mundial.
Agradecimientos
El Informe sobre el Comercio Mundial de 2004 ha sido elaborado bajo la supervisión general del Director General Adjunto Dr. Kipkorir Aly Azad Rana. Patrick Low Director de la División de Estudios Económicos y Estadística dirigió el equipo encargado de redactar el Informe. Los autores principales del Informe son Bijit Bora Zdenek Drabek K. Michael Finger Marion Jansen Alexander Keck Patrick Low Hildegunn Kyvik Nordås Roberta Piermartini y Robert Teh. Barbara D’Andrea de la División de Estudios Económicos y Estadística es coautora de la Sección IB.2. Jeffrey Gertler de la División de Asuntos Jurídicos contribuyó a la redacción de la Sección IB.1. Mukela Luanga de la División de Estudios Económicos y Estadística proporcionó material esencial a varios de los autores principales. Las estadísticas comerciales y la información arancelaria fueron facilitadas por el Grupo de Estadística de la División de Estudios Económicos y Estadística bajo la coordinación de Guy Karsenty Julia de Verteuil Andreas Maurer y Jürgen Richtering.