Trade monitoring

The Trade Policy Review Mechanism (TPRM) was first established on a trial basis by the GATT CONTRACTING PARTIES in April 1989. The Mechanism became a permanent feature of the World Trade Organization under the Marrakesh Agreement which established the WTO in January 1995.

International trade rebounded in 2002 from its contraction in the preceding year, growing at about 2.5 per cent in volume terms, which was faster than the growth of global output. The rebound occurred despite the weakness of the global economic recovery, greatly reduced capital flows, major changes in exchange rates, increased restrictions on international trade transactions to mitigate risks from terrorism, and rising geopolitical tensions. Trade growth was strong in Asia and the transition economies, largely reflecting better economic performance in those regions. However trade was stagnant in Western Europe, and contracted in Latin America as a result of economic turmoil in a number of countries in the region. North America’s imports recovered in line with stronger domestic demand, while exports continued to decrease in 2002.

This joint Trade Policy Review of Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau and Togo has allowed us to situate the three countries’ trade and trade-related policies and practices in their socio-economic context. We are grateful for the active participation of the delegations headed respectively by H.E. Dagobert Banzio, Minister of Trade of Côte d’Ivoire, and H.E. Kwesi Séléagodji Ahoomey-Zunu, Minister of Trade of Togo. I would also like to thank the discussant, H.E. Mr. Luzius Wasescha, Permanent Representative of Switzerland, and Members of the TPRB for contributing to our fruitful exchange of views, as well as the WAEMU Commission for its assistance to its members under review.

L’analyse des facteurs qui façonnent le commerce international et de leurs implications pour la politique commerciale ne peut pas être complète et utile si l’on n’a pas une idée claire de l’évolution de la structure des échanges dans le temps. Cette partie du rapport étudie les tendances passées, présentes et futures du commerce international et de l’activité économique. Elle commence par un historique du commerce, de l’époque préindustrielle à nos jours, en soulignant le rôle central que la technologie et les institutions ont joué dans le passé. Puis elle décrit et explique les grandes tendances du commerce international apparues au cours des 30 dernières années en présentant les principaux acteurs du commerce (pays et entreprises) et en indiquant quels pays font du commerce avec qui et comment la nature des échanges a évolué au fil du temps. Enfin, elle présente quelques simulations illustrant les scénarios futurs possibles pour le commerce.

La présente publication a été établie sous la direction de Hubert Escaith, Chef statisticien et Andreas Maurer, Chef de la Section des statistiques du commerce international. La coordination et la production des tableaux, des graphiques et des cartes du rapport a été supervisée par Ninez Piezas Jerbi, avec l'assistance de Coleman Nee et Anna-Sophia Fuss. Les recherches statistiques, la compilation des données et l'établissement des estimations ont été effectués par Barbara d'Andrea-Adrian, Alejandra Barajas Barbosa, Sanja Blazevic, Lori Chang, Christophe Degain, Florian Eberth, Aude Lanois, Antonella Liberatore, Coleman Nee, Ninez Piezas-Jerbi et Ying Yan.

This section attempts to provide some guidance as to how services trade patterns will change. Using a novel approach, this section begins by showing recent trends in trade costs related to services and identifying the factors affecting these costs. Then, major future trends in technology, demography, income and climate change are examined with a view to explaining how these trends can affect the choice of which services countries trade and with whom they trade, as well as how they trade. Finally, the potential impact of these trends on trade in services is quantified using the WTO Global Trade Model.

In 2012, the annual Parliamentary Conference on the WTO, organized by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the European Parliament, was held at the WTO. The WTO Secretariat continued the distribution of its regular newsletter to a growing number of parliamentarians. It also organized two regional workshops for parliamentarians in cooperation with regional and international partners.