Trade monitoring
Executive summary
The first Section of the World Trade Report 2004 discusses recent developments in the structure value and volume of international trade in goods and services and trade prospects for 2004. It also includes analyses of non-reciprocal preferences the international movement of persons supplying services and geographical indications. The second Section of WTR 2004 then examines the subject of policy coherence stressing the importance of complementary national policies to enable trade liberalization to create larger benefits for society. It focuses on four important areas of economic policymaking. They are: i) the macroeconomy; ii) the state of infrastructure and infrastructural services particularly in areas linked closely to trade performance (transport telecommunications financial services and business services); iii) market structure with special emphasis on the level of competition and presence of externalities; and iv) the quality of institutions. The last part of the second Section of the Report then explores the international dimensions of coherence identifying the role of international cooperation in supporting coherent policy formulation at the national level particularly in the field of trade policy.
Acknowledgements
The World Trade Report 2004 was prepared under the general direction of Deputy Director-General Dr. Kipkorir Aly Azad Rana. Patrick Low Director of the Economic Research and Statistics Division led the team responsible for writing the Report. The principal authors of the Report were Bijit Bora Zdenek Drabek K. Michael Finger Marion Jansen Alexander Keck Patrick Low Hildegunn Kyvik Nordås Roberta Piermartini and Robert Teh. Barbara D’Andrea of the Economic Research and Statistics Division co-authored Section IB.2. Jeffrey Gertler of the Legal Affairs Division contributed to the writing of Section IB.1. Mukela Luanga of the Economic Research and Statistics Division provided critical input to a number of the principal authors. Trade statistics and tariff information were provided by the Statistics Group of the Economic Research and Statistics Division coordinated by Guy Karsenty Julia de Verteuil Andreas Maurer and Jürgen Richtering.
World Trade Report 2004
The World Trade Report is an annual WTO publication focused on trade trends and policy issues. The 2004 edition reviews recent trade developments and examines issues including coherence in trade and macroeconomic policies geographical indications and the liberalization of trade in services through the temporary movement of natural persons.
WTO activities
The Ministerial Conference of the WTO composed of representatives of all the Members is the highest decision-making body of the organization and is required to meet at least once every two years. Ministerial Conferences review ongoing work provide political guidance and direction to that work and set the agenda for further work as necessary.
Overview
The year 2003 has been marked by important achievements as well as some disappointments for the multilateral trading system and for the Doha Development Agenda (DDA).
Annual Report 2004
The Annual report of the WTO focuses on the regular activities of the organization the details of its current structure staff and budget. The Annual report is published in the first half of each year.
Organization, secretariat and budget
The World Trade Organization came into being in 1995 as the successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) which had been established (1947) in the wake of the Second World War. The WTO’s main objective is the establishment of rules for Members’ trade policy which help international trade to expand with a view to raising living standards. These rules foster non-discrimination transparency and predictability in the conduct of trade policy.
Technical notes
This Note details the definitions methods and sources of the statistics used in International Trade Statistics 2003.
World trade developments in 2002 and prospects for 2003
In 2002 world trade recovered from its steep decline in 2001. From the first through the third quarter world trade expanded strongly but stalled in the fourth quarter of 2002. The average annual rate of merchandise trade expansion in 2002 was therefore limited to 3% in real terms only half the rate observed in the 1990s.