SESSION 29: PLURILATERALISM AGAINST MULTILATERALISM?: A MULTI-STAKEHOLDER PERSPECTIVE* Tuesday, 25 September 2012, 18:15 — 20:15, Room S3 This session aimed to discuss the concepts of multilateralism and plurilateralism and to assess the potential impact of plurilateral agreements within the WTO multilateral trading system. Plurilateral agreements can be concluded by three or more WTO members and […]
Raymond Saner & Ricardo Guilherme, G-24 Policy Brief Nr. 19; 1st March 2014 IMF Conditionalities for the Least Developed Countries. This policy brief argues that, all too often, the Fund’s use of “conditionalities” for lending has stepped beyond its core legal mandate, particularly causing harm to the least developed countries’ economic development, for example by […]
Raymond Saner (2024) “The WTO, Climate Change and Sustainable Development” (accepted for publication to be published as IJSD 2024 V27 N3) The author contributes to the trade & environment debate that so far excluded theoretical concepts such as the principle of mutual supportiveness of international agreements, the insights of public goods theory, and a positive […]
Raymond Saner, Titular Professor, University of Basel, WWZ, presentation on 5th November 2021 on “Strategien und Bedeutung Internationaler Organisationen” (Strategies and Importance of International Organisations) in the context of the teaching programme on “Globalisation Talks” of Professor Rold Weder, Dean, Economic Sciences Center (WWZ), Basel Presentation
WTO Public Forum 2021, Organizer Raymond Saner, CSEND-DD, Geneva
BACKGROUND
This session focuses on the sub-theme of PF21, “Strengthening the Multilateral Trading System”. The panelists will assess how plurilateral agreements and plurilateral initiatives could be fully mulilateralized or conclude that plurilaterals will remain outside the WTO context.
Speakers and the audience will be invited to ponder the following questions:
1. To what extent is it possible to “multilateralize” plurilateralism today (20 years into the Doha Round Negotiations with no agreement in sight and increasing numbers of FTAs/RTAs)?
2. What are the different “options” to negotiate plurilateral agreements (with or without MFN)?
3. What are the implications of plurilateral agreements for the multilateral trading system (Leading to more integration or fragmentation of the trading system)?
4. Besides Services, Environmental Goods, Investment, could other trade areas be negotiated through plurilateral approaches? If so, which areas?
5. What are the strategies and tactics available to developing and least developed countries in the negotiation of plurilateral agreements?
The purpose of this study is to find policy coherence, or lack thereof, in the labour provisions contained in the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) of the United States of America, the European Union and Australia when compared to their interactions in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Sessions with their trade partners and to the official trio of UPR documents made available during these sessions. Over the past decade these countries have entered into various free trade agreements with developing and developed countries alike. However, it is their trade agreements with developing countries that are of particular interest.
This Diplomacy Dialogue Debate addresses the following question: Could plurilateral agreements provide a way forward out of the current impasse of the WTO/Doha Round?
The inputs for this Policy Debate are based on exchanges amongst trade experts namely: Mr. Grant Aldonas, Senior Advisor (Non-resident), Centre for Strategic and International Studies; Mrs. Jane Drake-Brockman, Global Services Network; Mr. Guy de Jonquières, Senior Fellow at ECIPE and Ambassador B. K. Zutshi, Ambassador of India to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (1989 to 1994)
The Doha Development Agenda (DDA) launched in 2001was supposed to achieve further trade liberalisation while at the same time taking into account the needs of developing countries. Ten years have passed since its inception. No end of the Round is in sight and the possibility of a full failure looms in the background. This policy note addresses the following questions: Why does the DDA seem to evolve towards failure? What could be done to rescue the Doha Round?
The 2010 World Investment Report ” focuses focuses on trends in foreign direct investment (FDI) worldwide, at the regional and country levels and emerging measures to improve its contribution to development. The year’s report, titled “Investing in a Low-Carbon Economy”, discusses the opportunities and threats for developing countries in the transition to a low-carbon economy, […]
