What Is The World Trade Organisation?
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is the main international body that decides the rules that govern international trade. There are 148 member countries that negotiate throughout the year on trade issues.
There are rules for trade in almost everything: goods (e.g. rice or textiles), services (e.g. health or education), patents (e.g. on HIV/AIDS drugs) - basically, anything where money is exchanged.
Every two years the WTO holds a major summit called a ministerial meeting. In 2005 this was in Hong Kong. You can read the Make Poverty History response to what happened here. Previous meetings took place in Cancún (Mexico) in 2003, Doha (Qatar) in 2001 and Seattle (USA) in 1999. The negotiations are now happening at the WTO headquarters in Geneva.
What Is Wrong With The WTO?
The WTO promotes 'free trade' - getting rid of regulations that restrict big business or the free flow of goods. Free trade does not automatically lead to poverty eradication or environmental sustainability. In fact, it can increase poverty and be harmful to countries at different stages of development.
The reach of the WTO is expanding more and more, to cover areas such as water and healthcare that we believe should not be part of its remit.
In theory, the WTO is democratic, and each member has one vote. But in practice, the WTO is quite undemocratic, and poor countries are subject to bullying and exclusion from key discussions and decision making. Over 30 developing countries have no negotiators at the WTO headquarters. Other poor countries have only one negotiator, who has the impossible task of attending over 1000 WTO meetings a year.
Is The WTO The Only International Body Affecting Countries' Trade Policies?
No - the WTO could be described as the centrepiece of international rules on trade, but the rules and agreements reached there are not the only influence on countries' trade policies. Many countries also have regional or bilateral trade agreements with other countries, for instance the EU is currently negotiating a new trade agreement with its former colonies. When these agreements are negotiated between rich and poor countries there is a danger that poor countries are forced to make concessions that are not good for their economies.
Another major influence on poor countries' trade policies comes from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and other international aid donors. These organisations and countries attach conditions to aid, loans and debt cancellation that require poor countries to adopt certain trade policies. Often these conditions force countries to make commitments that go far beyond what they have negotiated at the WTO.
In 2005 Make Poverty History called for the IMF and World Bank to no longer impose economic policy conditions such as trade liberalisation, deregulation and fiscal austerity so that countries are free to determine their own economic policies. In 2006 campaigners are pressing for these changes, especially at the meetings of the IMF and World Bank in September this year.
World Trade Organisation (WTO) website www.wto.org.