University of Dhaka

Organization Strategy & Leadership

Assignment
on

WTO Structure, Challenges & Ministerial Conference from Doha Round

Submitted To:
Dr. Muhammad Shariat Ullah
Professor & Chairman

Submitted By:
Humaira Tahsin
ID-91906006

Date Of Submission: 17.09.2022

WTO Structure:
The structure of the WTO is dominated by its highest authority, the Ministerial Conference,
composed of representatives of all WTO members, which is required to meet at least every two
years and which can take decisions on all matters under any of the multilateral trade agreements.

The day-to-day work of the WTO, however, falls to a number of subsidiary bodies; principally
the General Council, also composed of all WTO members, which is required to report to the
Ministerial Conference. As well as conducting its regular work on behalf of the Ministerial
Conference, the General Council convenes in two particular forms - as the Dispute Settlement
Body, to oversee the dispute settlement procedures and as the Trade Policy Review Body to
conduct regular reviews of the trade policies of individual WTO members.

The General Council delegates responsibility to three other major bodies - namely the Councils
for Trade in Goods, Trade in Services and Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property. The
Council for Goods oversees the implementation and functioning of all the agreements covering
trade in goods, though many such agreements have their own specific overseeing bodies. The
latter two Councils have responsibility for their respective WTO agreements and may establish
their own subsidiary bodies as necessary.

Three other bodies are established by the Ministerial Conference and report to the General
Council. The Committee on Trade and Development is concerned with issues relating to the
developing countries and, especially, to the "least-developed" among them. The Committee on
Balance of Payments is responsible for consultations between WTO members and countries
which take trade-restrictive measures, under Articles XII and XVIII of GATT, in order to cope
with balance-of-payments difficulties. Finally, issues relating to WTO's financing and budget are
dealt with by a Committee on Budget.

Ministerial
Conference

Dispute
General Trade Policy
Settlement
Council Review Body
Body

The Intelectual Services

Committee on Goods Council Property Council
T&D And T&E Council
Current Challenges of WTO During Doha Round:
The World Trade Organization (WTO) has been the cornerstone of the multilateral rules-
based global trading system since its inception in 1995.

However, even before the Covid-19 pandemic, all three of the organization’s functions –
providing a negotiation forum to liberalize trade and establish new rules, monitoring trade
policies, and resolving disputes between its 164 members are facing challenges. Moreover, with
trade tensions increasingly politicized and Covid-19 creating huge economic challenges, a
modernized and fully functioning WTO is more essential than ever.

Issues Related to WTO

 China’s State Capitalism: The nature of China’s economic system, combined with

the size and growth of its economy, has created tensions in the global trading
system.
o China’s state-owned enterprises present a major challenge to the free-
market global trading system.
o However, a critical part of the problem is that the rulebook of the WTO
is inadequate for addressing the challenges that China presents in
respect of intellectual property, state-owned enterprises and industrial
subsidies.
o It is due to this US-China are engaged in Trade war.
 Institutional Issues: The Appellate Body’s operations have effectively been
suspended since December 2019, as the US’s blocking of appointments has left the
body without a quorum of adjudicators needed to hear appeals.
o The crisis with the dispute settlement function of the WTO is closely
linked to the breakdown in its negotiation function.
 Lack of Transparency: There is a problem in WTO negotiations as there is no
agreed definition of what constitutes a developed or developing country at the
WTO.
o Members can currently self-designate as developing countries to
receive ‘special and differential treatment’ – a practice that is the
subject of much contention.
 E-commerce & Digital Trade: While the global trade landscape has changed
significantly over the past 25 years, WTO rules have not kept pace.
o In 1998, realizing that e-commerce would play a growing role in the
global economy, WTO members established a WTO e-commerce
moratorium to examine all trade-related issues relating to global
electronic commerce.
 o Recently, however, the moratorium has been called into question by
developing countries because of its implications for collecting revenue.
o Moreover, as the Covid-19 pandemic accelerates the shift to e-
commerce, rules to regulate online trade will be more important than
ever. But in contrast to trade in goods and services, few international
rules govern cross-border e-commerce.
 Agriculture and Development: The WTO Agreement on Agriculture, which
came into force in 1995, was an important milestone.
o Agreement on Agriculture targets reform of subsidies and high trade
barriers, which distort agricultural trade.
o However, agreement on agriculture is facing issues due to food
security and development requirements for developing countries like
India.
Way Forward

 New Set of Rules: Modernizing the WTO will necessitate the development of a

new set of rules for dealing with digital trade and e-commerce.
o WTO members will also have to deal more effectively with China’s
trade policies and practices, including how to better handle state-
owned enterprises and industrial subsidies.
 Environmental Sustainability: Given the pressing issues around climate change,
increased efforts to align trade and environmental sustainability could help to both
tackle climate change and reinvigorate the WTO.
o Trade and the WTO have key roles to play in efforts to achieve the
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris
Agreement climate goals.
o Also, the WTO can play a role in reforming fossil fuel subsidies.
o For example, at the Buenos Aires Ministerial Conference in 2017, a
coalition of 12 WTO members led by New Zealand called on the WTO
‘to achieve ambitious and effective disciplines on inefficient fossil fuel
subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption’.

Ministerial Conference from Doha Round:

The Doha Round is the latest round of trade negotiations among the WTO membership. Its aim
is to achieve major reform of the international trading system through the introduction of lower
trade barriers and revised trade rules. The work programmed covers about 20 areas of trade. The
Round is also known semi-officially as the Doha Development Agenda as a fundamental
objective is to improve the trading prospects of developing countries.
The Round was officially launched at the WTO’s Fourth Ministerial Conference in Doha, Qatar,
in November 2001. The provided the mandate for the negotiations, including on agriculture,
services and an intellectual property topic, which began earlier. In Doha, ministers also approved
a decision on how to address the problems developing countries face in implementing the current
WTO agreements.
1.  The multilateral trading system embodied in the World Trade Organization has contributed
significantly to economic growth, development and employment throughout the past fifty years.
We are determined, particularly in the light of the global economic slowdown, to maintain the
process of reform and liberalization of trade policies, thus ensuring that the system plays its full
part in promoting recovery, growth and development. We therefore strongly reaffirm the
principles and objectives set out in the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade
Organization, and pledge to reject the use of protectionism.
2.  International trade can play a major role in the promotion of economic development and the
alleviation of poverty. We recognize the need for all our peoples to benefit from the increased
opportunities and welfare gains that the multilateral trading system generates. The majority of
WTO members are developing countries. We seek to place their needs and interests at the heart
of the Work Program adopted in this Declaration. Recalling the Preamble to the Marrakesh
Agreement, we shall continue to make positive efforts designed to ensure that developing
countries, and especially the least-developed among them, secure a share in the growth of world
trade commensurate with the needs of their economic development. In this context, enhanced
market access, balanced rules, and well targeted, sustainably financed technical assistance and
capacity-building program have important roles to play.
3.  We recognize the particular vulnerability of the least-developed countries and the special
structural difficulties they face in the global economy. We are committed to addressing the
marginalization of least-developed countries in international trade and to improving their
effective participation in the multilateral trading system. We recall the commitments made by
ministers at our meetings in Marrakesh, Singapore and Geneva, and by the international
community at the Third UN Conference on Least-Developed Countries in Brussels, to help least-
developed countries secure beneficial and meaningful integration into the multilateral trading
system and the global economy. We are determined that the WTO will play its part in building
effectively on these commitments under the Work program we are establishing.
4.  We stress our commitment to the WTO as the unique forum for global trade rule-making and
liberalization, while also recognizing that regional trade agreements can play an important role in
promoting the liberalization and expansion of trade and in fostering development.
5.  We are aware that the challenges members face in a rapidly changing international
environment cannot be addressed through measures taken in the trade field alone. We shall
continue to work with the Bretton Woods institutions for greater coherence in global economic
policy-making.

WORK PROGRAMME 
Implementation related Issues & Concerns
they attach the utmost importance to the implementation-related issues and concerns raised by
members and are determined to find appropriate solutions to them. In this connection, and having
regard to the General Council Decisions of 3 May and 15 December 2000, we further adopt the
Decision on Implementation-Related Issues and Concerns in document to address a number of
implementation problems faced by members. We agree that negotiations on outstanding
implementation issues shall be an integral part of the Work Program we are establishing and that
agreements reached at an early stage in these negotiations shall be treated in accordance with the
provisions of paragraph 47 below. In this regard, we shall proceed as follows:
(a) where we provide a specific negotiating mandate in this declaration, the relevant
implementation issues shall be addressed under that mandate;
(b) the other outstanding implementation issues shall be addressed as a matter of priority by the
relevant WTO bodies, which shall report to the Trade Negotiations Committee, established under
paragraph 46 below, by the end of 2002 for appropriate action.
Agriculture
We recognize the work already undertaken in the negotiations initiated in early 2000 under
Article 20 of the Agreement on Agriculture, including the large number of negotiating proposals
submitted on behalf of a total of 121 members. We recall the long-term objective referred to in
the Agreement to establish a fair and market-oriented trading system through a program of
fundamental reform encompassing strengthened rules and specific commitments on support and
protection in order to correct and prevent restrictions and distortions in world agricultural
markets. We reconfirm our commitment to this program. Building on the work carried out to
date and without prejudging the outcome of the negotiations we commit ourselves to
comprehensive negotiations aimed at: substantial improvements in market access; reductions of,
with a view to phasing out, all forms of export subsidies; and substantial reductions in trade-
distorting domestic support. We agree that special and differential treatment for developing
countries shall be an integral part of all elements of the negotiations and shall be embodied in the
schedules of concessions and commitments and as appropriate in the rules and disciplines to be
negotiated, so as to be operationally effective and to enable developing countries to effectively
take account of their development needs, including food security and rural development. We take
note of the non-trade concerns reflected in the negotiating proposals submitted by Members and
confirm that non-trade concerns will be taken into account in the negotiations as provided for in
the Agreement on Agriculture.
Modalities for the further commitments including provisions for special and differential
treatment shall be established no later than 31 March 2003. Participants shall submit their
comprehensive draft Schedules based on these modalities no later than the date of the Fifth
Session of the Ministerial Conference. The negotiations including with respect to rules and
disciplines and related legal texts shall be concluded as part and at the date of conclusion of the
negotiating agenda

Service
The negotiations on trade in services shall be conducted with a view to promoting the economic
growth of all trading partners and the development of developing and least-developed countries.
We recognize the work already undertaken in the negotiations, initiated in January 2000 under
Article XIX of the General Agreement on Trade in Services, and the large number of proposals
submitted by members on a wide range of sectors and several horizontal issues, as well as on
movement of natural persons. We reaffirm the Guidelines and Procedures for the Negotiations
adopted by the Council for Trade in Services on 28 March 2001 as the basis for continuing the
negotiations, with a view to achieving the objectives of the General Agreement on Trade in
Services, as stipulated in the Preamble, Article IV and Article XIX of that Agreement.
Participants shall submit initial requests for specific commitments by 30 June 2002 and initial
offers by 31 March 2003.

Market access for non-agricultural products

We agree to negotiations which shall aim, by modalities to be agreed, to reduce or as appropriate
eliminate tariffs, including the reduction or elimination of tariff peaks, high tariffs, and tariff
escalation, as well as non-tariff barriers, in particular on products of export interest to developing
countries. Product coverage shall be comprehensive and without a priori exclusions. The
negotiations shall take fully into account the special needs and interests of developing and least-
developed country participants, including through less than full reciprocity in reduction
commitments, in accordance with the relevant provisions of Article XXVIII bis of GATT 1994
and the provisions cited in paragraph 50 below. To this end, the modalities to be agreed will
include appropriate studies and capacity-building measures to assist least-developed countries to
participate effectively in the negotiations.
Trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights
We stress the importance we attach to implementation and interpretation of the Agreement on
Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) in a manner
supportive of public health, by promoting both access to existing medicines and research and
development into new medicines and, in this connection, are adopting a separate declaration.
With a view to completing the work started in the Council for Trade-Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property Rights (Council for TRIPS) on the implementation, they agree to negotiate
the establishment of a multilateral system of notification and registration of geographical
indications for wines and spirits by the Fifth Session of the Ministerial Conference. They note
that issues related to the extension of the protection of geographical indications provided for in
Article 23 to products other than wines and spirits will be addressed in the Council for TRIPS
pursuant to paragraph 12 of this declaration.
We instruct the Council for TRIPS, in pursuing its work program including under the review of
Article 27.3(b), the review of the implementation of the TRIPS Agreement under Article 71.1
and the work foreseen pursuant to paragraph 12 of this declaration, to examine, inter alia, the
relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity, the
protection of traditional knowledge and folklore, and other relevant new developments raised by
members pursuant to Article 71.1. In undertaking this work, the TRIPS Council shall be guided
by the objectives and principles set out in Articles 7 and 8 of the TRIPS Agreement and shall
take fully into account the development dimension.
Relationship between trade and investment
Recognizing the case for a multilateral framework to secure transparent, stable and predictable
conditions for long-term cross-border investment, particularly foreign direct investment, that will
contribute to the expansion of trade, and the need for enhanced technical assistance and capacity-
building in this area, they agree that negotiations will take place after the Fifth Session of the
Ministerial Conference on the basis of a decision to be taken, by explicit consensus, at that
session on modalities of negotiations.

Dispute Settlement Understanding

They agree to negotiations on improvements and clarifications of the Dispute Settlement
Understanding. The negotiations should be based on the work done thus far as well as any
additional proposals by members, and aim to agree on improvements and clarifications not later
than May 2003, at which time we will take steps to ensure that the results enter into force as soon
as possible thereafter.

DAILY EDITORIAL BASED QUIZ

Conclusion

In future, WTO members will have to strike a balance between moving forward with
negotiations on 21st-century issues and keeping sight of the unresolved ‘old trade issues’ such as
agriculture and development.