In The Media ⁽⁴⁰⁰⁾

Even large developing countries such as India seem to lack the capacity for systematic research on how best to promote their interests in trade negotiations. Economic Times, October 20, 1999 Located in Geneva, WTO is far and away from most developing-country capitals. Immediate, day-to-day domestic concerns in these capitals leave little room for long-term thinking on issues that continuously simmer at the WTO. Even large developing countries such as India seem to lack the capacity for systematic research on how best to promote their interests in trade negotiations. As a result, while developed countries gear up to launch yet another round of negotiations, our reaction is to oppose it entirely rather than shape its agenda according to our interests. Given the far-reaching implications of the decisions made under the auspices of the WTO, the need for conducting research on a continuous basis and developing long-term strategies cannot be overemphasized. Developed country members of WTO such as the United States and the European Union take this research very seriously. By the time they are ready to place a subject on the…

Defining the agenda is the first stage of a negotiating game, which every player must take with utmost seriousness. Economic Times, September 22, 1999 From November 30 to December 3, 1999, representatives of the 134 member countries of the World Trade Organization (WTO) will meet in Seattle for the 3rd WTO Ministerial Conference. Unlike its predecessor, this is not a routine Conference: it will define the agenda for a new round of multilateral trade negotiations and, thus, influence the future course of the global trading system. Defining the agenda is the first stage of a negotiating game, which every player must take with utmost seriousness. Seasoned players such as the United States carefully choose their opening moves to ascertain that the outcome is the one desired by them. In the same vein, it is crucial for developing countries to arrive at an agenda that will serve their interests and forcefully push for it at Seattle. Under the current circumstances, it is best to limit the Seattle Round agenda to liberalization in industrial products plus the Uruguay Round (UR) built-in agenda.

(Full text and external link unavailable) (Letter) In Bangladesh, the garments industry, which had expanded greatly with exports due to global integration, played a major role in reducing the country's poverty. And ironically, it was the threat of "anti-globalization" sanctions from US, rather than globalization, which harmed the children.

How can developing countries maximize the benefits from the Internet and how should they approach the issue at WTO? Economic Times, July 28 1999 Internet is undisputedly the most important mode of commerce invented in the last two decades. The same way that advances in shipping brought down the cost international trade in goods during 1960s and 1970s, Internet has brought down the cost of international trade in services. Thanks to this mode of "transportation," many previously nontradable services are now internationally traded. In the United States, electronic commerce (e-commerce) has become the fastest-growing sector of the economy. For many services, Internet has eliminated the need for physical presence of the provider. If a City Bank official in New York encounters a programming problem late in the day, she does not have to wait for a consultant to come to the office to solve it. Instead, using Internet, she can instantly ship the problem to a firm in Bangalore. Taking advantage of the time difference between the two cities, the firm can ship back the solution before the official returns…

Anti-dumping is turning into a lethal instrument of protection in India. Does its aggressive use make sense? Economic Times, June 30, 1999 An ominous development on the trade-policy front in recent years has been the rise of anti-dumping actions. Till 1992, we had never imposed anti-dumping duties. But by early 1998, when the World Trade Organization (WTO) carried out our second Trade Policy Review, we had initiated as many as 45 anti-dumping cases, covering 18 products. In 11 cases, definitive duties had been imposed. In only two cases, petitions got thrown out due to a ruling of no injury to the local industry. This trend has remained unchanged in the last year, with several new products being subject to anti-dumping actions. Under The criteria laid down in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), it is relatively easy to prosecute foreign firms for dumping. The anti-dumping authority has to only show that the foreign firm has sold the product at prices below what it charged in its own domestic market and that such sales have resulted in injury to…