The WTO and the Poorest Countries: The Stark Reality

Aaditya Mattoo and Arvind Subramanian

No 04/81, IMF Working Papers from International Monetary Fund

Abstract: Small and poor countries pose a challenge for the World Trade Organization (WTO). These countries have acquired a significant say in WTO decision-making. However, they have limited ability to engage in the reciprocity game that is at the heart of the WTO, and have limited interests in the broader liberalization agenda because of their preferential access to industrial country markets. Accommodating the interests of the small and poor countries is desirable in itself, but would also facilitate expeditious progress in the Doha Round. The stark reality facing the system is that the desirable ways of addressing their concerns- providing them additional financial assistance and nonpreferential market access-is proving infeasible. As a result, the system is gravitating toward the less desirable option of relieving these countries of obligations, including those that might be welfare-enhancing for them.

Keywords: Trade; World Trade Organization; Developing countries (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-int
Date: 2004-05-27
View list of references View citations in EconPapers

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2004/wp0481.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: The WTO and the poorest countries: the stark reality (2004)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:imf:imfwpa:04/81

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/pubs/ord_info.htm

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IMF Working Papers from International Monetary Fund
Address: International Monetary Fund, Washington, DC USA
Contact information at EDIRC.
Series data maintained by Christopher F. Baum ().