WTO Reforms push by India
History of WTO
1948: General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)
International Trade Organization (ITO): Never came to existence
1944: Bretton Woods Conference
Uruguay Round (1987 to 1994)
Marrakesh Agreement
World Trade Organization (WTO) establishment
Why WTO replaced the GATT?
No dispute resolution procedure
GATT lacked institutional structure
Trade in services and intellectual property rights were not covered
Relations with the UN
Maintains strong relations with UN
WTO is not a UN specialized agency
Major Agreements
General Agreements in Services
Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)
General Agreement on Tariff and Trade of Goods
Principles of WTO
Effectiveness and Relevance
Impartiality and Consensus
Coherence
Openness
Development Dimension
Transparency
Agreement on Agriculture
Issue over Amber Box subsidies
Wef. Uruguay Round (1995)
Achievements of WTO
Increased Global Value Chains
Upliftment of Poor Countries
Improved Economic Growth
IPR protection
Global Facilitation of Trade
India and WTO
India is a major proponent for reforms
Voice for developing countries
India is a founder member since GATT
Challenges facing WTO
Disagreement on TRIPS waiver for Covid-19
Regulating irrational subsidies provided for fishing
Public stockholding for food security purposes
Fragmentation of global governance due to plurilateral trade agreements
Disfunctional appellate body
Way forward
For countering China’s trade policies and practices
Essential for developing countries
Needs institutional reforms
For maintaining plurilateralism
Need for reinvigoration
A World Trade Organization (WTO) panel has ruled that India has violated global trading rules in a dispute with the European Union (EU), Japan, and Taiwan over import duties on IT products.