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Africa
Dialogue on WTO Dispute Settlement and Sustainable Development
Exploring Strategies to Enhance the
Participation of Developing Countries in
WTO Dispute Settlement
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Description | Programme
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Documents
Description
Since
the creation of the World Trade Organization in 1994, the dispute
settlement system has become significantly more legalized and
consequently more complex. This, in turn, has raised the demands
on the capacity of WTO Members, especially poorer developing countries,
interested in accessing the system. Countries therefore face greater
challenges if they are to realize the gains from the multilateral
trading system through the use of its dispute settlement system.
In practice, only roughly a third of the membership, with a heavy
bias on developed countries and so-called strong developing countries,
have litigated before the WTO. The question therefore arises:
What does greater legalization of the WTO dispute settlement system
mean for WTO Members? In particular, how might developing countries
be better enabled to advance their trade rights and interests,
as well as defend these, under the dispute settlement system?
As
a contribution to this debate, ICTSD's program on WTO Dispute
Settlement and Developing Countries (DSU programme) launched a
series of dialogues with the overarching objective to explore
strategies to enhance the participation of developing countries
in the WTO dispute settlement system where the need arises. With
an aim to strengthen developing countries' understanding of the
options and potential strategies for advancing their trade objectives
and defending their trade rights through the dispute settlement
system, the conferences seek to provide a platform for dialogue
between various stakeholders including government officials, private
practitioners and academia.
The
main objectives of the dialogue is to:
- Provide
an opportunity / platform for dialogue between governmental
and other ministry officials and representatives from the private
sector and civil society to share experiences and compare and
assess strategies as to how to make better use of the WTO dispute
settlement system. These strategies include the formation of
public-private networks, the pooling of resources, as through
regional centres, use of the WTO Advisory Centre and private
counsel, and networking with academics and policy institutes.
- Promote
enhanced analytical capacity with respect to the WTO dispute
settlement system and the Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU)
among developing country public officials, private sector representatives
and academics.
- Explore
new strategies and avenues to develop and enhance intergovernmental
as well as private-public coordination and cooperation.
- Support,
over time, a sustained network of developing country public
and private representatives.
The
first of these dialogues, for Asia,
was held in Indonesia in January 2006, and the second, for South
America, was convened in Brazil in June 2006.
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