FIVE MAIN TAKEAWAYS FROM EXPERIENCE-SHARING SESSIONS ON WTO ACCESSION*

There is no denying that the work and achievements of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in its 26 years of operations have not fully met the aspirations of the 76 members that have put it into place.?However, the scoreboard is not blank. Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) completed in 2013, and put into force in 2017, contributes to trade-led development by making trade smoother, cheaper, more inclusive, and potentially sustainable. Notably, countries that have implemented more of the TFA measures and, in particular, digital trade facilitation measures could more effectively deal with the pandemic-triggered supply chain disruptions (UN ESCAP 2021). Among other ‘big-ticket’ accomplishments, one must mention the Transparency Mechanism for RTAs, Information Technology Agreements, Government Procurement Agreement, and, most recently, completion of the negotiation of the Services Domestic Regulation disciplines. Several development-oriented waivers, as well as other decisions and initiatives, have been negotiated and agreed on. For the sake of balanced reporting, one must note that there have been big misses too - the abandonment of the Doha Development Round of negotiation with no progress on sectoral negotiations, and the weakening of the dispute settlement mechanism by emptying the Appellate Body of bodies (judges), to mention just a few. Nevertheless, the membership has increased from 112 in December 1995 to 164 full members today, whom another 24 observers joining at different stages of accession negotiation. Out of those 24, six are from Asia and the Pacific.

The accession process is (unnecessarily in my view) long, complex, skill- and resource-intensive. Customarily, all accession countries receive technical assistance from the WTO secretariat, other WTO members through bilateral arrangements, and other international and regional organizations, such as United Nations ESCAP. Complementary to the analytical and advocacy nature of technical assistance, acceding countries tend to benefit from learning about experiences and lessons from other (recently acceded) members of the WTO.

In this context, the Government of Uzbekistan has requested the United Nations ESCAP secretariat to organize a two-day event where five countries from Asia shared their experiences from their WTO accession paths. These countries were (in alphabetical order): Afghanistan, Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia, and Viet Nam.[1]

I contributed to the event's organization and served as the moderator of the conversations between the speakers from those five invited countries and the local participants. The presentations and notes from speakers are available on this webpage (in both English and Russian languages). Here are my takeaways from the event.

1.??????It is about sustainable development and forward-looking strategy.

WTO accession and membership should be an integral part of a country's long-term sustainable development strategy. Given the re-commitment by most countries in the world to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at the recent COP-26, and the crucial role of trade in that endeavor, accession to the WTO can be seen as a conditio sine qua non for sustainable development (see also WTO SDG Report 2021). Moreover, the accession work should be connected to the capacity of a country for faster and fuller recovery from the shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic. For countries to reflect that the membership is part of the long-term sustainable development strategy, the approach to the accession negotiation must exude a forward-looking position of the Government. This should include efforts to observe and appropriately participate in all ongoing negotiations and structured discussions on Joint Statement Initiatives (JSI) and efforts to include a maximum degree of flexibility in the commitments to give a country necessary wriggle room in the future crises or changes of circumstances. At the same time, many recently acceded countries emphasized the role of the accession process and the subsequent membership in the WTO as the anchor for the domestic reforms. These reforms are often necessary (even urgent) but difficult to start and sustain without an external anchor.

2.??????Preparation is half work done.

To exude a sense of credibility and consistency in the pursuit of accession negotiations, the team must be fully prepared to explain the rationale behind its negotiating positions and defend them by providing hard and anecdotal evidence in their arguments, especially when it comes to possible harm caused to some domestic groups. Such preparation means that sufficient human and other resources are dedicated to the task and continuous learning, and all team members expect to offer considerable efforts over a long time.

3.??????Consultation with all stakeholders cannot be replaced by anything.

Consultations with two large classes of stakeholders – business and civil society – are paramount to understanding or understanding better the possible impacts of the negotiated terms. These consultations cannot stop after the accession is done. They will also be needed to figure out the impact of accession and indicate where actions need to be taken to correct possible anomalies or unexpected results. Consultations will have advocacy, awareness building, and training for those who require further information. Thus, it is two-way learning, by Government from business and civil society (and consumers, workers, and other groups) and by these stakeholders from the Government and its agencies and the Government's partners in the process.

4.??????Above all, transparency and openness.

Change in trade policy (and WTO accession most often requires a significant trade policy reform) must have some losers alongside many winners. It is a net positive result, so the gains from winners will be larger than the losses from losers, allowing for compensation. But this compensation must be structured, visible, and announced, not a theoretical construct (cf. Rodrik 2021). Not too many countries have so-called trade assistance programs, which can put in place comprehensive, whole government programs to deal with the negative consequences of trade opening, such as WTO accession. It is essential to estimate the impacts as best as possible (thus, point 3 above is crucial). Workers who might lose their jobs, factories that may lose market shares and revenues, sectors that might get undermined by foreign competition all need to sense that their future can be saved- not by keeping the status quo, but by enabling them to move on benefit from new opportunities.

With a trade adjustment program in place, the Government can have an action plan with pre-designed projects funded by partners and international organizations. Furthermore, Government can connect such programs to its requests for foreign technical and other assistance, including Aid for Trade projects. Donors would favorably look at such proposals as the effectiveness of those tend to be much higher, delivering win-win outcomes for all involved.

5.??????Life-long learning.

Membership in the WTO is a long-term commitment, not a one-off episode. It requires an increasing number of highly skilled technical staff and professionals to work on implementation and continue working on new areas being developed by members in the WTO. In many countries, no university curricula are preparing such cadre to tackle specialized issues related to WTO and multilateral trade and its rules, especially not in economics (much more exists in international commercial law). Therefore, it is very significant that The University of World Economy and Diplomacy of Uzbekistan (along with other 16 institutions globally) was just awarded the WTO Chair in the 3rd phase of that program. This will connect the said university with over 80 research and training providers in Asia-Pacific as the WTO Chairs are contributing institutional partners of the Asia-Pacific Research and Training Network on Trade (ARTNeT).

These are the main points I thought I should share as I see them of value for other acceding countries, not only Uzbekistan. Of course, there are many other nuances and details that ought to be given attention in the process of negotiation and the implementation of the accession package. For those, the interested parties are kindly referred to the notes mentioned above and one or more of the available references on the WTO accession processes and shared experiences. ?

* The views expressed in this note are those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of United Nations ESCAP, its member States, the speakers in the mentioned event, or other organizations that the author is affiliated with.?

[1] Presenting the experiences of those five countries were Mozammil Shinwari, Sok SIphana, Buavanh Vilavong, Suren Badral, and Nguyen Anh Duong and they provided excellent inputs for the event.