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JULY 2021
INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL TRADE
A MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR
In this edition we cover two crucial aspects of the WTO’s reform agenda; both topics that we at the IIT are actively working on and will announce results thereof shortly.
The first opinion, written by a stellar group of academics, former high-level officials of international institutions and former negotiators, tackles the perennial problem of agriculture trade-related policies, and proposes a set of measures to reform and update the Agreement on Agriculture. Australia has strong interests in this issue, and this cogent analysis as well as the coherent, balanced, set of proposals would greatly help to achieve those interests if implemented. Doomsayers will no doubt point to this area of negotiations as being the most fraught, in an otherwise logjammed WTO process, and they would be right. However, with the US recently announcing it will join the services domestic regulation Joint Statement Initiative (plurilateral for the uninitiated) momentum can come from unlikely quarters. I hope this set of agriculture reform proposals will be seriously engaged with.
One of the perennial challenges any serious reform of agriculture policies will have to engage is the categorisation and treatment of ‘developing countries’ in the WTO system – a topic we are actively engaged in and have previously reported on. Our second piece, written by Dhaka-based Distinguished Professor Mustafizur Rahman, tackles the particular challenges faced by Least Developed Countries (LDCs) preparing for graduation from LDC status. These challenges are manifold, if primarily structural in nature, and made much worse by the pandemic. Hence the LDCs group has proposed a Graduation Support Package be adopted at the WTO’s November Ministerial conference to help them graduate sustainably.
Don’t forget to sign up for our emerging suite of short course programmes addressing key issues in our fluid international trade environment. Nor our webinar on India-Australia trade relations and opportunities that takes place next week.
Professor Peter Draper
POLICY & ENGAGEMENT
CAN PROGRESS BE MADE MULTILATERALLY ON AGRICULTURAL TRADE?
The WTO has been experiencing deadlock in its negotiating function since the collapse of the Doha Round. This threatens to undermine the legitimacy of the WTO, and drive Members to seek progress outside the organization. The difficulties of agricultural negotiations offer a microcosm for understanding the wider multilateral universe. Against this background, a group of academics, former high-level officials of international institutions and former negotiators have come together to try to inject some new energy and new ideas into the multilateral process in a project called “New Pathways”.
The “New Pathways” work is a collective endeavor, coordinated by Carmel Cahill and Stefan Tangermann, with co-authors Lars Brink, Shenggen Fan, Joseph Glauber, Anàbel Gonzalez, Tim Groser, Ashok Gulati, Joanna Hewitt, Anwarul Hoda, Alan Matthews, and Guillermo Valles Galmes
LOSS OF LDC-SPECIFIC S&D TREATEMENT: HOW CONCERNED SHOULD GRADUATING LDCS BE?
Before the COVID-19 pandemic had struck in 2020, 12 LDCs had become eligible for graduation by either meeting at least two of the three graduation criteria, or thanks to having crossed the threshold of double the per capita GNI. Graduation during a pandemic raises significant risks in and of itself, but there are other issues too, including that graduation criteria fail to capture many of the underlying causes of vulnerability and institutional weaknesses that persist in the LDCs. Consequently, eligibility of a large number of LDCs for graduation has raised an important development debate as outlined in this article.
By Professor Mustafizur Rahman, Distinguished Fellow, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), Dhaka, Bangladesh
STUDY WITH US IN 2021
The United Kingdom (UK) ceased to be a member of Europe’s single market and customs union on 1 January 2021, triggering enormous changes in patterns of trade between the UK, Europe and Australasia, and generating new regulatory and legal barriers between markets that previously experienced almost frictionless movements of goods, services and people. To mitigate the impact of Britain’s exit from the European Union (Brexit) and boost future economic performance, the UK government is moving quickly to strike trade deals with a number of countries, including Australia, the European Union, the United States of America, Japan, India, New Zealand, Algeria, Bosnia Herzegovina and Montenegro.
There are virtually no businesses trading between the UK, Europe and Australasia which won’t need to make changes as a result of the seismic market shifts resulting from this dramatically changing trade landscape. But what do these changes mean for business at a strategic and day-to-day operational level? And are today’s businesses equipped with the skills and knowledge required to overcome new barriers and take advantage of emerging trade opportunities?
Register now and help your business thrive in today's complex global trading environment!
Today’s leaders operate in an increasingly complex and unpredictable environment in which change occurs at an unprecedented speed and magnitude. The future is uncertain, and problems often transcend the boundaries of single organisations or professions. Leaders must bridge the divide between an untenable present and an uncertain future, and today the need for leaders with the skills and confidence to chart a path into a future that is increasingly information-rich but certainty-poor is greater than ever.
This world-class collaboration between IIT, GTPA and the University of Sussex is designed to equip mid-senior business leaders with a strong foundation in the dynamics of complexity and leadership, as well as the trade knowledge and skills required to transform leadership effectiveness, problem solving skills, and the ability to respond strategically to trade issues.
Looking for practical strategies to help mitigate the impact of BREXIT on your global business?
With the UK leaving the EU and focusing further afield, to the Pacific and Australasia, there are many trading opportunities for business, but also new challenges: changing trade formalities and regulatory controls, shifts in legal frameworks, as well as revised trade and competition standards.
'Global Business Strategy in a Post-Brexit World' is a world-class collaboration between the Institute for International Trade (IIT) and Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) School of Law. This short course has been designed to provide participants with a deeper understanding of the impact of these shifts in global trade patterns on their business and markets, and to provide tools which will enable participants to create strategies to succeed in a reshaped marketplace.
EVENTS
The Institute for International Trade (IIT) in partnership with the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS), National University of Singapore, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), and The Australian Industry Group (Ai Group®), invite you to join leading experts for an interactive webinar on India’s economic reforms and implications for Australia. Narendra Modi’s federal government continues to drive a program of radical economic reforms during its current second term of government. From agriculture liberalization and labour market reforms to state-sector privatization, reforms underway have implications that extend outward to India’s trading partners.
Australia-India bilateral relations have recently gained new momentum both in the context of India’s economic reforms and in response to regional geopolitical tensions. In this webinar, we focus on critically assessing the progress of Modi’s economic reforms, followed by analysis from Indian and Australian peak industry and business bodies on the opportunities these reforms hold for the bilateral trade relationship.
Please join us for a webinar from 4.30pm to 6.00pm on Wednesday, 28 July 2021 (ACST) as we discuss this critical topic.
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