The multilateral trading system has contributed significantly to post-war prosperity, but it has not delivered all it could and still faces formidable challenges, the World Trade Organization (WTO) said on Tuesday.
In its annual World Trade Report, the WTO said that world trade had grown twenty-seven fold in volume terms since 1950, three times faster than world output growth, mainly due to the multilateral trading system, which has been upheld by the WTO and its predecessor, GATT, in the past 60 years.
However, progress made in trade liberalization has been uneven and success limited in some areas, the report pointed out.
Agricultural trade liberalization has proven particularly challenging and the results have been limited so far. Similarly trade in labor-intensive manufactures still faces relatively higher trade barriers, it said.
"The GATT and the WTO have not done all they could, particularly for developing countries," WTO Dierctor-General Pascal Lamy said in a press release.
He expressed hope that the WTO's 151 members could make a breakthrough in the Doha Round trade negotiations in the next few months to create the basis for a global agreement.
"By striking an ambitious and development-oriented agreement in the Doha Round we can greatly strengthen a system which has done much to make the world a better place," he said.
According to the annual WTO report, the multilateral trading system is confronted by considerable challenges, both short-term and longer-term.
"Among the greatest challenges ... is how to integrate developing economies into the system in a manner that contributes to their growth and development aspirations," it said.
Managing the relationship between the multilateral trading system and regional/bilateral trade agreements is another continuing challenge, it added.
The report also mentioned other challenges such as improving the dispute settlement system, strengthening rules on service trade, managing the relationship between environmental challenges and trade, energy and trade, etc..
Source:Xinhua
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