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WTO, NWICO, UNESCO

Thirty-seven countries of the world are unable to afford the approximately one million dollars necessary to acquire a permanent presence in Geneva, Switzerland, headquarters to the World Trade Organization (WTO). Nevertheless, these poorer nations are increasingly vocalizing dissatisfaction with WTO policies and programs, as their needs are routinely relegated to back-burner status in an increasingly widening gap between the global rich and poor.

Trade negotiations in the five-year old WTO are primarily guided by two objectives based on its mission to improve access to markets: remove tariffs and other trade barriers, and homogenize the world's trade rules and regulations. To this end, the powers of the WTO include the right to decide whether a sovereign nation's laws concerning public health, food safety, business, labor and human rights are barriers to trade. If the WTO determines that a law hinders trade, it can demand that it be changed -- something a poor country and can rarely afford to do.

The world, in general, has become wealthier due to the spread of new technology, which has allowed capital, labor and production to move more freely across borders. Developing countries, however, with their largely unskilled workers and primary industry, have not been as able to transcend national boundaries.

Studies suggest that developing countries are especially disadvantaged in the negotiation process, as a result of their delegations' relative lack of technical expertise. Further, their lack of political and economic clout tends to bar negotiators from those small group discussions that ultimately set WTO agendas.

While the policies resulting from the decisions of the WTO in its dispute-resolution process have actually been skewed against restrictions on trade, the particular economic interests of developing nations continue to get lost in the fray amid the heavier WTO hitters.

For many countries, the one million ...

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WTO, NWICO, UNESCO. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 09:31, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1695759.html