Twenty years of WTO and Bangladesh

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), an international body to facilitate rule-based multilateral trading system across the world. Despite very slow progress in implementing a comprehensive obligatory rules and regulations for global trade, the existence of WTO has significance in the history of development.
There is no denying the fact that expansion of trade across the nations plays a critical role in development process. At the same time, the comparative advantages of the  rich countries over the poor countries create heavily unbalanced situation. Against all the odds, WTO has become a platform of talks and negotiations where both the poor and the rich countries have equal status. And in some cases, poor countries have successfully exercised their legitimate rights and resisted unilateral advantages of rich countries.
Nevertheless, there is a huge gap between words and deeds in the WTO and the body is still struggling to make it relevant in the long-term. As all the members of the organisation are represented by the governments, political will and actions of different governments are very crucial to make the body fully functional and effective.
The WTO is a symbol of free trade while its role in trade liberalisation process in different countries is minimal.  Developed countries walk on the liberalisation path by their own while developing countries do this mostly under pressure from the 'Bretton Woods Twins'- the World Bank and the IMF.
BACKGROUND: Immediately after the Second World War, there was a hectic move by powerful western countries to set up a global cooperation system to support development process and address the crisis in balance of payments. The outcome is the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) with British economist John Maynard Keynes and American economist Harry Dexter White playing leading roles.  Decision was also taken to establish a third body named International Trade Organisation (ITO). The
United States, however, did not endorse the organisation although a charter was prepared in Havana in 1948.
Meantime, under the United Nations arrangement, General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was approved in Geneva in 1947 and it came into effect from January 01, 1948. In 1950, US President Truman formally declared that he wouldn't seek congressional approval for ITO charter and without this US couldn't endorse the multilateral trade body. So, ITO was virtually killed and replaced by GATT.
GATT was actually a framework of agreements for global trade regime. The idea was to negotiate among the countries for reducing highly protective tariffs and trade barriers and introduce a universal system of rules to run global trade.  The negotiation process went through a series of rounds. In the first five rounds, reduction or rationalisation of tariffs in different products were core agenda. In the next two rounds, issues like anti-dumping and Non-Tariff Measures (NTMs), including tariff cut, were settled. In the final round, termed as Uruguay Round, it was decided that a multilateral body would be established. In this round, issues like service, intellectual property, textile and agriculture were included.
WTO EMERGED: It took 87 months to complete the Uruguay Round and with the signing of the Marrakesh Agreement on April 15, 1994, the WTO officially commenced on January 01, 1995. 128 GATT signatory members become funder members of the body which is based on a set of agreements. The members are obliged to implement the agreements so that all types of trade barriers could be removed in the long term.
The highest decision-making authority of the WTO is ministerial conference where trade and commerce ministers and equivalent government representatives attend to seal any deal of negotiation. In this connection, it was in 2001, when member countries of the organisation agreed to negotiate a new set of rules and regulations to address trade barriers and disputes in a coordinated manner. The ministerial meeting took place in Doha, the capital of Qatar. Thus the declaration is known as Doha Declaration and negotiation process as Doha Development Round of Agenda (DDR or DDA). Under the DDA, member countries have since been negotiating different issues of agricultural and non-agricultural trades and market access demands along with some other critical issues.
Although more than 13 years have passed, there is not much progress in DDA negotiations as developed and developing countries are in a deadlock. While developing countries are demanding faster reduction of agricultural subsidies in developed world, the developed countries are demanding greater access to the markets of the developing countries for industrial products.
Finally in December 2013, in the 9th ministerial meeting in Bali, Indonesia, members reached a consensus for signing an agreement so that goods can be passed through customs smoothly. This is a simple definition of trade facilitation. The members also agreed to continue food subsidies, provided by India and other developing countries, for the time being and gradually withdraw it. Problems of poor countries, officially known as Least Developed Countries (LDCs), have also been acknowledged.   
The year 2015 becomes very crucial to start implementation of agreements. The trade facilitation agreement has been signed by the members. There is a hope that some more development will take place by the end of this year when the 10th ministerial meeting will take place in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.   
BANGLADESH IN WTO: Bangladesh is a founder member of the WTO. In fact, the country is one of the core founder members in a sense. Bangladesh signed GATT within one year of independence, on 16 December, 1972 and became the 76th member of the organisation. Fifty-two countries later joined GATT. There were 128 GATT signatory countries at the time of signing the Marrakesh Agreement in 1994. In fact, signing the GATT has immense importance for Bangladesh as it is one of the very first international systems where the newly-born country gets acceptance.
In later years, many predicted that Bangladesh wouldn't be able to join WTO within the first few years of its inception. David D Li and Changqi Wu, two economists from Hong Kong, showed in a paper in 2002 that Bangladesh was one of the 14 economies predicted not to join WTO by 1998. It was due to very small size of economy, very low per capita income, very negligible trade in 1980s. For instance, the paper mentioned that  population size of Bangladesh was around 71 million in 1987 and per capita income was only $191.
Nevertheless, after the formal inception of WTO in 1995, Bangladesh has gradually become an important representative of the LDC group in the global trade platform. Although many believe that poor countries like Bangladesh don't get any benefit from WTO, the reality is the opposite.
Due to WTO system, Bangladesh gets legal rights to raise trade-related problems and concerns at the global level. The country, along with other peers, can jointly raise their voices against powerful countries.
The LDC status actually gives Bangladesh greater flexibility in fulfilling rigid rules of multilateral trade and preferential market access in developed and developing countries. Currently, Bangladesh is enjoying 100 per cent Duty Free Quota Free (DFQF) market access in all the developed countries except United States of America. Although most of the market access have been provided on bilateral basis, countries have to follow non-reciprocity or Special and Differential (S&D) treatment principle of the WTO. The relaxed Rules of Origin (ROO), lower local value addition or uses of local raw materials for manufacturing products widen the opportunity of exports.
The expiration of Multi-Fibre Arrangement (MFA) and full withdrawal of quota system on textile and clothing imports in developed countries from  January 01, 2005, becames a boon for the ready-made garments (RMG) industry of Bangladesh. RMG is the largest exportable of the country and its export increased significantly after MFA expiration under WTO framework.  
The waiver of complying Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) until 2021 is another benefit of WTO framework for Bangladesh. The pharmaceutical industry in Bangladesh has grown up by taking advantage of TRIPS waiver.
The dispute settlement mechanism of WTO probably brings the most visible benefit for the country. Bangladesh has taken resort to the mechanism to challenge imposition of anti-dumping duty by India on lead-acid battery exports of Rahimafrooz. It was in 2003, when WTO asked two countries for consultation. India, however, unilaterally withdrew anti-dumping duty it had earlier imposed. This is the first, and so far the only case when a LDC put a powerful developing country in the dock of WTO.   
Thus, Bangladesh's gain under WTO framework is not negligible at all.  The WTO helps poor countries like Bangladesh to strengthen capacity and build self-confidence to address the challenges of the multilateral trade regime and also take advantage of the system.  
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