News
The Hague Journal of Diplomacy's Issue on WTO Accession is basis for International Workshop
May 20, 2009. A workshop on "The Diplomacy of WTO Accession: Reconciling Existing Tensions and Addressing New Challenges" will be held at The World Trade Institute, University of Berne, on 29-30 May 2009. The workshop will provide an opportunity for contributors to The Hague Journal of Diplomacy's Special Issue (2009/1) and a distinguished group of experts to present and discuss recent work with senior trade and development officials drawn from the ranks of the WTO, the World Bank, UNCTAD and the European Commission, chief accession negotiators, and academic experts.
One of the successes of the World Trade Organization in recent years has been the expansion of WTO Membership and the continued stream of applications of countries to accede to the WTO. There are currently 28 would-be Members at various stages of entry negotiations. Of the 43 countries that have applied to accede the WTO under Article XII since January 1st 1995, approximately one half have been countries in the process of transition from a planned to a market economy. The long queue at the WTO’s doorstep suggests that membership of the world trade body represents a powerful attraction for countries who tend to regard WTO entry as a "stamp of approval" of their policies and of admission into the international community.
The March 2009 Hague Journal of Diplomacy's Special Issue on the Diplomacy of WTO Accession (Vol. 4/1), edited by Donna Lee and Heidi Ullrich, highlighted the dramatic changes in the process of accession to the WTO from that of its predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and its implications for the global trading system. Whereas in the GATT new members were admitted largely on the nod in what was for the most part a highly informal process - especially for former colonial states, the WTO accession process is both highly formalized and increasingly technical in character. Rigorous procedures and provisions are now in place to govern accession negotiations, such that the diplomatic process often takes several years to complete, particularly when significant political, economic and/or institutional capacity constraints exist in the applicant country, as is typically the case.
The Hague Journal's special issue features a collection of original case studies, among which a contribution on the challenges faced by LDCs in acceding to the WTO by Helen Hawthorne; Taiwan's tactical use of iterative multi-level negotiations in its accession process by Chen-wei Huang; an exploration of why China's entry into the WTO may have provided wider political latitude for transforming China into a market economy by Chieh Huang; the continuing challenges Russia faces in its WTO accession process by David Dyker, as well as an overview of the procedural and political realities of WTO accession faced by trade diplomats by Peter Milthorp.
For further information on the workshop and its program, please visit the WTI website at www.wti.org or contact Pierre Sauvé, the WTI's Director of Studies, at pierre.sauve@wti.org.
For further information on The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, edited by Jan Melissen (Clingendael Institute) and Paul Sharp (University of Minnesota), please visit http://www.clingendael.nl/cdsp/publications/hjd/ or www.brill.nl/hjd.
CONTENTS THE HAGUE JOURNAL OF DIPLOMACY VOL. 4 NO. 1 (2009)
SPECIAL ISSUE: THE DIPLOMACY OF WTO ACCESSION
Guest Editors:
Donna Lee and Heidi Ullrich
ARTICLES:
Acceding to the Norm: the Accession of LDCs to the WTO - Helen Hawthorne
Bilateralism and Multilateralism: Taiwan’s Trade Liberalization Trajectory - Chen-wei Huang
Non-Market Economies’ Accessions to the WTO: Evolution of the Approach and Implications for the Organization - Chieh Huang
Will Russia Ever Join the WTO? - David A. Dyker
PRACTITIONER’S PERSPECTIVE:
WTO Accessions: The Story So Far - Peter Milthorp