Two multilateral organisations

dealing with trade:

UNCTAD and WTO

More differences than similarities

Manuela Tortora
Chief, Technical Cooperation
UNCTAD

THE DIFFERENCES LIE ON:

The origins of both organisations

Their mandates
The institutional functioning
Their thinking on trade and development
2

The
TheGATT
GATT
and
the
and theWTO
WTO

THE ORIGINS

Keynes ideas on post-war

Keynes ideaseconomic
on post-war
international
governance
international
economic
governance
(avoid
economic
conflicts)
(avoid economic conflicts)
The Bretton Woods agreements
The Bretton Woods agreements
(1944)
(1944)

UNCTAD:
UNCTAD:1964
1964

Decolonisation
Decolonisation
North-South
and
East-West
North-South
and
East-West
tensions
tensions

1947:
the
ITO,
the
Havana
Charter
1947
1947:
the
ITO,
the
Havana
Charter
1947
and
the
GATT
(light
links
with
the
and
the
GATT
(light
links
with
the
UN)
UN)

Non-Aligned
Non-AlignedMovement
Movement
Group
of
77
Group of 77

GATT Rounds of trade negotiations

GATT
Rounds
of Round
trade negotiations
until
the
Uruguay
until the Uruguay Round
(1986-94)
(1986-94)

Trade
Tradenot
notaid:
aid:link
linkbetween
between
trade
and
development
(Prebisch
trade
and
development
(Prebisch
thinking)
thinking)

1st
UNCTAD
Ministerial
1st
UNCTAD
Ministerial
Conference
meets
in
Geneva;
Conference meets in Geneva;
Permanent
UNCTAD
secretariat
Permanent
UNCTAD
secretariat
established
in
Geneva
established in Geneva

1995: WTO is established outside

1995:
WTO
is established outside
the
UN
system
the UN system

THE FUNCTIONING
WTO
WTO
No links with the UN machinery
No links with the UN machinery
Permanent governmental bodies
Permanent
governmental
bodiesof
that
monitor
the
implementation
that
monitor the implementation of
the
thetrade
traderules
rules
Negotiating governmental bodies
Negotiating governmental bodies
The Secretariat provides neutral
The Secretariat
provides
neutral
technical
support
to
the
technical support to the
negotiations
negotiations
Accession has to be negotiated
Accession has to be negotiated
Limited role of non-governmental
Limited role of non-governmental
stakeholders
stakeholders

UNCTAD
UNCTAD

UNCTAD intergovernmental
UNCTAD intergovernmental
machinery
machinery(Ministerial
(MinisterialConferences
Conferences
and
Trade
and
Development
and Trade and DevelopmentBoard)
Board)
linked
to
UN
General
Assembly
linked to UN General Assemblyand
and
ECOSOC
ECOSOC
UNCTAD secretariat part of the UN
UNCTAD secretariat part of the UN
Secretariat
Secretariat(part
(partofofsame
samebudget)
budget)
UNCTAD secretariat devoted to
UNCTAD secretariat devoted to
development
development
No normative role, no negotiations of
No normative role, no negotiations of
binding
bindingrules,
rules,only
onlypolitical
politicalrole
role
UN membership (192 countries)
UN membership (192 countries)
Strong participation of nonStrong participation of nongovernmental
governmentalstakeholders
stakeholders

THE MANDATE
WTO
Rules-based organisation, sets
binding multilateral trade law
through negotiations
(legislative role)
Dispute settlement mechanism
with mandatory decisions, can
apply sanctions (judicial role)
Work confined to the existing
trade agreements and to the
scope of the negotiations =
narrow mandate based on
existing trade rules

UNCTAD:
UNCTAD:
Integrated
Integratedtreatment
treatmentofoftrade,
trade,
investment
investmentand
andrelated
relatedissues
issues==
wide
widemandate
mandate

Research on a range of trade and

Research on a range of trade and
development
developmentissues
issues
Consensus-building through
Consensus-building through
debates
debatesand
andexchange
exchangeofof
experiences
experiencesamong
among192
192member
member
States
on
all
UNCTAD
issues
States on all UNCTAD issues
Technical cooperation on all the
Technical cooperation on all the
topics
topicsofofUNCTAD
UNCTADwork
work
(policy
(policyand
andlegal
legaladvice,
advice,training,
training,
institution
building,
support
institution building, supporttoto
negotiations)
negotiations)

THE IDEAS ON DEVELOPMENT

WTO
WTO
Main goal is not development per
Main
goal
is not
development per
se,
but
to
avoid
commercial
se, but to avoid commercial
disputes
disputes
Same trade rules and reciprocity
Sametotrade
rules and reciprocity
apply
all,
but
apply to all, but
Special and differential
Specialisand
differential
treatment
introduced
with
treatment
is
introduced
with
various
intensities
various intensities
The Doha Development
The Doha
Development
Agenda
introduced
Agenda introducedinin2001
2001
Trade liberalisation and
Trade liberalisation
andrules
implementation
of
trade
implementation
of trade rules
leads
to
development
leads to development

UNCTAD
UNCTAD
Trade is one of the main
Trade is oneleading
of the main
instruments
toto
instruments
leading
development
development
but no automatic links between
butliberalisation,
no automaticpoverty
links between
trade
trade liberalisation,
poverty
reduction,
and
development
reduction, and development
The links between trade and
The links between
trade and
development
are
development are
multidimensional
multidimensional
Special and differential
Special and
differential
treatment
is
key
treatment is key
No one size-fits-all
No one size-fits-all
development
developmentmodels
models

UNCTADs INTEGRATED VISION OF TRADE AND

DEVELOPMENT and THE SCOPE OF ITS WORK:
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT
NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS

TRADE

SUPPLY-SIDE
PRODUCTIVE
CAPACITY
POLICIES

TRADE
POLICY
AND
NEGOTIATION

SUPPORT
SERVICES
POLICIES

SOME UNCTAD IDEAS

Special and differential treatment and recognition of different levels

of development (including trade preferences)
Identify the development content and impact of trade negotiations
Need for a development-friendly coherence between the
international financial and trading systems
Development impact of bilateral and regional trade and investment
agreements
Enhance endogenous capacities and homegrown development
policies
Links between investment, science and technology, ICTs and trade
flows
Role of commodities in international trade
Development-friendly structure of the GATS
LDCs terms of WTO accession
Need for debt reduction and debt sustainability
Role of competition law and policies in development processes
Traditional work on trade facilitation and related issues
Research on non-trade barriers

THANK YOU !
www.unctad.org