Found at: http://www.anguillaguide.com/article/articleprint/3109/-1/133/
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HEARTICALLY YOURS: What Do You Know About WTO? by Ijahnya Christian
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The following excerpts were taken from an article entitled WTO Quick Facts posted on December 8th, 2005 in the Pambazuka News Weekly Forum for Social Justice in Africa. Check out the site at http://www.pambazuka.org/ You may even wish to subscribe and keep yourselves informed. All definitions, unless otherwise noted, come from Wikipedia.
WTO Glossary
ACP: Stands for Africa, Caribbean, and Pacific.
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Ijahnya Christian
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Agreement in Agriculture: Occurred under the Uruguay Round and set out to protect the G8 countries’ interests in terms of agriculture.
Doha Round: This round of World Trade Organization negotiations aims to lower barriers to trade around the world, with a focus on making trade fairer for developing countries. Talks have been hung over a divide between the rich, developed countries, and the major developing countries (represented by the G20).
Cotonou Agreement: A treaty which sets out the relationship between the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific governments. The agreement was established in June 2000 in Benin, succeeding the Lomé Convention, and provides for replacing the unilateral trade preferences that the EU accords to the ACP countries under the Lomé Convention with Economic Partnership Agreements involving reciprocal obligations.
Development Box: Rules and exemptions that would allow poor nations to protect their agricultural industries (these are an extension of “special and differential treatment” WTO principles, which intend to help developing countries integrate into the global economy of trade and implement their commitments).
Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs): The European Union has been bargaining with African countries in order to enable market access to European goods and services in Africa, which go beyond what is required of African countries according to the WTO.
Five Interested Parties: Comprised by US, European Union (EU), Brazil, India and Australia, the Five Interested Parties constitute the core negotiating group for the Doha round. (http://www.hardnewsmedia.com/portal/2005/11/205)
Free Trade: The untaxed flow of goods and services between countries, and is a name given to economic policies and parties supporting increases in such trade. Another term to refer to free trade is Trade liberalization.
Free Trade Area (FTA): An area in which member states eliminate tariffs among themselves but maintain individual tariff schedules on imports from non-member countries. (http://www.eu-ldc.org)
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT): Functions as the foundation of the WTO trading system, and remains in force today. The GATT, is an international agreement and is based on the “unconditional most favored nation principle.” This means that the conditions applied to the most favored trading nation (i.e. the one with the least restrictions) apply to all trading nations.
Group of 90 (G90): An umbrella body of the African Group, the least developed countries and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group. It is the largest grouping of members in the World Trade Organisation. http://www.twnside.org.sg/title2/gtrends16.htm
Group of 77 (G77): A loose coalition of developing nations, designed to promote its members’ collective economic interests and create an enhanced joint negotiating capacity in the United Nations.
Group of 21 (G21): A bloc of developing nations established in 2003. The group emerged at the 5th Ministerial WTO conference, held in Cancún in 2003. In trade negotiations, the group has pressed for rich countries to end subsidies to their farmers and opposed liberalisation of their own agricultural sectors.
Lome Convention: First signed in 1975, it arose out of Europe’s wish to guarantee itself regular supplies of raw materials, and to maintain its privileged position in its overseas markets.
Non-Agricultural Market Access (NAMA): These talks centre around industrial goods, but also include natural resources, and the goal of these talks is to open up the economy and make access to these products easier.
Special and Differential Treatment: The argument of developing countries that special circumstances require specific consideration and trade restrictions can be legitimate and appropriate instruments for development purposes. (www.soutchcentre.org)
Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS): An international treaty which sets down minimum standards for most forms of intellectual property regulation within all member countries of the WTO.
Uruguay Round: A trade negotiation lasting from September 1986 to April 1994 which transformed the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade into the World Trade Organization (WTO).
World Trade Organisation (WTO): An international rules-based and member driven organization which oversees a large number of agreements defining the “rules of trade” between its member States.