Establishing a Consensus on Development: On G20-Led WTO Reforms

The preamble to the agreement establishing the World Trade Organization (WTO) recognises the need for developing countries to ensure they can “secure a share in international trade commensurate with the needs of their economic development.” The WTO’s built-in agenda was designed against this backdrop; however, its partial and unsatisfactory fulfilment has led to increasing frustration among developing countries. There is a crucial need to undertake a comprehensive review of the systemic issues plaguing the WTO’s rulemaking, implementation, and dispute-settlement functions to identify the issues that are stilting prospects of trade and development in developing countries. This will offer evidence-based and pragmatic compromises to reinvigorate and possibly institutionalise a development-oriented approach in the WTO’s functioning. India’s G20 presidency offers an opportunity to drive reformatory interventions for a development- friendly WTO and enable further tangible benefits from the special and differential treatment provisions to which developing countries are entitled.