Impact of trade negotiations under WTO explained

The main areas of interest for Pakistan under latest round of trade negotiations of World Trade Organisation (WTO) are agriculture, manufacturing, services, rules and trade facilitation. Addressing a seminar on "WTO: Key Issues of Pakistan" organised by Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) on Friday, Dr Manzoor Ahmad, former ambassador of Pakistan to World Trade Organisation (WTO), Geneva explained the impact of trade negotiations under WTO.
There were two thrusts of his presentation: developments on the Doha round of trade negotiations and trade policy in Pakistan. Dr Ahmed gave a brief historical background of the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (Gatt) and its transformation into the WTO. He talked about various Gatt rounds of trade and in particular provided detailed review of the second last round of trade negotiation, that is, the Uruguay round.
Dr Ahmad also gave a detailed presentation on the latest round of trade negotiations, known as Doha round. In this regard, he identified main areas of interest to Pakistan including agriculture, manufacturing, services, rules, and trade facilitation. He informed the participants of the seminar about the position of Pakistan and how it is collaborating with other developing countries to protect its interest in the best possible way. He also talked about the trade policy of Pakistan and in this context he gave a brief overview of different developments that took place over the time.
Dr Ahmad in response to many questions raised by the participants acknowledged that to draw benefits from the WTO rules, institutional strengthening is must. In this regard he pointed out the strengths and weaknesses in Pakistan's institutional capacity. He pointed out different initiatives taken by the government to strengthen institutional capacity. He was of the view that Pakistan's commitments with WTO are not influencing its trade policies in any significant manner; in fact, the trade policy changes are mostly in response to the requirements of the development finance institutions.
The Vice Chancellor of Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Dr Rashid Amjad, in his address of welcome lauded the achievements of Dr Manzoor Ahmed, particularly at the WTO that brought a good name for Pakistan and its people. In his concluding remarks, Dr Amjad highlighted the welfare gains that arise from international trade and the role of international trade in economic development. At the same time, he cautioned the audience about the negative fall out of trade liberalisation measures on trade balance that the country is currently experiencing. He pointed out that import bill has gone out of proportions while the growth in exports is quite slow. He also outlined various policy options that need to be introduced to bridge the gap between imports and exports.