World trade organization

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an organization that intends to supervise and liberalize international trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which commenced in late 40s. Along with International Monetary Fund (IMF) and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (commonly known as World Bank) for freer and predictable trade between countries. It tries to provide market access to countries for their products and services and promotes friendly investment policies by eliminating trade distortions between countries, trimming down tariff and non-tariff barriers, removing quotas and abolishing subsidies in a phased manner. It also has rules that protect local businesses and industry from foreign goods and services using unfair practices like dumping or transfer pricing mechanisms. The WTO has rules to address quality issues, labor standards, environmental aspects, government regulation, and legal frameworks. It is important to understand the evolution of WTO and how its rules affect developing countries such as Pakistan.

Why was WTO formed:

The need for an institution to promote rule based trade was felt when in 1930s world suffered through the Great Depression and World War II. The Great Depression had profound effect on the people and nations who lived through it. This economic mayhem started with the 1929 Stock Market Crash wiping out savings of people and creating unemployment of the highest level in Western World. That great Depression resulted into WWII and destroyed many European countries. After the WWII, reconstruction of the Europe was top most priority of the US and that promoted, along with other steps, to create some international institutions to facilitate and promote trade and development. In January 1948, 23 nations organized the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in Geneva providing opportunity to start the tariff negotiations. This first round resulted in 45,000 tariff concessions affecting $10 billion (about 1/5th of the world trade). In the next 47 years, the basic legal text of the GATT remained the same as it was in 1948, with some additions in the form of “plurilateral” — voluntary membership — agreements and continual efforts to reduce tariffs in a series of “trade rounds” till the inception of World Trade Organization on 1st January, 1995 in the 8th round at Uruguay.

The WTO is an institution with the broader legal and constitutional elements that incorporate and standardize the strategies for global economic integration. Its basic objective is to create a liberal and open trading system under which business enterprises from respective member countries can trade with one another in a fair and undisclosed competitive system with an agenda to raising standards of living, ensuring full employment and a large and steadily growing volume of real income and effect demand and developing the full sense of the resources of the world and expanding the production and exchange of goods. These objectives are to be achieved by following the optimal use of the world's resources in accordance with the objective of sustainable development, seeking both to protect and preserve the environment and to enhance the means for doing so in a manner which is consistent with their respective needs and concerns at different levels of economic development. In other words, the WTO facilitates the implementation, administration and operation, and further the objectives of the Multilateral Trade Agreements, and also provides framework for the implementation, administration and operation of the Plurilateral Trade Agreements. It provides the forum for negotiations among its members concerning their multilateral trade relations in matters dealt with under the agreements and a framework for the implementation of the results of such negotiations, as may be decided by the Ministerial Conference. The WTO administers the Understandings on Rules and Procedures governing the Settlement of Disputes. It administers the Trade Policy Review Mechanism (TPRM). With a view to achieving greater coherence in global economic policy-making, the WTO cooperates, as appropriate, with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) and its affiliate agencies.

 

 The four basic rules of WTO are:

1. Protection to Domestic Industry through Tariffs.
GATT requires the member countries to protect their domestic industry/production through tariffs only. It prohibits the use of quantitative restrictions, except in a limited number of situations.

2. Binding of Tariffs
The member countries are urged to eliminate protection to domestic industry/ production by reducing tariffs and removing other barriers to trade in multilateral trade negotiations. The reduced tariffs are bound against further increases by listing them in each country's national schedule and the schedules are an integrated part of the GATT legal system.

3. Most Favored-Nation (MFN) Treatment

The rule lays down the principles of non-discrimination amongst member countries. Tariff and other regulations should be applied to imported or exported goods without discrimination among countries. Exceptions to the rules are to regional arrangements subjected to preferential or duty free trade agreements, Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) where developed countries apply preferential or duty free rates to imports from developing countries.

4. National Treatment Rule
The rule prohibits member countries from discriminating between imported products and domestically produced goods in the matter of internal taxes and in the application of internal regulations.  

TRADE POLICY REVIEW MECHANISM:

One of the major functions of the World Trade Organization is to conduct peer review of trade policies and practices of its Members. The objectives of the TPRM, as expressed in the Marrakech Agreement, are two fold:

i.       To contribute to improved adherence by all Members to rules, disciplines and commitments made under the Multilateral Trade Agreements and, where applicable, the Plurilateral Trade Agreements, and hence to the smoother functioning of the multilateral trading system, by achieving greater transparency in, and understanding of, the trade policies and practices of Members. Accordingly, the review mechanism enables the regular collective appreciation and evaluation of the full range of individual Members' trade policies and practices and their impact on the functioning of the multilateral trading system. It is not, however, intended to serve as a basis for the enforcement of specific obligations under the Agreements or for dispute settlement procedures, or to impose new policy commitments on Members.

ii.        The assessment carried out under the review mechanism takes place, to the extent relevant, against the background of the wider economic and developmental needs, policies and objectives of the Member concerned, as well as of its external environment. However, the function of the review mechanism is to examine the impact of a Member's trade policies and practices on the multilateral trading system.

The Agreement mandates that the four Members with the largest shares of world trade (currently the European Communities, the United States, Japan and China) be reviewed each two years, the next 16 are reviewed each four years, and others be reviewed each six years. Once the trade policy of a Member is presented for review, the remaining Member states are expected to examine such policies, both individually and collectively, with respect to their impact on global economy as well as that of the respective Member state. Each Member state has a right to critically evaluate the trade related measures of the country under review, seek clarifications in the form of written questions, convey impediments faced by their business communities, which they feel restrict their trade or investments; and comment on any other economic issue, which they may consider discriminatory or unjustified.

All such questions are subsequently circulated to the entire membership; and the country under review is expected to respond in writing; and justify the measures thus challenged during this review process. Since all senior policy makers and implementers including the relevant Ministers and/or Permanent Secretaries of the country being reviewed are present at this occasion, the questions and clarifications being sought at this occasion get the attention of the policy makers.

To facilitate the process, each national government prepares a policy report before its review for making it known to the rest of the Membership. In the meanwhile, WTO Secretariat also compiles an independent report on behalf of the Membership, highlighting the factual position of the actual economic and trade environment of the Member state under review.

The reports on trade policies prepared by the respective national governments and those compiled by the WTO Secretariat are available some 4 weeks in advance of the date of review on the WTO website

The annual schedule of the trade policy reviews during 2009, as announced by the WTO Secretariat is as follows: 

COUNTRY	DATE
Guatemala	4 + 6 February
Japan	18 + 20 February
Brazil	9 + 11 March
Fiji	25 + 27 March
European Communities	6 + 8 April
Mozambique	22 + 24 April
Solomon Islands	6 + 8 May
New Zealand	11 + 12 June
Morocco	24 + 26 June
Guyana	8 + 10 July
Zambia	27 + 29 July
Southern African Customs Union (SACU)	22 + 24 September
Chile	7 + 9 October
Maldives	26 + 28 October
Senegal and Niger	4 + 6 November
El Salvador	25 + 27 November
Georgia	8 + 10 December
Croatia	16 + 18 December

Pakistan

 

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( اسلامی جمہوریۂ پاكستان )‎ : Islāmī Jumhūriyah-yi Pākistān is a sovereign country in South Asia. With a population exceeding 199 million people it is the sixth most populous country and with an area covering 796,095 km² (307,374 sq mi), it is the 36th largest country in the world in terms of area. Pakistan has a 1,046-kilometre (650 mi) coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by India to the east, Afghanistan to the west, Iran to the southwest and China in the far northeast respectively. It is separated from Tajikistan by Afghanistan's narrow Wakhan Corridor in the north, and also shares a maritime border with Oman.

Economy of Pakistan:

 

The economy of Pakistan is the 26th largest in the world in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP), and 41th largest in terms of nominal Gross Domestic Product. Pakistan has a population of over 190 million (the world's 6th-largest), giving it a nominal GDP per capita of $4,993, which ranks 133th in the world. However, Pakistan's undocumented economy is estimated to be 36% of its overall economy, which is not taken into consideration when calculating per capita income. Pakistan is a developing country and is one of the Next Eleven, the eleven countries that, along with the BRICs, have a potential to become one of the world's large economies in the 21st century. However, after decades of war and social instability, as of 2013, serious deficiencies in basic services such as railway transportation and electric power generation had developed. The economy is semi-industrialized, with centres of growth along the Indus River. Primary export commodities include textiles, leather goods, sports goods, chemicals and carpets/rugs.
Growth poles of Pakistan's economy are situated along the Indus River; the diversified economies of Karachi and major urban centers in the Punjab. coexisting with lesser developed areas in other parts of the country. 

The economy has suffered in the past from internal political disputes, a fast-growing population, mixed levels of foreign investment. Foreign exchange reserves are bolstered by steady worker remittances, but a growing current account deficit – driven by a widening trade gap as import growth outstrips export expansion – could draw down reserves and dampen GDP growth in the medium term. Pakistan is currently undergoing a process of economic liberalization, including privatization of all government corporations, aimed to attract foreign investment and decrease budget deficit. In 2014, foreign currency reserves crossed $18.4 billion which has led to stable outlook on the long-term rating by Standard and poor's.

Foreign relations of Pakistan:

As the Muslim world’s second most populous nation-state (after Indonesia) and its only nuclear power state, Pakistan has an important role in the international community. With a semi-agricultural and semi-industrialized economy, its foreign policy determines its standard of interactions for its organizations, corporations and individual citizens. Its geostrategic intentions were explained by Jinnah in a broadcast message in 1947,a "The foundation of our foreign policy is friendship with all nations across the globe."

 

Since then, Pakistan has attempted to balance its relations with foreign nations. A non-signatory party of the Treaty on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation, Pakistan is an influential member of the IAEA. In recent events, Pakistan has blocked an international treaty to limit fissile material, arguing that the "treaty would target Pakistan specifically." In the 20th century, Pakistan's nuclear deterrence program focused on countering India's nuclear ambitions in the region, and nuclear tests by India eventually led Pakistan to reciprocate the event to maintain geopolitical balance as becoming a nuclear power. Currently, Pakistan maintains a policy of credible minimum deterrence, calling its program vital nuclear deterrence against foreign aggression.

Located in strategic and geopolitical corridor of the world's major maritime oil supply lines, communication fiber optics, Pakistan has proximity to the natural resources of Central Asian countries. Pakistan is an influential and founding member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and is a major non-NATO ally of the United States in the war against terrorism— a status achieved in 2004. Pakistan's foreign policy and geostrategy mainly focus on economy and security against threats to its national identity and territorial integrity, and on the cultivation of close relations with other Muslim countries. Briefing on country's foreign policy in 2004, the Pakistani senator reportedly explains: "Pakistan highlights sovereign equality of states, bilateralism, mutuality of interests, and non-interference in each other's domestic affairs as the cardinal features of its foreign policy." Pakistan is an active member of the United Nations and has a Permanent Representative to represent Pakistan's policy in international politics. Pakistan has lobbied for the concept of "Enlightened Moderation" in the Muslim world. Pakistan is also a member of Commonwealth of Nations, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) and the G20 developing nations. Pakistan does not have diplomatic relations with Israel; nonetheless some Israeli citizens have visited the country on a tourist visas. Based on mutual cooperation, the security exchange have taken place between two countries using Turkey as a communication conduit. Despite Pakistan being the only country in the world that has not established a diplomatic relations with Armenia, the Armenian community still resides in Pakistan.

Maintaining cultural, political, social, and economic relations with the Arab world and other countries in Muslim World is vital factor in Pakistan's foreign policy. Pakistan was the first country to have established diplomatic relations with China and relations continues to be warm since China's war with India in 1962. In the 1960s–1980s, Pakistan greatly helped China in reaching out to the world's major countries and helped facilitate U.S. President Nixon's state visit to China. Despite the change of governments in Pakistan, variations in the regional and global situation, China policy in Pakistan continues to be dominant factor at all time.

 In return, China is Pakistan's largest trading partner and economic cooperation have reached high points, with substantial Chinese investment in Pakistan's infrastructural expansion including the Pakistani deep-water port at Gwadar. Sino-Pak friendly relations touched new heights as both the countries signed 51 agreements and Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) in 2015 for cooperation in different fields. Both countries have signed the Free Trade Agreement in the 2000s, and Pakistan continues to serve as China's communication bridge in the Muslim World.

Difficulties in relations and geopolitical rivalry with India, Pakistan maintains close political relations with Turkey and Iran. Saudi Arabia also maintains a respected position in Pakistan's foreign policy, and both countries has been a focal point in Pakistan's foreign policy. The Kashmir conflict remains the major point of rift; three of their four wars were over this territory. Due to ideological differences, Pakistan opposed the Soviet Union in the 1950s and during Soviet-Afghan War in the 1980s, Pakistan was one of the closest allies of the United States. Relations with Russia has greatly improved since 1999 and cooperation with various sectors have increased between Russia and Pakistan. Pakistan has had "on-and-off" relations with the United States. A close ally of the United States in the Cold war, Pakistan's relation with the United States relations soured in the 1990s when the U.S. imposed sanctions because of Pakistan's secretive nuclear development.

The United States-led war on terrorism led initially to an improvement in the relationship, but it was strained by a divergence of interests and resulting mistrust during the war in Afghanistan and by issues related to terrorism. Since 1948, there has been an ongoing, and at times fluctuating, violent conflict in the southwestern province of Balochistan between various Baloch separatist groups, who seek greater political autonomy, and the central government of Pakistan.

Pakistan and WTO

Pakistan joined WTO in 1995 when the organization came into being. As a developing country Pakistan has enjoyed the extra time given for preparations to abide by the Agreements of WTO upto 2005. The implications to adopt the free liberalization under WTO has many pros and cons but until now there has been no comprehensive study to capitulate the total impact in economic terms focusing overall and individual sectors of the economy in particular. To enter into the intricacies of WTO Agreements and applying them on sectors of the economy is a huge and difficult task and out of scope of this essay. In simple terms, WTO negates anything which blocks the way of free movement of goods and services from one market to another on a basic assumption of improving the human lifestyle. It demands open market access for foreign goods and services in the local market without any discrimination by creation of tariff or non-tariff barriers. Pakistan is required to provide a Most Favored Nation (MFN) status to all trading partners which means non-discriminatory treatment among the members implying on any imports or exports origination from respective countries.

 If Pakistan provides an MFN status to India for example, then Pakistan has to provide an equitable treatment to all imports originating from India which will restrict Pakistan to impose any kind of qualitative or quantities restriction on Indian products. Now this implies to the question why like India Pakistan is not reciprocating to given the same MFN status. The major reason is that the total GDP of Pakistan is approximately $80 billion and if India can subsidize all its imports of an equal amount this will create havoc for the Pakistani industry. In case of GATT, it requires all countries to reduce their respective rates to a given limit, and here WTO provides special preferential treatment to the developing and least developed countries by giving them more time and more flexibility to adjust to the global trade liberalization system. But in reality, with specific reference to Pakistan under IMF conditionality and structural adjustment program, Pakistan has to reduce its tariff from 65% to 30% gradually, and WTO also requires the same. Under WTO it is partly the mutual consent of the negotiating parties to determine tariff bind and tariff bound rates but under IMF it is more enforcement of the loan requirements.

In case of a dispute the case is to be presented to the Dispute Settlement Body of WTO. This requires preparation of the case in context with the legalities of WTO rules. A developing country like Pakistan which does not have ample resources or know-how of the subject of WTO rules and references usually are trapped to pay hefty foreign exchange to international lawyers which are almost unaffordable. An ideal example is of Basmitti Rice, which was initially patented by a U.S. firm has been challenged by India, where Dispute Settlement Body favored India. Now, India having the sole patents refrains all Pakistani rice exports to be referred as "Basmitti" until the patents rights are paid for.
Take any industry or sector of economy i.e., textile, fertilizer, pharmaceutical, oil & gas, ship building, sugar, banks, insurance, leasing, and agriculture — WTO directly effects the local industry both at the import and export ends from the beginning to end focusing more on quality standards, hygienic conditions, and the very existence of a product or service through intellectual property clauses.

WTO Regime And Its Impact On Pakistan:

 

 

As far as the industrial sector is concerned, at the moment Pakistan the main export of Pakistan is Textile and related products. These are discussed separately in this report. The non-textile export of Pakistan is negligible. This trend needs to be changed as no country should rely solely on the export of one or few products. On the Import side, Pakistan recently has rationalized its tariff structure to a large extent.

The average tariff in Pakistan is around 17 percent with only four tariff slabs. There should not be any adverse affects on the domestic producer with the globalization as the local industry has already adjusted to the increased competition from global market. This however does not hold true for automobile industry, which still enjoys high protection and needs to become efficient if it wants to survive. 

 The impact of WTO on the important sectors in Pakistan i.e.  Textile and Clothing , Agricultural Commodities.

Agreement on Textile and Clothing:

The Multi-Fibre Arrangement (MFA) is an international arrangement to manage textile and clothing trade. It is this mechanism which has not only locked export opportunities for the LDCs but also delayed industrial adjustments in the DCs. Ironically, the MFA only restrict exports from selected LDCs, including Pakistan,

and not across the DCs [See Jones (1993)]. The MFA is clearly discriminatory and thereby openly violates the  basic principle of the WTO. Pakistan’s textile and clothing exports are largely directed towards quota countries, particularly the high value added products whose quota utilisation rates are very high (See Table 1). This suggests that the MFA is a binding constraint on Pakistan’s high value added textiles. Thus, Pakistan should benefit greatly from the eventual removal of the MFA in 2005.

                                                          

Table 1

Pakistan: Direction of Exports to the Quota and the Non-quota Countries

                                                                                                                           (percent)

Good	Non-Quota Countries	Quota Countries	Quota Utilisation
Yarn	95	5	99.40
Fabrics	72	28	99.80
Made-Ups	29	71	98.10

Source:Ingco and Winters (1995).

An important change brought about by the Agreement on textile and clothing (ATC) is the reduction of NTBs, particularly due to dismantling of the MFA progressively in phases. Since removal of complete MFA will take place at the end of 2004, immediate effects of trade liberalisation on this accountwill not be very significant. Low and Yeats (1994) show that the proportion of Pakistan’s exports affected by existing NTBs should fall from about 60 percent in 1992 to 8 percent as a result of the implementation of the Agreement. The changes in Pakistan’s quota on textile and clothing exports under the normal growth rates without the ATC and with the ATC suggest that between 1994 to 2004 without the ATC, the normal increasein textile quota will be 48.8 percent in the EU, 82 percent in the US, and 89.9 percent in Canada. However, as a result of the ATC these growth rates will rise to 79.2 percent, 139.7 percent, and 155.6 percent, respectively. In the case of clothing, Pakistan’s quota would have grown normally without the ATC by 70.8 percent in the EU, 87.7 percent in the US, and 82.6 percent in Canada. On the other hand, under the ATC, these growth rates will be 118.5 percent, 150.0 percent, and 143.5 percent, respectively. In sum, for both textiles and clothing, Pakistan will have additional market access with the elimination of MFA to about 62 percent and 67 percent respectively [See Khan and Mahmood (1996)]. Ingco and Winters (1995) estimate that Pakistan may gain more than US$ 500 million (on a 1992 base and in 1992 prices) from the abolition of the MFA (See Table 2). This would represent a lower bound since it does not account for the tightness with which the MFA binds Pakistan. Allowing for this Pakistan’s gains might get as high asUS$ 1-1.3 billion. 

                                                       

Table 2

                                                          Gains from Trade Liberalisation                                     

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           (US$ in Million)

Textiles	Textiles	Agriculture	Agriculture
Scenario-1	Scenario-2	Scenario-1	Scenario-2
500	1300	27.2	43.0

Source:Ingco and Winters (1995).

Agreement on Agricultural Commodities:

This agreement has undoubtedly created conditions that will restrain further growth in agricultural protectionism. Consequently, it is expected that Pakistan’s agricultural commodities would become competitive in international markets, provided prevailing domestic policies which discriminate against the agriculture sector are modified according to the requirements of the agreement. As a result of the implementation of the agreement Ingco and Winters (1995) predict that for Pakistan’s major agricultural imports’ real prices (relative to prices of manufacturing exports from OECD) are expected to rise by 3.8 percent in wheat, 2.3 percent in coarse grains and 1.8 percent in sugar, while it is expected that price of

rice will decline by 0.9 percent and cotton by 1.2 percent in 2002. There will be welfare losses for Pakistan due to agricultural trade liberalisation. However, these losses will be offset by potential efficiency gains from improved resource allocation due to removal of policy distortions. These losses will be further reduced providedPakistan diversify its agricultural exports by exporting spices, vegetables, fruits, flowers, and plants, where the DCs have agreed to drastically reduce tariffs. However, a fuller exploitation of Pakistan’s export potential for these commodities would require considerable improvement in the areas of storage, transportation, and especially packaging which must conform to international standards.

WTO Membership; Importance And Benefits :

Members of the WTO enjoy the benefits conferred by any trade agreement. However, since the WTO has so many members, its benefits are really global. The WTO helps trade throughout the world to flow smoothly through its trade agreements. This provides its members with a fair method to resolve trade disputes without resorting to violence or even war.
Membership in the WTO also has responsibilities. Members agree to avoid erecting trade barriers, instead abiding by the WTO's resolution of the dispute.
This prevents the escalation of trade restrictions that could help the individual country temporarily, but hurt world trade overall. In fact, it was just this type of retaliatory trade warfare that worsened the Great Depression of 1929. As global trade slowed, countries sought to protect domestic industries. Trade barriers were erected, creating a downward spiral. As a result, global trade shrank by 25%.

Members of the WTO know what the rules are, the penalties for breaking the rules, and how to play the global trade game. This certainty creates a safer trading arena for everyone. It also lowers the costs of doing business just by removing volatility.

These general benefits extend to all members. Since the membership is so large, many of these benefits are also felt by the entire world.

Specific WTO Membership Benefits

 

WTO membership means that the nation automatically receives the Most Favored Nation status. Basically, this means all 159 WTO members must treat each other the same. They give no preferential trade benefit to any one member without giving it to all.
WTO members have lower trade barriers with each other. This includes tariffs, import quotas and excessive regulations. Lower trade barriers allows them a larger market for their goods, leading to greater sales, more jobs and faster economic growth.
Over 75% of WTO members are developing countries. WTO membership allows them access to developed markets at the lower tariff rate. Membership allows them time to remove reciprocal tariffs in their own markets. This gives these countries an opportunity to catch up to sophisticated multinational corporations and their mature industries before opening the developing countries' markets to overwhelming competitive pressure.

Top Reasons to Oppose the WTO:

1. The WTO Is Fundamentally Undemocratic

The policies of the WTO impact all aspects of society and the planet, but it is not a democratic, transparent institution. The WTO rules are written by and for corporations with inside access to the negotiations. For example, the US Trade Representative gets heavy input for negotiations from 17 “Industry Sector Advisory Committees.” Citizen input by consumer, environmental, human rights and labor organizations is consistently ignored. Even simple requests for information are denied, and the proceedings are held in secret. Who elected this secret global government?

2. The WTO Will Not Make Us Safer

The WTO would like you to believe that creating a world of “free trade” will promote global understanding and peace. On the contrary, the domination of international trade by rich countries for the benefit of their individual interests fuels anger and resentment that make us less safe. To build real global security, we need international agreements that respect people’s rights to democracy and trade systems that promote global justice.

3. The WTO Tramples Labor and Human Rights

WTO rules put the “rights” of corporations to profit over human and labor rights. The WTO encourages a ‘race to the bottom’ in wages by pitting workers against each other rather than promoting internationally recognized labor standards. The WTO has ruled that it is illegal for a government to ban a product based on the way it is produced, such as with child labor. It has also ruled that governments cannot take into account “non commercial values” such as human rights, or the behavior of companies that do business with vicious dictatorships such as Burma when making purchasing decisions.

 4. The WTO Would Privatize Essential Services

The WTO is seeking to privatize essential public services such as education, health care, energy and water. Privatization means the selling off of public assets - such as radio airwaves or schools - to private (usually foreign) corporations, to run for profit rather than the public good. The WTO’s General Agreement on Trade in Services, or GATS, includes a list of about 160 threatened services including elder and child care, sewage, garbage, park maintenance, telecommunications, construction, banking, insurance, transportation, shipping, postal services, and tourism. In some countries, privatization is already occurring. Those least able to pay for vital services - working class communities and communities of color - are the ones who suffer the most.

5. The WTO Is Destroying the Environment

The WTO is being used by corporations to dismantle hard-won local and national environmental protections, which are attacked as “barriers to trade.” The very first WTO panel ruled that a provision of the US Clean Air Act, requiring both domestic and foreign producers alike to produce cleaner gasoline, was illegal. 

The WTO declared illegal a provision of the Endangered Species Act that requires shrimp sold in the US to be caught with an inexpensive device allowing endangered sea turtles to escape. The WTO is attempting to deregulate industries including logging, fishing, water utilities, and energy distribution, which will lead to further exploitation of these natural resources.

6. The WTO is Killing People

The WTO’s fierce defense of ‘Trade Related Intellectual Property’ rights (TRIPs)—patents, copyrights and trademarks—comes at the expense of health and human lives. The WTO has protected for pharmaceutical companies’ ‘right to profit’ against governments seeking to protect their people’s health by providing lifesaving medicines in countries in areas like sub-saharan Africa, where thousands die every day from HIV/AIDS. Developing countries won an important victory in 2001 when they affirmed the right to produce generic drugs (or import them if they lacked production capacity), so that they could provide essential lifesaving medicines to their populations less expensively. Unfortunately, in September 2003, many new conditions were agreed to that will make it more difficult for countries to produce those drugs. Once again, the WTO demonstrates that it favors corporate profit over saving human lives.

7. The WTO is Increasing Inequality

Free trade is not working for the majority of the world. During the most recent period of rapid growth in global trade and investment (1960 to 1998) inequality worsened both internationally and within countries. The UN Development Program reports that the richest 20 percent of the world’s population consume 86 percent of the world’s resources while the poorest 80 percent consume just 14 percent. WTO rules have hastened these trends by opening up countries to foreign investment and thereby making it easier for production to go where the labor is cheapest and most easily exploited and environmental costs are low.
8. The WTO is Increasing Hunger

Farmers produce enough food in the world to feed everyone – yet because of corporate control of food distribution, as many as 800 million people worldwide suffer from chronic malnutrition. According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, food is a human right. In developing countries, as many as four out of every five people make their living from the land. But the leading principle in the WTO’s Agreement on Agriculture is that market forces should control agricultural policies-rather than a national commitment to

guarantee food security and maintain decent family farmer incomes. WTO policies have allowed dumping of heavily subsidized industrially produced food into poor countries, undermining local production and increasing hunger.

9. The WTO Hurts Poor, Small Countries in Favor of Rich Powerful Nations

  

The WTO supposedly operates on a consensus basis, with equal decision-making power for all. In reality, many important decisions get made in a process whereby poor countries’ negotiators are not even invited to closed door meetings – and then ‘agreements’ are announced that poor countries didn’t even know were being discussed. Many countries do not even have enough trade personnel to participate in all the negotiations or to even have a permanent representative at the WTO. This severely disadvantages poor countries from representing their interests. Likewise, many countries are too poor to defend themselves from WTO challenges from the rich countries, and change their laws rather than pay for their own defense.

10. The WTO Undermines Local Level Decision-Making and National Sovereignty

The WTO’s “most favored nation” provision requires all WTO member countries to treat each other equally and to treat all corporations from these countries equally regardless of their track record. Local policies aimed at rewarding companies who hire local residents, use domestic materials, or adopt environmentally sound practices are essentially illegal under the WTO. Developing countries are prohibited from creating local laws that developed countries once pursued, such as protecting new, domestic industries until they can be internationally competitive. California Governor Gray Davis vetoed a “Buy California” bill that would have granted a small preference to local businesses because it was WTO-illegal. Conforming with the WTO required entire sections of US laws to be rewritten. Many countries are even changing their laws and constitutions in anticipation of potential future WTO rulings and negotiations.

11. There are Alternatives to the WTO

Citizen organizations have developed alternatives to the corporate-dominated system of international economic governance. Together we can build the political space that nurtures a democratic global economy that promotes jobs, ensures that every person is guaranteed their human rights to food, water, education, and health care, promotes freedom and security, and preserves our shared environment for future generations.

12. The Tide is Turning Against Free Trade and the WTO!

International opposition to the WTO is growing. Massive protests in Seattle of 1999 brought over 50,000 people together to oppose the WTO—and succeeded in shutting the meeting down. When the WTO met in 2001, the Trade negotiators were unable meet their goals of expanding the WTO’s reach. In Cancún, Mexico and Hong Kong, China, the WTO met thousands of activists in protest, scoring a major victory for democracy. Developing countries refused to give in to the rich countries’ agenda of WTO expansion - and caused the talks to collapse!.

List of WTO Members by Continent:

Really, it would be easier to list the countries that are not WTO members, since 159 out of 196 countries in the world have joined. Most of them joined in 1995, as soon as the WTO was formed.

Asia: Armenia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Georgia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kyrgyz Republic, Kuwait, Laos, Macao, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taipei, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Viet Nam.

Africa: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo Democratic Republic, Congo Republic, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Europe: Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, European Union, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom.

Central and North America: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Cape Verde, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent & the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, United States.

Oceana: Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu,.

South America: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela.

List of Prospective WTO Members: 

The WTO has a category called "Observer." These 25 countries have applied to become members, and have five years to complete the process. They are:
Afghanistan, Algeria, Andorra, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Belarus, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Comoros, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, the Vatican, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Sao Tome and Principe, Serbia, Seychelles, Sudan, Syria, Uzbekistan, and Yemen.

List of Countries Outside the WTO

There are 12 countries that aren't members, nor have they applied to become members. They are: Eritrea, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Monaco, Nauru, North Korea, Palau, San Marino, Somalia, South Sudan, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu.

 References:

•  https://search.wto.org/search?q=pakistan&site=English_website&client=english_frontend&proxystylesheet=english_frontend&output=xml_no_dtd&numgm=5&proxyreload=1&ie=ISO-8859-1&oe=ISO-8859-1&ulang=en&ip=139.190.31.160&access=p&sort=date%3AD%3AL%3Ad1&entqr=3&entqrm=0&wc=200&wc_mc=1&ud=1&start=0
•   https://www.google.com.pk/search?biw=1280&bih=691&q=role+of+world+trade+organization+in+pakistan&revid=2058394290&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj16f_5-rLJAhVOzGMKHcHfBI4Q1QIIYygH
• http://www.pide.org.pk/pdf/PDR/1998/Volume4/687-701.pdf
• http://www.cssforum.com.pk/general/news-articles/62434-wto-its-implications-pakistan.html
• https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?search=wto+and+pakistan&title=Special%3ASearch&go=Go
• http://useconomy.about.com/od/wtofaq/f/What_is_WTO.htm 
• http://www.globalexchange.org/resources/wto/oppose