WTO General Council Decision of July 31, 2004: Interpreting from Bangladesh Perspective

Abstract

The present paper titled WTO General Council Decision of July 31, 2004: Interpreting from Bangladesh Perspective was prepared under the CPD’s Trade Policy Analysis (TPA) programme. The TPA programme of CPD was initiated in 1999 in response to a felt need to enhance Bangladesh’s capacity to more effectively deal with the emerging trade issues in the face of deregulation, liberalisation and globalisation. The successful completion of the Uruguay Round Agreement in 1994 and the establishment of the WTO in 1995 was expected to have crucial implications for the LDCs such as Bangladesh. In the 1990s Bangladesh economy was becoming increasingly open and trade related policy making and trade negotiations were assuming critical importance for Bangladesh’s future development. In view of the emerging challenges in the context of the ongoing process of globalisation, the objective of CPD’s Trade Policy Analysis programme is to monitor the impact of the evolving trading regime under the WTO on Bangladesh economy with a view to support trade related capacity building process in the country by strengthening CPD’s institutional capacity in the areas of (a) trade related research, (b) preparation of policy briefs, (c) organisation of dialogues, (d) organisation of workshop and training, (e) strengthening trade related documentation, and (f) trade related publication and networking. The present paper on WTO General Council Decision of July 31, 2004: Interpreting from Bangladesh Perspective has been prepared by Professor Mustafizur Rahman, Research Director of CPD and Dr. Ananya Raihan, Research Fellow of CPD. The paper looks at the salient features of July 31 text, identification of departure of it from the Cancun draft text (progression or regression) from an LDC perspective and to put forward some suggestions as regards issues which Bangladesh could pursue in the course of future negotiations in the run up to the Sixth Ministerial Meeting to be held in Hong Kong by the end of 2005.WTO-General Council, Bangladesh