World Trade Report 2023
Source: World Trade Organisation
GS III: Economy
Overview
- News in Brief
- About the World Trade Report
- Key highlights of the report
- About World Trade Organization
Why in the News?
The World Trade Organization (WTO) has recently released the World Trade Report of 2023.
About the World Trade Report
- It is an annual publication that aims to deepen understanding about trends in trade, trade policy issues and the multilateral trading system.
- It has been published since 2003 by the WTO.
Key highlights of the report
Relationship between trade and security:
- Despite disruptions in global supply chains, trade remains a source of security in a multilateral rules-based system.
- Trade contributes to more economic security by helping economies to better prepare for, cope with, and recover from shocks.
- Trade expands the resources available to invest in security by raising incomes.
- It facilitates the efficient supply of critical services such as weather services, insurance, telecommunications, logistics and health services.
Effects of globalization on poverty and inequality:
- Tariffs and non-tariff measures (NTMs) were reduced through multilateral, plurilateral and regional trade agreements and volume of world trade increased by 43 times between 1950 and 2021.
- From 1981 to 2019, lower- and middle-income economies have increased their share in global exports from 19 to 29%, contributing to poverty reduction by raising economic growth.
About World Trade Organization
- It is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade.
- With effective cooperation in the United Nations System, it is used to establish, revise, and enforce the rules that govern international trade
- It officially commenced operations from 1995, pursuant to the Marrakesh Agreement 1994, thus replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) established in 1948.
- Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.
- It is the world’s largest international economic organization, with 164 member states representing over 98% of global trade and global GDP.
- It facilitates trade in goods, services and intellectual property among participating countries by providing a framework for negotiating trade agreements, which aims to reduce or eliminate tariffs, quotas, and other restrictions.
Fragmentation
- It is a process that begins with increasing barriers to trade and investment and, in its extreme form, ends with countries’ breaking into rival economic blocs.
Re-globalization
- Re-globalization focuses on the integration of more people, economies, cooperation and trade between nations, and pressing issues into world trade.
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