About our Work

The WTO continues to be the focus of much international policy debate and advocacy. It has a major influence in shaping economic policy at the global and national levels as a result of the economic paradigm that it promotes and the policy decisions that are made by its Members. 

Hence, WTO institutional reform issues continue to be of great importance and relevance to developing countries in the WTO.  Flawed processes will always lead to flawed substantive outcomes, and processes which reflect the imbalance of power in the WTO will most likely result in outcomes that maintain or continue such imbalance.  However, the current state of the WTO negotiations are such that, given their capacity constraints, developing countries are forced to concentrate their attention on dealing with the technical details of the negotiations rather than devote more time and human and political capital to once again pressing their WTO institutional reform agenda.

The South Centre has previously undertaken work relating to WTO institutional governance, reform and dispute settlement under the Trade for Development Program. This was in recognition of the fact that horizontal issues relating to institutional governance processes, dispute settlement, policy coherence, and decision-making mechanisms in the WTO can impact on the ability of developing countries to maximize their participation in international economic policy-making and obtain benefits from the global economic system.

The Programme builds on this past work in these areas and focuses on the following:

1. Improving the power balance in the WTO through research and assistance for developing countries in working together and strengthening their groups;
2. Structural and rule changes in the WTO's decision-making structures (such as the Ministerial Conference, the General Council, the Trade Negotiations Committee, and the various councils, committees, and negotiating groups) and working/negotiating procedures to ensure that all developing countries, no matter how small, may be able to formally participate in the proceedings;
3. Pro-active responses to any initiatives that may be undertaken on with respect to WTO institutional reform; and
4. Examining the role and impact of WTO dispute settlement procedures in WTO policymaking and Southern participation therein.

Publications