Hi! Thanks for the question.
I have found the following resources so that you will be able to study
about the World Trade Organization and its possible implications to
Pakistan. Let us first start with the basics and a general overview of
the WTO.
Our very first link will take us to the WTO itself. In their website
they discuss the basics, the underlying agreements, how disputes are
settled and the organizational structure. The page gives you different
links to provide a primer about the WTO.
?Understanding the WTO?
http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/tif_e.htm
Our next links enhances the resources provided by the WTO as we
examine the different views of independent organizations and
individuals on how they see the WTO.
?The basics of the WTO?
http://www.iisd.org/trade/handbook/3.htm
?World Trade Organization - A TRAINING PACKAGE? (A very nice
presentation type of resource to reinforce your WTO knowledge)
http://www.itd.org/eol/e/default.htm
?An introduction to the WTO and GATT?
http://www.chicagofed.org/publications/economicperspectives/2003/4qeppart4.pdf
WTO Agreements - Collection
http://www.jurisint.org/pub/06/en/index.htm
?The Structure of WTO?
http://www.econ.iastate.edu/classes/econ355/choi/wtoworks.htm
?The World Trade Organization...?
http://depts.washington.edu/wtohist/Research/documents/WTOinbrief.pdf
Since you also said that you would like to further educate yourself
about the WTO, I will provide here reading guides about the
organization including pertinent websites, important books and other
resources to increase your knowledge about this topic.
?WTO/GATT Research?
By Jeanne Rehberg
http://www.llrx.com/features/wto2.htm
?GATT/WTO - International Trade Law Research Guide?
http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/intl/guides/trade/trade_5.html
-----------------------------
After a heavy dose of the basics we know go through the more critical
analysis of the WTO and its processes. Our next links will discuss the
different aspects of the WTO.
?FTAs ? advantages and disadvantages?
Article Description:
?The principal point of Free Trade Agreements is to secure trade
liberalisation. While the traditional debate about FTAs is the danger
that they can divert rather than create trade, the record to date
suggests there has been little diversion and that FTAs and regional
agreements have been effective in encouraging wider trade
liberalisation. A practical advantage of FTAs is that they are quicker
and easier to negotiate than multilateral agreements because fewer
parties are at the table. Parties can secure advantages that are
harder to win in bigger forums. The disadvantages are twofold. If FTAs
are not set up within the right framework of policies, they can
diminish rather than enhance economic welfare. The second disadvantage
is that they are not good vehicles for liberalising trade in sectors
on which parties outside the agreement have a major influence.?
http://www.dfat.gov.au/publications/aus_us_fta_mon/Chapter%203.pdf
?AN INTRODUCTION TO THE WTO DECISION ON DOCUMENT RESTRICTION?
Article Description:
??This discussion will first explain how documents can become
available under the new decision and then evaluate these procedures
and the access to documents that now exists under them.?
http://www.ictsd.org/html/number1.htm
?Export Subsidies and the World Trade Organization?
Article Description:
?The study has four main sections. The first section supplies
background and reviews the last ten years of legal literature on WTO
rules that affect export subsidies. The second part of the paper
explores the interpretive approach the DSB has taken in addressing
disputes. The third part provides a detailed interpretation of the
meaning of the term ?export subsidies? under the SCM Agreement. The
fourth section delves into the treatment of export subsidies in the
AOA. Each of these latter two sections examines the jurisprudence of
the WTO?s Dispute Settlement Body, and both end with proposed legal
tests for export subsidies under their respective agreements. The
final section of the paper provides an economic perspective on the
export subsidy tests.?
http://www.esteycentre.ca/export_subsidies.htm
?CASE STUDY ON WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION DISPUTE
SETTLEMENT?
Article Description:
?This research argues that the European Union (EU) is presently
abusing the system through its actions in the dispute settlement case
EC- Hormones, Complaint by the United States. Using tactics designed
to delay the resolution of this dispute, the EU has increased the
costs associated with the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) and
threatened the credibility of the WTO.?
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-02052001-155532/unrestricted/CuppettThesis.pdf
?Multinational Enterprises and the Civil Society: A New Conceptual Framework?
Article Description:
?The criticisms of globalization and multinational enterprises (MNEs)
by many non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are examined here with
special reference to the role of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The WTO has been identified by NGOs and others in the so-called civil
society as an institution that supports free trade and globalization.
We develop a framework to analyze the different perceptions of NGOs
and MNEs, and we use this to classify different types of trade and
investment agreements. We find that most MNEs operate on a triad
rather than a global basis and that regional economic blocks are now
more prevalent than globalization.?
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:aU5k0ajzrmIJ:www.bus.indiana.edu/rugman/Papers-books/Web%2520Papers/Multinational%2520Enterprises%2520and%2520the%2520Civil%2520Society.doc+%22world+trade+organization%22+analysis+analyze&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
?The World Trade Organization: History, Structure, and Analysis?
Article Description:
?This paper will provide a brief history of international trade, trace
the evolution of this organization, present a concise overview of its
structure, and provide an analysis of its strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities, and the threats to its existence.?
http://www2.netdoor.com/~aminyard/
?World Trade Organization?
Article Description:
?Although still a little-known and little-understood institution, the
WTO has become increasingly controversial as it has expanded the scope
of its work from its original narrow GATT focus on reducing tariffs on
manufactured goods. The WTO now also works to eliminate nontariff
barriers, and can be used to challenge environmental, health, and
other regulations that may serve legitimate social goals but may be
regarded as impediments to international trade. The 1995 replacement
of GATT by the WTO heightened concern among critics because its
stronger enforcement powers represent a further shift in power from
citizens and national governments to a global authority run by
unelected bureaucrats. Business, academic, and government supporters
applaud the WTO as a more muscular sheriff of the world trading
system.?
http://www.foreignpolicy-infocus.org/briefs/vol2/v2n14wto.html
---------------------------------------
Our next set of links this time will feature articles discussing the
pros and cons of the WTO. Due to highly passionate discussions of the
WTO we might be able to encounter biased articles. I included them
here since they still add depth and volume to the discussions. Due to
copyright concerns, I will only provide small snippets form the
articles I will cite but I highly recommend that you read them in
their entiry to get a better grasp of the topic.
a. Pros:
?Who's afraid of the WTO? (World Trade Organization)?
Article Description:
?This article sets out to make three points on the issue of trade and
national sovereignty. First, increasing economic integration among
countries is a fact of life in the world economy, and policies that
seek to insulate a country from world markets carry a heavy economic
cost in themselves. Second, while a country's social regulations may
sometimes come under pressure from international trade and
competition, as a practical matter a country's autonomy over its own
regulatory environment is rarely compromised by trade itself. Third,
and most important, comprehensive solutions to problems among
countries of conflicting national social and environmental standards
will be possible only through the construction of new international
institutions - not a grafting of new rules onto existing trade
agreements and institutions such as the WTO.?
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m1093/n1_v41/20485336/p1/article.jhtml?term=
?EU study shows economic benefits from new WTO round?
Article Description:
?The study argues that developing countries could emerge as major
beneficiaries of a new multilateral trade round. There are two reasons
for this. Firstly, their exports tend to face higher trade barriers
than the exports of the industrialised countries. They therefore have
a greater potential to gain from improved access to foreign markets
for their exports. Secondly, they also tend to have much higher levels
of import protection than the industrialised countries. Lowering these
levels of protection would help to improve the efficiency of resource
allocation and would help to correct the significant anti-export bias
in many developing countries.?
http://www.eubusiness.com/imported/1999/11/10321
?America?s Economic Stake in Open Trade?
Article Description:
?Open markets lead to higher productivity by encouraging most if not
all of those positive forces in the economy. Trade promotes
efficiency, the spread of new ideas and technology, the more efficient
allocation of capital, and a greater international division of labor.?
http://www.freetrade.org/pubs/briefs/tbp-008.pdf
?An Exercise or Surrender of U.S. Sovereignty??
Article Description?
?The WTO wields no power of enforcement. It has no authority or power
to levy fines, impose sanctions, change tariff rates, or modify
domestic laws in any way to bring about compliance. If a member
refuses to comply with rules it previously agreed to follow, all the
WTO can do is approve a request by the complaining member to impose
sanctions?a
?power? that member governments have always been able to wield against each other.?
http://www.freetrade.org/pubs/briefs/tbp-009.pdf
?Globalization and Developing Countries?
Article Description:
?This third paper examines the other side of the equation: the effect
of trade and investment liberalization on the world?s poorer nations.
According to the prevailing from a ?race to the bottom? in abusive
labor practices, environmental quality, and wages. Sweatshops and
child labor, not economic opportunity, are the supposed consequences
of free trade. In reality, however, the empirical experience with
foreign trade and investment in the developing world has been
overwhelmingly positive. From rising wages to improved working
conditions, the competition and cooperation that accompany
liberalization are proving to be powerful forces for good. Moreover,
the claim that developing countries were somehow bullied or tricked
into opening their markets is simply false; the pace of economic
liberalization has accelerated because poor countries have realized
that liberalization is in their best interest.?
http://www.freetrade.org/pubs/briefs/tbp-010.pdf
?10 benefits of the WTO trading system?
Article Description:
?The world is complex. This booklet is brief, but it tries to reflect
the complex and dynamic nature of trade. It highlights some of the
benefits of the WTO?s trading system, but it doesn?t claim that
everything is perfect?otherwise there would be no need for further
negotiations and for the system to evolve and reform continually.
Nor does it claim that everyone agrees with everything in the WTO.
That?s one of the most important reasons for having the system: it?s a
forum for countries to thrash out their differences on trade issues.?
http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/10ben_e/10b00_e.htm
?The WTO Multilateral Agreements?
Article Description:
?The very nature of agreeements such as these means that they restrict
what a country can do. But like domestic laws the intention is that
while some degree of liberty is sacrificed other benefits accrue that
outweigh these losses. Consider one of the most common criminal laws:
the law against murder. By having this law any given individual loses
his freedom to go out and murder someone. However on the other hand
that person now no longer has to worry that he may be the victim of
another's freedom by being murdered.?
http://www.thefactz.org/WTO/wto_agreements.html
b. Cons:
?What is the WTO??
Article Description:
?The WTO's primary aim is to serve the private sector rather than
governments: 'Although negotiated and signed by governments, the goal
is to help producers of goods and services, exporters and importers
conduct their business.'?
?This view of the world deletes important elements such as the
environment, the hundreds of millions of poor people who produce for
themselves (not for markets) as well as many other broader social and
human rights issues.?
http://www.greenpeace.org/international_en/campaigns/intro?campaign_id=4002
?Top Reasons to Oppose the WTO?
Article Description:
?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.?
http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/wto/OpposeWTO.html
?The Emperor?s New Clothes?
Article Description:
?Despite an overcrowded agenda and the lack of progress on matters
crucial to development, rich countries, especially members of the
European Union, are pushing for the launch of investment negotiations
at the ministerial meeting of the World
Trade Organisation in Cancun in September 2003. When properly
regulated, foreign investment can contribute to sustainable
development. However, the proposed WTO agreement on investment will
establish rules that developing countries do not need and cannot
afford, enhancing investors? ?rights? while undermining governments?
capacity to pursue pro-development policies.?
http://www.tradeobservatory.org/library/uploadedfiles/Emperors_New_Clothes.pdf
?The Mexican Experience and lessons from the WTO Negotiations on the
Agreement on Agriculture?
Article Description:
?The lessons are illuminating for the present WTO negotiations, and
indicate the need to seriously question the present focus on market
access for developed countries, at the expense of food sovereignty,
livelihoods and rural development in developing countries.?
http://www.tradeobservatory.org/library/uploadedfiles/Mexican_Experience_and_Lessons_for_WTO_Negotit.pdf
?Multilateral Investment Agreement in the WTO Issues and Illusions?
Article Description:
?Many developing countries have expressed their disenchantment with
the ongoing negotiations at the WTO, as the promised benefits of trade
liberalization have not materialized. The developing countries are
concerned with the lack of meaningful progress on development issues
including those relating to the removal of imbalances and inequities
in the existing WTO agreements, popularly known as ?implementation
issues.? In particular, the developing countries are disappointed with
the lack of access to essential medicines under the TRIPs and
ineffectiveness of ?special and differential treatment? provisions of
the WTO agreement that were meant to benefit them.?
http://www.tradeobservatory.org/library/uploadedfiles/Multilateral_Investment_Agreement_in_the_WTO_I.pdf
?Unlimited companies The developmental impacts of an investment
agreement at the WTO?
Article Description:
?The Cancun Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation
(WTO), to be held in September 2003, will see a showdown over whether
the WTO?s agenda should be expanded to include new negotiations on a
multilateral investment agreement. Along with its promotion of the
three other ?new issues? of competition policy, transparency in
government procurement and trade facilitation, the EU?s insistence on
an investment agreement at the WTO poses a severe threat to progress
on international trade rules at a time when the Doha Round of trade
negotiations is already on the brink of collapse.?
http://www.tradeobservatory.org/library/uploadedfiles/Unlimited_Companies_The_developmental_impacts_.pdf
?What's wrong with the WTO??
Article Description:
?Submerged within the mind-numbing verbiage of the World Trade
Organization treaties and their interpretations are a handful of
principles that subordinate all other values?environmental
sustainability, consumer and worker safety, public health, freedom of
labor and human rights?to maximizing trade. The provisions and
interpretations articulating these principles impede nations from
enforcing their own laws to protect the public good. They imperil
rights and protections won by citizens over the last century and
undermine national and local democracy and transparency.?
http://www.speakeasy.org/~peterc/wtow/
?A simple explanation of The World Trade Organization?
Article Description:
?The idea is simple. Instead of only imposing on third world countries
low wages and high pollution due to their weak or bought-off
governments, why not weaken all governments and agencies that might
defend workers, consumers, or the environment, not only in the third
world, but everywhere? Why not remove any efforts to limit trade due
to its labor implications, ecology implications, social or cultural
implications, or development implications, leaving as the only
criteria whether there are immediate, short term profits to be made??
http://www.geocities.com/hal9000report/hal11.html
--------------------------------
Finally we go to the most important part of our research, the possible
impact of the implementation of the WTO on your country? Pakistan.
?WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION: CRITICAL ISSUES FOR PAKISTAN?S
AGRICULTURE AND TEXTILE INDUSTRY?
Article Description:
?The objective of the paper is to identify and analyze the WTO-related
issues for Pakistan at present in the area of textile and Agriculture-
two main sectors of the economy. The paper will focus on the
challenges faced by the country in implementing its WTO commitments
and the challenges posed by the implementation of the agreements with
its major trading partners. Apart from suggesting on how to cope with
the internal challenges, the paper will suggest on what kind of
strategy and course of action Pakistan should adopt, along with other
South Asian countries, in the future multilateral negotiations, to
deal with the external challenges posed by a WTO environment.?
http://www.issi.org.pk/strategic_studies_htm/2000/no_4/article/11a.htm
?The future of textile exports ?
Article Description:
?Thus Pakistan will face both threats and opportunities from 1/1/2005.
The central issues-which will impact exports in 2004 -but still not
resolved are: (i) whether the EU and the USA will allow carry-forward
in 2004 as demanded by all developing countries as compensation for no
meaningful integration as per the spirit of the ATC, (ii) whether
shipments arriving 1/1/2005 onwards will be released irrespective of
the year of shipment or whether for these valid quota visas would be
required or these goods may be sent back or confiscated by customs and
(iii) how the EU plan to deal with free movements of goods from the 10
new member state who will join the EU on 1/5/2004.?
http://www.dawn.com/2003/11/24/ebr9.htm
?Ready or Not, Here it Comes WTO Implementation in Pakistan?
Article Description:
?While all sectors of the economy come under the WTO, it severely hits
Pakistan's agriculture and those directly or indirectly involved with
it. Studies have revealed that the Agreement on Agriculture signed by
Pakistan with WTO and the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual
Property Rights are directly relevant to agriculture. However, the
fact that Pakistan government organised the first seminar on the
Agreement on Agriculture in 1999 -- four years after joining the
organisation -- shows its lack of awareness and interest in this
regard.?
http://www.mindfully.org/WTO/2003/Pakistan-WTO-Implement25may03.htm
?OPPORTUNITIES OF WTO MEMBERSHIP FOR PAKISTAN?
Article Description:
?Pakistan does not have to eliminate all customs duties; rather,
Pakistan will have to bind its customs duties at levels negotiated
with its trading partners. The level of binding of certain goods may
be above currently applied rates. Pakistan may have to lower certain
import duties from the current level if the binding level is below the
current rates. Given that Pakistan's market is saturated with imports,
that too from China which produces goods at a very lower price, and
also some smuggled goods, any reductions in import duties are not
likely to lead to any significant increase in the volume of imports
and cause any adverse effect on domestic producers.?
http://216.239.57.104/search?q=cache:WtBjV_GYSf0J:www.pakistaneconomist.com/page/c-issue/i%26e2.htm+pakistan+wto+disadvantages&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
?Forthcoming Trade Negotiations: Identifying Pakistan's Interests?
Article Description:
?It is not the purpose of this policy brief to delve into all of the
many issues raised in the paper. We will focus, instead, on two
critical elements which are not only directly relevant to the Third
WTO Ministerial Conference but are also important to Pakistan's
long-term strategy in international negotiations, particularly those
related to trade and environment. The first of these concerns general
negotiation strategy and its particular manifestation in relation to
the scope of future WTO negotiations. The second relates to the
treatment of so-called "new issues" (of which the environment is
one).?
http://www.tradeknowledgenetwork.org/pdf/pk_najam.pdf
?WTO: OPPORTUNITIES AND THREATS?
Article Description:
?While all sectors of the economy come under the WTO, the most
significant impact will be on the Pakistan's agriculture sector and on
areas, which are directly or indirectly involved in agriculture.
Agriculture, being the backbone of our economy, and a sector facing
the heat of the WTO must come before all other sectors for the
stakeholders.?
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:KvYzWWORaVkJ:www.imt.edu.pk/lrcevents/archive/events03/wto-t%26t/World%2520Trade%2520Organization%2520Agriculture.doc+wto+pakistan+issues&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
?WTO-related business issues for discussion in PAKISTAN?
http://www.intracen.org/worldtradenet/docs/networking/country_papers/paper_pakistan.pdf
?The WTO Agreement, Corporate Agriculture Farming and Small Farmers? Economy?
Article Description:
?Among 144 nations Pakistan is a signatory of World Trade Organization
(WTO). The Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) is to be implemented within
two years in the farm sector of Pakistan. In the recent past
government declared CAF as an industry and 19 multinational
corporations (MNCs) were approved to initiate their business in
agriculture. By adopting CAF we are paving way to embrace WTO. Many
adverse implications are anticipated on small farmers as MNCs start
their operation. In other words, WTO is now on our doorsteps. We have
failed to identify alternatives to restructure the farm sector to
mitigate the negative impacts. There is a big question?what is the
future of small farmers that are 81% of country farms under the new
dimensions of corporate agriculture farming as WTO Agreement is
implemented on January 1, 2005??
http://www.ijab.org/5.4/13%20Sarfraz442-445.PDF
Search terms used:
WTO ?World Trade Organization? Pakistan overview introduction basics
issues problems ?case studies? analysis
I hope these links would help you in your research. Before rating this
answer, please ask for a clarification if you have a question or if
you would need further information.
Thanks for visiting us.
Regards,
Easterangel-ga
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