WTO process and the developing countries:

The WTO process is mainly led by the major developed countries. Very often they are the driving force in the negotiations. They take initiatives and largely determine the subjects of negotiations. Accordingly, the WTO process gets influenced by their perceptions and priorities.

The developed countries are very effective  in the WTO process. They  use their political and economic strength to  achieve their objectives, coordinate fully among  themselves while preparing proposals and while negotiating. They  also combine the political and strategic strength of  their governments with  the economic and technological muscle of their firms.

The developing countries are, on the other hand, weak in the WTO. Their task is also very difficult. The subjects of negotiations have become complex and they do not have adequate technical support to formulate concrete positions and pursue them in the negotiations. They are also under tremendous pressure fiom the developed countries that are much better prepared and much more focussed  in  their objectives.  The  environment  in  which the  economic negotiations are now taking place has also changed significantly.  In the 1960s, 1970s  and early 1980s,  the developed countries  perceived  the developing coun- tries as partners in economic progress and growth. During that period,  the problems  of  developing countries received  sympathetic  and  serious consideration on  the basis of enlightened self-interest. The negotiations these days are more for extracting concessions  from the developing  countries. Thus the developing countries are usually on the defensive in  these negotiations. However some experiences show that when the developing countries move with determination and with clear objective, they are able to achieve results.

The latest example is the exclusion  of  the subjects of  investment and government procurement  from the negotiating agenda  of the Doha Work Programme. The developed countries perceived big gains to their investors  in opening up investment prospects in the developing countries. Also they saw major prospects for their manufacturers  and traders in supplies of products for the use of governments (government procurement) in the developing coun- ties. They had  initiated these subjects along with some others in 1996 and pursued them  thereafter. The developing countries assessed that multilateral negotiation and agreement in these areas in the WTO would be damaging to them. They opposed these proposals resolutely. Finally, in 2004, they were able  to remove these subjects from  the agenda of the current negotiations. But it is nit very often that  they move with  such result oriented and  focussed attention.

The negotiating process in  the WTO  is such that full participation  of  the developing countries is normally not possible. The meeting schedules are too crowded. Most  of  the  developing countries' missions  in  Geneva  are understaffed. They  find  it  physically  impossible even  to  attend  all  these meetings. Effective participation is indeed difficult with such busy schedules of meetings.  

Important decisions are  taken in informal meetings  in small groups where only very few developing countries are present. These decisions are then brought forth in the open meetings for approval. It  is very difficult  for a developing country to explicitly and formallyoppose  the decision at that stage, even if it has not participated in the decision making and even if the decision is not fully favourable  to it. Such formal opposition at that stage would single  that country out as an obstructionist country. It  has naturally high political cost. Thus a developing country simply keeps silent while the decisions  are adopted.  In this way, the developing countries get saddled with new obligations even without having full opportunity  to participate in the negotiations. Recently, there has been  strong criticism of this manner of non-participative decision making in the WTO.