Page 64 - Azerbaijan State University of Economics

THE JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC SCIENCES: THEORY AND PRACTICE, V.71, # 2, 2014, pp. 42-65

Some people think that The WTO is for full liberalization of market access and for free

trade at any cost. However though one of the principles of the WTO system is lowering the trade

barriers by the countries thus allowing for freer trade flows, how low those barriers should be is

bargained by the member countries. Their negotiating positions depend on how ready they feel

they are to lower the barriers, and on what they want to obtain from other members in return. So,

in the process of WTO accession new members may stick to the acceptable level of tariff

protection for goods and services market.

Some people can say that commercial interests in the WTO take priority over

development. Free trade boosts economic growth and maintains development. This fact is

underlying the WTO's trading system. At the same time, whether or not developing countries

gain enough from the system is a subject of continuing debate in the WTO. The WTO

agreements include many important provisions that specially take developing countries' interests

into account. Developing countries are given a longer transition period to apply numerous

provisions of the WTO agreements. Least developed countries (LDCs) are granted special

treatment, including exemption from many provisions. The developmental needs can also be

used to justify actions that might not normally be allowed under the agreements, for example

governments giving certain subsidies.

Most of countries think that small countries are powerless in the WTO. However in WTO

trading system everyone has to follow the same rules, which increases the bargaining power of

small countries. As a result, in the WTO's dispute settlement procedure, developing countries

have successfully challenged some actions taken by developed countries. Without the WTO,

these smaller countries would have been powerless to act against their more powerful trading

partners. Both developing and developed countries should be ready to make concessions in the

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