Multilateral Roundtable: The World Bank and Trade |
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Washington, DC
On March 1st, 2007, The Bretton Woods Committee's Multilateral Roundtable held its quarterly meeting on the topic of a developing country's stake in trade and the role of the World Bank.
Presentation Topics
- The Trade Agenda, Trade Liberalization & Developing Countries
- World Bank's Interest In and Support for Trade Reform & Trade Liberalization
- U.S. Views on the Trade Agenda: The Doha Round & Free Trade Agreements
Featured Speakers
- Uri Dadush
Director of the World Bank Trade Department - Richard Newfarmer
Economic Adviser, World Bank International Trade Department & Prospects Group - Matthew Rohde
Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for WTO & Multilateral Affairs
Dr. Dadush gave a presentation outlining the worldview of the Bank with regards to trade policy. He emphasized that we are at the beginning of a long process of integrating the formerly planned economies into the world market. He named four main obstacles to trade:
- Protectionism in Agriculture
- Protectionism in Services
- South-South trade barriers
- "Behind the Border" barriers
In his presentation, Richard Newfarmer illustrated the interaction between the Bank and a country seeking to increase its trade. With the example of Mauritius, Dr. Newfarmer explained the analysis and technical advice that the World Bank can provide to countries. With this assistance, the government of Mauritius was able to institute a reform program in 2006.
Matthew Rohde praised the Bank for its efforts on trade and raised several issues of concern. In particular, he called for a greater focus on rules and follow-through for developing countries, an aspect of trade facilitation that he felt had been neglected. Mr. Rohde also expressed concern for the public perception of trade liberalization, a sentiment that was echoed by many of the Roundtable's members.
In a discussion following the presentation, the Multilateral Roundtable considered several factors:
- Improving information available to the public on the benefits of free trade
- The role of social safety-nets in reducing anxiety over job loss
- Possible benefits to be gained from organizing by sectors
- The significant impact of remittances to developing countries
- The importance of implementing and enforcing trade policies that are beneficial to consumers as well as business
A consensus emerged that there remains a great deal of work both for the World Bank and the private sector in promoting the benefits of trade liberalization to the general public.
Audio Transcripts:
Use the player above to listen now or right-click on any of the following links and select "Save as.." to download the individual audio files to your computer.
- Uri Dadush [MP3, 34MB]
- Richard Newfarmer [MP3, 20MB]
- Matthew Rohde [MP3, 17MB]
Presenter Slides:
- Uri Dadush [PPT, 449KB]
- Richard Newfarmer [PPT, 217KB]
