On Monday, the leaders of the World Bank and the World Trade Organization urged nations to step up efforts to make international service trade more transparent and predictable, arguing that doing so may aid developing nations in reducing poverty.
More than two-thirds of the global GDP is generated by services like tourism and telecommunications, yet barriers to trade in services are higher than those for products, according to joint research from the two institutions titled “Trade in Services for Development.”
The WTO has a responsibility to liberalize services, but since telecom agreements were reached in 1997, it claimed that member nations had not jointly increased market access.
In the report’s introduction, World Bank President Ajay Banga and WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala both emphasized the need to revive international cooperation in the services industry.
In order to increase the participation of emerging economies, it was stated that such measures “need to grow trade and investment, cut trade costs, and bring about greater transparency and predictability on trade policy regimes…
The paper stated that its goal was to “recall the benefits of advancing the negotiating agenda on trade in services and the opportunity costs of doing nothing” rather than offering specific recommendations. It stated that the two organizations are ready to assist governments.
Banga took office as president of the World Bank last month and instructed staff to intensify development and climate efforts to quicken the bank’s evolution to tackle global problems.
