Problems And Prospects Of Developing World In Commercial Multilateralism

One of the oldest and most controversial features of international relations is trade. It is the seemingly simple act of exchanging goods and services between states. The international trade has been, and continues to be, a force that engenders both cooperation and conflict between countries. There is a need to create a legal framework for international trade. Having understood that, the international community created rules to govern the commercial relationships among these actors. These rules are codifying in the GATT/WTO framework. Currently, it is this institution that governs and elaborates the multilateral trade rules.Participation in this institution is becoming a big issue in Africa, particularly in Sub-Saharan region. Facing globalization, where the interests in international trade and the development need for the region become greater. The aim of this study is to examine the evolution of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) in the commercial multilateralism. The paper analyzes the problems facing by these countries and their possible prospects within this system. The whole paper is divided in three parts of two chapters each. The first part analyzes the framework of the multilateral trade and the SSA. In fact, the commercial multilateralism has basic principles for controlling trade among partners. Besides these common principles, the system accepts some derogation. These derogations are the result of some practices and the development level of the involving partners. As regard to their trade performances, SSA needs a particular attention. When in other regions like Asia, South America, economy is growing; in SSA the result is nearly disappointing (with some exceptions), besides the region was granted special preferences regime. Some of these preferences comply not with multilateral trade rules. So, involving in this system needs the understanding of its functioning and rules. Of this fact, SSA tempts to harmonize their position on multilateral issues included in WTO agenda. Their position on these matters is bound to their development objectives and the integration of the region in the global trade. Therefore, the region focuses its attention on Uruguay Round issues.The second part examines the involvement of SSA within the multilateral trade. There are obstacles and difficulties that SSA faced in this system. By analyzing the rules provided by the multilateralism for the developing countries, it will be observethat this system promotes the economic development, and plays a significant role in the development of countries. The degree of access for the developing countries depends on their stage of development and their financial and commercial needs. These different development levels also result in the divergence of interests. With its complex agenda, the WTO becomes a challenge for the SSA region. To fit into the process of the economic globalization requires the understanding of the legal and economic instruments of the current commercial system. But SSA has a lack of instrument to participate fully into the system. Legal reform of economic policies and capacity building will allow them to integration the multilateral trading system. With an efficient participation in multilateral negotiation, the region can achieve its main objectives.The third part focuses on the future of multilateral trade. The goal of SSA is to develop their economies and integrate the global trade. In fact, the current multilateralism is threaded by regionalism. Thus, we wonder what should be the good way for achieving these objectives. SSA can achieve them in multilateralism or regionalism framework. Being given that, some countries saw their economies prospering with the regional trade framework. That is the case of South-Eastern Asia and Mercosur countries. SSA region would be tempted to take this way in spite of the present structure of their regionalism.As all regionalism forms are not contrary to the WTO rules, the region can associate the above forms. Reform of multilateral trade rules would allow the SSA to come out of their marginalization. The reform must take into consideration the interests of developing countries in general and those of least developed countries in particular. This is why the SSA hopes for the application and realization of Doha agenda that reflect the interests of these two groups of countries. This is in this way that the multilateral option will be beneficial to the SSA.