The Federal Ministry of Labor and Economy, the Research Centre International Economics and the Federal Academy of Administration invite to the seminar
B5 (2024): The Multilateral World Trade System – Future of the WTO
Lecturer: Univ. Ass. MMag. Dr.iur. Ralph Janik, LL.M. (SFU / University of Vienna / AUB)
Topics:
1. The world trading system through the ages
- Historical overview: from the Havana Charter to the WTO
- Presentation of today’s WTO
− Members
− Organisational structure
− Agreements concluded
2. Positive developments vs. structural problems of the WTO
- Size of the WTO and diversity of member states’ interests
- Agriculture: Tension between food safety and distortion of competition
- Trade in services as an area of conflict between the global North and South
- WTO negotiation mode: Single Undertaking or „nothing is considered agreed until everything is agreed“
- Modern free trade agreements and the fragmentation of the global trading system
– an alternative to the WTO?
3. Current negotiating points and the future of the WTO
- Current negotiations (e.g. fisheries, vaccines) and interactions with structural problems
- Is the WTO (in its existing form) obsolete?
- In which areas is there a need for reform to solve the structural challenges?
The webinar is part of the Foreign Trade and Investment Curriculum 2023/24. More information about the Foreign Trade Curriculum.