WTO and Implications for South Asia

Contents Preface. Introduction/K.C. Reddy and T. Nirmala Devi. I. Trade cooperation for development and poverty eradication 1. Linking socially responsible globalization with national governance decentralization reforms and poverty eradication the challenge for WTO/Ponna Wignaraja. 2. Beyond Cancun some proposals for reform of the World Trading System/Nagesh Kumar. II. WTO and South Asian agriculture 3. The WTO and South Asian agriculture key issues and policy interventions/B. Yerram Raju and K.C. Reddy. 4. Agriculture market access modalities implication for South Asian countries under alternate scenarios/Rajesh Mehta Jacob George and Pooja Agarwal. 5. Impact of World Trade Organization on agricultural trade and environment/P. Leela. III. WTO and Singapore issues South Asia 6. Competition policy in India and South Asia/Smriti Mukherjee. 7. World Trade Organisation and core labour standards South Asian perspective/N. Nirmala. IV. Health and intellectual property rights 8. TRIPS and public health opportunities and challenges for South Asian Countries/Indra Nath Mukherji. 9. Implications of TRIPS agreement for developing and least developed countries/A.R. Bhuyan. 10. TRIPS space for Public Health and Indian Patents (Amendment) Act 2005/V. Rajyalakshmi. 11. Cancun 2003 IPR and issues of health in relation to India/M. Chandrasekhar and C. Praseeda. 12. Indian pharmaceutical industry a post 2005 scenario/R. Anita Rao and R. Rajiv Thakur. V. China's entry into WTO and other trade issues 13. China's accession into WTO opportunities and challenges for South Asia/T. Nirmala Devi. 14. Nepal and World Trade Organisation challenges and opportunities/Mahendra P. Lama. 15. Current status challenges and opportunities of trade for India under the WTO and proposed SAFTA regimes/D. Krishnamoorthy. 16. The impact of the WTO on South Asia/Hailay Gebretinsae Beyene. Index. WTO is seen largely as a symbol of North South conflict due to divergent perceptions of the developed and developing countries on the Multilateral Trading System. This north south divide is reflected in their ministerial negotiations where the rich countries try to impinge their ultimate authority over the global economy leaving thus limited options to the poor countries to defend their economic space notwithstanding the fact that the developing countries account for nearly 80 percent of WTO membership. There is now a growing concern among the South Asian countries including the four least developed countries on the restrictions imposed by the developed countries in the form of new clauses in the WTO framework. The initiation of liberalization in these countries in the early 1990s did not improve the trade prospects significantly. South Asian countries in general and India in particular is now taking keen interest in cooperating with the fellow developing countries and championing their cause at the international fora. This volume emphasizes the stand of South Asian countries to safeguard their trade prospects by protecting from the restrictions imposed by the developed countries in several clauses under different agreements of WTO. It is hoped that this volume will become an important addition to the existing literature on WTO as it covers the adverse affect of WTO on South Asia which has so far not been analyzed exhaustively. 348 pp.…