Officials from twenty-six developing countries were educated on different methods of handling legal disputes in trade during a week-long series of technical capacity-building events coordinated by the World Trade Organization (WTO) and two other Geneva-based organizations, in early May.
The events were aimed at improving developing nations' dispute resolution capabilities, following research from the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), which showed that 88% of developing countries feel they are disadvantaged in trade disputes because they have a more limited capacity to handle legal issues. Others blamed the design of the dispute settlement system.
An event coordinated by the ICTSD at the beginning of the week, brought together 50 experts and delegates from the developing countries to discuss their experiences, and explore real-life challenges in litigation.
Participants in the Dialogue included 25 delegates from WTO member governments who also took part in the earlier three-day WTO advanced training course on dispute settlement, which was held on April 30-May 2, 2012, coordinated by the WTO, and the Advisory Centre on WTO Law (ACWL).
A later event focused on coordination among different government agencies, the use of private lawyers to manage conflict before it becomes litigation, and on the different experiences of separate regions.
“The dispute settlement system has provided great benefits to the multilateral trading system and all WTO members,” said WTO Deputy Director-General Alejandro Jara, in opening the event. “But developing countries can only make use of these opportunities if they have the means to navigate this increasingly complex legal system. It is not only about knowing the rules - but more so about knowing how to manage litigation in practice.”
ACWL Executive Director Frieder Roessler echoed Jara’s sentiments, stating: “The handling of WTO dispute settlement procedures is becoming increasingly complex, and this increasing complexity poses a challenge in the training of government officials from developing countries and Least Developed Countries."
“Nowadays training requires a combination of hands-on experience, and the ability to transmit and share that know-how. This is the underlying philosophy of this workshop, and the ACWL is firmly committed to this approach,” Roessler added.
Lauding the three institutions’ partnership, ICTSD’s Rodriguez Mendoza said: “The opportunity to partner with the WTO and ACWL and bring all these countries together is crucial for shifting our focus from information gathering to information dissemination and active trade litigation capacity-building.”
Jara added: “This is also a new way of capacity building in the WTO. Bringing together three institutions with shared interests towards developing countries, but with distinct knowledge, expertise and experience in dispute settlement, can only enrich our technical assistance beneficiaries. We are keen to take this partnership forward into other areas and other regions.”/.