WTO Accessions and Trade Multilateralism

Presenters: Uri DAdush, Chiedu Osakwe
Location: Ministry of Foreign Trade (Rabat)
Originally published by the OCP Policy Center

OCP Policy Center is pleased to receive Dr. Chiedu Osakwe, Director of accessions at the WTO and Dr. Uri Dadush, Senior Fellow at OCP Policy Center to present their book on: ‘WTO Accessions and Trade Multilateralism Case Studies and Lessons from the WTO at Twenty’

This book offers critical readings on WTO accession negotiations and how they expanded the reach of the multilateral trading system at different levels. Accession negotiations have been used by governments as an instrument for domestic reforms, and one lesson from the accession process is that there are contexts which lead multilateral trade negotiations to successful outcomes even in the complex and multi-polar twenty-first century economic environment.

Through their presentations, speakers will questions what WTO accessions have contributed to the rules-based multilateral trading system.

About the Speakers

Uri Dadush is Senior Fellow at OCP Policy Center and senior associate in Carnegie’s International Economics Program. He focuses on trends in the global economy and is currently also tracking developments in the eurozone crisis. Dadush is interested in the impact of the rise of developing countries for financial flows, trade and migration, and the associated economic policy and governance questions. He is the co-author of four recent books and reports: Inequality in America: Facts, Trends and International Perspective (Brookings, 2012), Juggernaut: How Emerging Markets Are Reshaping Globalization (Carnegie, 2011), Currency Wars (Carnegie, 2011), and Paradigm Lost: The Euro in Crisis (Carnegie, 2010). He has published over a dozen Carnegie papers and policy briefs as well as numerous journal articles.

Chiedu Osakwe is WTO Director of the Accessions Division. His previous WTO positions include Special Coordinator for LDCs and Head of the Secretariat Working Group on the Integrated Framework for LDCs, Office of the Director-General (1999-2001).  In this position he was Chairman of the Inter Agency Working Group (IAWG) for the Integrated Framework.  He has also served as Director of the Technical Cooperation Division (2001-2002); Director, Textiles Division (2003-2005), Director, Doha Development Agenda – DDA Special Duties Division, Office of the Director-General (2005-2008).  Prior to joining the WTO Secretariat, Mr. Osakwe was a Nigerian Foreign Service Officer (1979-1998).  In this period, he served at the Permanent Missions of Nigeria to the United Nations in New York (1983-1986) and to the GATT/WTO (1993‑1998).  As Nigerian Delegate to the WTO, he was Chairman of the Committee on Rules of Origin (1995 and 1996) and Chairman of the Committee on Pre-Shipment Inspection (1997/98).  He coordinated the WTO African Group in 1995.