WTO체제와 지역주의화와의 갈등과 공존 = Confliction and Coexistence between WTO and Regionalization

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The Uruguay Round breaks new ground. The completion of the Uruguay Round of global trade talks was in many respects an outstanding achievement. The culmination of more than seven years of negotiations involving 125 governments, the final 424-page document extended multilateral fair-trade rules to most every area of international commerce. Two of the most distorted areas of trade in goods, agriculture and textiles, have been brought squarely within the rules-based trading system. Comprehensive agreements were also reached on trade in services and trade related aspects of intellectual property, both of central importance in globalising world economy.
The Uruguay Round broke new ground in bringing international trading rules. The Uruguay Round participants decided to replace the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT), still a provisional legal entity nearly half a century after its creation in 1947, with a more powerful World Trade Organization(WTO). The main functions of the WTO, which in October 1995 had over 100 members, are : to supervise implementation of the various Uruguay Round accords ; to act as a forum for continuing multilateral trade negotiations; and to settle disputes using a strengthen semi-judicial disputes procedure which no longer allows trade offenders to block decisions against them. These are important achievements. But on their own they are not sufficient to put the world trading system on a firm multilateral footing in the light of changing circumstances and new challenges. The WTO operates on the basis of consensus and its authority essentially derives from its member's readiness to respect the rules. The WTO thus needs the backing of members, especially the leading trading powers, to enforced the Uruguay Round agreements are extend the reach of multilateral rules to new areas such as investment and competition policy.
The Uruguay Round negotiations were, paradoxically, accompanied by an upsurge of interest in regional trade arrangement. Over 100 such deals had been notified to the GATT by 1994, nearly one-third of them in the previous five years. Most WTO members are members of one or more, since many overlap.
So far, in the WTO's judgement, regional arrangements have not damaged the multilateral trading system and in some cases they may have helped to accelerate the push towards freer trade on a global level by lowering barriers faster. However, there are reasons to think that this benign coexistence may be coming to an end. Regional ambitions are becoming grander. Several mooted free-trade areas involve huge swathes of the world. The USA and EU may launch a study on a transatlantic free-trade area. The EU, which is the process of sewing up the whole European and Mediterranean region with a multitude of preferential trade deals, recently concluded a free-trade agreement with MERCOSUR, the custom union liking Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. Meanwhile, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation(APEC) forum envisages free trade by 2020 among its 18 members, which include the USA, Japan and Canada.
The WTO needs more powerful support. Globalism and Regionalism are not separated. World search for new rules in trading market, and the WTO plays an important role in the world economy. The WTO is not opposite to regioalism. We, Korean expect the new rule of world economy, WTO, can help us. And also, we really need a good regional professional.