WTO DDA 최근 협상 동향과 전망

WTO negotiations are recognizing the need for big structural change which makes the prospect of the negotiations unclear. Nevertheless, the discussions of the last two years show what kinds of difficulties the negotiations face and what the members can do. In this regard, the article tries to overview the discussions about the DDA work plan and subsequently Nairobi deliverable outcomes; thereafter, it forecasts how the post-Nairobi WTO negotiations will be developed. The DDA work plan has been failed due to continued conflict among major members about agricultural domestic supports and market access formula in agriculture and non-agriculture. Although the commitment of the progress in remaining DDA issues was reaffirmed, the Nairobi Declaration describes the division of opinions in parallel, which can be interpreted as agreed not to agree on continuing DDA negotiations. Therefore, after Nairobi, members are expected to explore new approaches for remaining core issues as well as new agenda such as e-commerce, GVC and others. Moreover, as the U.S. strongly suggests the need for new architecture, the category of developing countries might be tackled by a pragmatic approach considering individual economic growth level. Members will have a period of reflection on the future of the WTO negotiations. However, since the members need outcomes at the upcoming MC-11, a new approach is expected to be set by then and the progress under new structure might be possible. As a supporter for multilateral trade system, Korea needs to engage in the discussion on the next step of WTO negotiations in a constructive manner and to upgrade its negotiating strategies taking into account the expected changes.