The WTO in theory seems to be good for the developing countries, but in practice it has so far proved to be a tool in the hand of developed countries to exploit the weaker. These views were expressed by Lahore Nespak General Manager and WTO Cell Convenor Engr M. Mazhar-ul-Islam, while making a presentation to engineers at Faisalabad on the topic on "WTO and its impact on Pakistan". The lecture was organised by the Institution of Engineers Pakistan (Faisalabad local centre) and presided over by IEP (Faisalabad Centre) Chairman Engr. Abdul Sattar Naeem, who is also director (telegraphs) PTCL at Faisalabad.

Mazhar-ul-Islam said that the statistics suggest that under the WTO regime, the poor countries have gone poorer and rich countries have become richer.

Although WTO is a consensus-driven and rule-based organisation and decisions are taken after negotiations, where the member countries have equal votes, the developing countries have neither the capacity to negotiate nor the required economic muscle and military strength to dictate the terms, he said.

Under this situation, the WTO is a compulsion for Pakistan which must be disseminated by necessary preparedness with much faster speed to cover up the loss of last 10 years, he added.

Mazhar-ul-Islam suggested that the government policy in the textile sector is going well, however, they ought to focus on the construction sector and light engineering industries to make the prevailing comparative advantage. Without measured steps and government initiative, the Pakistani industries will be vulnerable to imported products.

He said that developing countries cannot succeed in negotiations individually. They are to form their agenda collectively in order to take advantage of WTO, otherwise the WTO rules-based system be changed through bilateral negotiations.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2005