Development and building trade capacity
Sustainable development and women’s empowerment: the challenges and opportunities of digitalization
This study looks at digitalization from a gender and development perspective. It investigates which countries and within countries which segments of the population have been able thus far to benefit from the dynamism provided by digitalization especially through e-commerce and technological advances in agriculture. The study points to digital divides between developed and developing countries as well as to other divides linked to gender age and socioeconomic factors that determine individuals’ ability to have access to digital technologies and use them in a productive and beneficial manner. The analysis zooms in on the potential opportunities that digitalization provides to women especially in the developing world and on the obstacles they face to benefit from it. The study makes a distinction between having access to technology using it and using it in a productive manner and highlights the link with gender and other gaps in society and the economy. In the conclusions the study puts forward some suggestions to help digitalization provide shared benefits and leave no one behind.
Lived experience of women entrepreneurial exporters in a developing country context
Entrepreneurs operate within a broad ecosystem which enables them to access different types of support when needed – from financial and logistical to emotional. The ability to tap into available resources in an entrepreneurial ecosystem is particularly important for those embarking on an internationalization strategy such as exporting given its many complexities. However many women entrepreneurs both aspiring and active exporters feel discriminated against by government and private-sector actors in the ecosystem which constrains their internationalization efforts.
Trade negotiation dialogue and capacity building: applying the PXA Framework
The increasing trend of the inclusion of gender equality and women’s economic empowerment concerns in the negotiation of trade agreements creates a need to strengthen informed dialogue between the public and private sectors. Trade negotiators are often not aware of the specific barriers faced by women in their various economic roles and as a result face a challenge in promoting provisions that will successfully address these barriers. At the same time the private sector is often not equipped to communicate its needs to a policy audience and identify the ways in which it can inform the negotiation processes with its information and experience. This gap can be bridged with the help of an institutionalized and structured dialogue between public and private and international organizations can provide the required institutional and structural support. The public–private coordination and exchange can also help countries – particularly developing countries – overcome the capacity gap in trade negotiations as they can benefit from the inputs coming from the private sector and experts.
Foreword
Making trade work for women goes to the core of the WTO’s purpose because women’s economic empowerment is central to achieving the WTO’s founding objectives of raising living standards creating jobs and promoting sustainable development.
The role of regional governance on shaping trade and gender nexus policy in the pandemic and recovery: Asia-Pacific practices and perspectives
The COVID-19 pandemic caused challenges to public health systems and disruptions in international trade and society. This chapter will highlight the role of regional governance in complementing international governance in responding to global crises and addressing gender issues. The discussion concentrates on the Asia-Pacific region including responses by individual economies and the regional organizations the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The findings show that policy measures responding to the pandemic are progressing dynamically. While policies are primarily concerned with the strength of public health systems and the stability of economic and social situations initially they will focus on answering specific groups’ needs including women’s challenges at a later stage. Besides comparing the actions between ASEAN and APEC indicates the difference in the governance approach to the trade and gender nexus; that is the human rights-based versus the economic and technical cooperation (ECOTECH)-oriented approaches. Accordingly this chapter argues that policy priority and institutional structure are crucial elements behind the diversity of regional governance on gender issues in the Asia Pacific. Finally it suggests that the experiences of Asia-Pacific regional governance facilitate the understanding of dimensional and cross-cutting gender issues and provide insights into international governance of the trade and gender nexus.
Agradecimientos / Descargo de responsabilidad
La presente publicación es fruto del esfuerzo conjunto del Banco Mundial y de la OMC. Fue escrita y coordinada por Martin Roy de la OMC y Pierre Sauvé del Banco Mundial bajo la supervisión de la Directora General Adjunta Anabel González y Xiaolin Chai Directora de la División de Comercio de Servicios e Inversión en la OMC y Mona Haddad Directora Mundial de Comercio Inversión y Competitividad y Sebastien Dessus Gerente de Prácticas Comercio e Integración Regional en el Banco Mundial. La publicación fue editada por Ross McRae y Anthony Martin de la OMC.
Résumé analytique
La présente publication conjointe de la Banque mondiale et de l'OMC repose sur une vision partagée selon laquelle les changements structurels associés à une économie mondiale plus centrée sur les services et sur la contribution essentielle que l'expansion du commerce et de l'investissement dans ce secteur peuvent apporter à la croissance économique et au développement justifient qu'une plus grande attention soit portée aux politiques et que la coopération internationale soit redynamisée. Un objectif important de cette publication et une raison essentielle de son caractère conjoint sont de rappeler les avantages qu'il y a à faire progresser l'ordre du jour des négociations sur le commerce des services et les coûts d'opportunité qui en résulteraient en cas d'inaction. Il s'agit donc de stimuler la réflexion sur les meilleurs moyens de mobiliser un soutien supplémentaire – et une aide de meilleure qualité – qui permettent aux économies en développement et aux économies les moins avancées de mettre en oeuvre des réformes du secteur des services afin de tirer aussi parti de l'expansion du commerce et de l'investissement dans ce secteur pour favoriser leur développement.
Conclusion
La composition du commerce mondial des services a profondément changé au cours des dernières années période pendant laquelle les économies en développement ont enregistré des gains importants à l'exportation malgré l'impact sévère de la pandémie de COVID-19. Ces gains concernent une multitude de services non traditionnels à forte valeur ajoutée qui sont plus faciles à fournir aujourd'hui grâce aux moyens numériques.
Conclusión
La composición del comercio mundial de servicios ha cambiado notablemente en los últimos años y se ha observado que en ese período las economías en desarrollo registraron un importante aumento de las exportaciones en el sector de los servicios a pesar de los graves efectos de la pandemia de COVID-19. Ese aumento abarca un conjunto de servicios no tradicionales de alto valor añadido que pueden prestarse hoy en día más fácilmente a través de medios digitales.
Remerciements / Avertissement
La présente publication est le fruit d'une collaboration entre la Banque mondiale et l'OMC. Elle a été corédigée et coordonnée par Martin Roy de l'OMC et Pierre Sauvé de la Banque mondiale sous la supervision de la Directrice générale adjointe Anabel Gonzalez et de Xiaolin Chai Directrice de la Division du commerce des services et de l'investissement de l'OMC ainsi que de Mona Haddad Directrice mondiale pour le commerce l'investissement et la compétitivité et de Sébastien Dessus Responsable Pratique commerce et intégration régionale de la Banque mondiale. Le texte a été mis au point par Ross McRae et Anthony Martin de l'OMC.
Resumen
Esta publicación conjunta del Banco Mundial y la OMC está motivada por la opinión compartida de que es necesario prestar mayor atención a las políticas y renovar la cooperación internacional en vista de los cambios estructurales relacionados con una economía mundial más centrada en los servicios y la contribución fundamental que el aumento del comercio y la inversión en el sector de los servicios puede hacer al crecimiento económico y el desarrollo. Un objetivo importante de la publicación y una razón fundamental de su naturaleza conjunta es recordar los beneficios de hacer avanzar el programa de negociación sobre el comercio de servicios y los costos de oportunidad de no hacerlo. En consecuencia la publicación tiene por objeto fomentar la reflexión sobre la mejor manera de movilizar ayuda adicional —y mejor asistencia— para que las economías en desarrollo y las menos adelantadas apliquen las reformas del sector de los servicios y obtengan los beneficios para el desarrollo derivados de la expansión del comercio y la inversión en servicios.
Avant-propos
Les services sont devenus la force motrice qui détermine le paysage économique des pays de tout niveau de développement. Ils constituent la majeure partie de l'activité économique mondiale avec plus des deux tiers du PIB emploient la plupart des travailleurs et sont la source de la plupart des créations d'emplois notamment chez les femmes et les jeunes. Parallèlement le commerce des services est devenu un élément essentiel des stratégies de croissance apparaissant comme la composante la plus dynamique du commerce mondial au cours de la période récente et créant des emplois à plus forte valeur ajoutée.
Prólogo
Los servicios se han convertido en la fuerza impulsora que está configurando el panorama económico de los países en todos los niveles de desarrollo. Representan la mayor proporción de la actividad económica mundial al generar más de dos tercios del PIB emplean a la mayoría de los trabajadores y son la fuente más grande de creación de empleo especialmente para las mujeres y los jóvenes. Al mismo tiempo el comercio de servicios se ha convertido en un elemento clave de las estrategias de crecimiento al transformarse en el componente más dinámico del comercio mundial en los últimos tiempos y al crear puestos de trabajo de mayor valor añadido.
Acknowledgments / Disclaimer
This publication received guidance from Deputy Director-General Xiangchen Zhang and from Yuvan Beedjadhur of the Office of the Director-General. Preparation of the publication was a joint effort across several divisions of the WTO.
Gender equality, trade and the World Trade Organization
Scientific research reaffirms the importance of making trade gender inclusive and demonstrates that accelerating the gender responsiveness of trade policies improves gender equality in trade supports poverty reduction and fosters sustainable growth.
Entrepreneurial responses to COVID-19: gender, digitalization and adaptive capacity
Women entrepreneurs were hit disproportionately hard by the COVID-19 pandemic as their firms are generally younger smaller and concentrated in industry sectors affected the most by economic shutdowns. However very little research has addressed the ways in which women-led firms navigated these challenges. In this study we investigate the ways in which women entrepreneurs adapted to the business repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular we focus on the implementation of digital tools as a viable instrument for building adaptive capacity.
Assessing the potential of trade policy reform for closing gender wage gaps
On average female workers receive a lower wage than male workers. In this chapter we analyse the potential contribution of trade policy reform to a reduction in this gender wage gap. We first establish four stylized facts: (i) tariffs are on average higher in more female labour-intensive sectors; (ii) trade costs are on average larger in female labour-intensive services than in goods; (iii) services trade restrictiveness is higher in more female labour-intensive services; (iv) trade costs associated with the need for face-to-face interaction are larger in female labour-intensive sectors.
Gender mainstreaming in trade agreements: “A Potemkin Façade”?
The distributional outcomes of trade agreements have historically been uneven creating both “losers” and “winners” and benefiting certain stakeholders while leaving others without benefits or even with negative repercussions. In particular distributional outcomes can vary between women and men since they play different roles in society markets and economies and they enjoy different opportunities as well. At times and sometimes by their very nature trade agreements can restrict opportunities for women and further increase the gender divide. But in recent years there has been a drastic upsurge in the number of countries that are incorporating commitments on gender equality in their trade agreements.
Annex
This annex provides a comprehensive but non-exhaustive list of quality infrastructure elements for green hydrogen (GH2) that should be implemented according to an Expert Survey for IRENA’s ongoing project “Quality Infrastructure for Green Hydrogen: technical standards and quality control for the production and trade of renewable hydrogen”.
Acknowledgements/Abbreviations
This publication has been prepared under the overall guidance of Aik Hoe Lim of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and Roland Roesch of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).
Mapping supply chain issues from a trade perspective
Green hydrogen has a number of uses. It can be used directly as an energy carrier and chemical input in multiple end-use applications. It can also be combined with a sustainable carbon source or with nitrogen to produce derivative compounds such as methanol or ammonia which can be used as feedstock for chemical production (e.g. plastics and fertilizers) or as sustainable fuels.
Foreword
The WTO’s 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13) which took place earlier this year in Abu Dhabi reaffirmed the international community’s shared commitment to promote inclusive and sustainable development through trade. Aid for Trade remains a critical element of our collective commitment to ensuring that the benefits of trade are shared more widely particularly with developing economies and least-developed countries (LDCs).