Effective utilisation of the WTO dispute settlement system by Pakistan: a public–private partnership approach

Abstract

The WTO Dispute Settlement System (DSS) has often been cited as especially important for smaller or poorer developing countries that traditionally lack political or economic power to pursue their interests in a power-based system. In practice, however, the WTO DSS has predominantly been used by developed WTO members, such as the United States (US) and the European Union (EU). There are only a few proactive developing country users of the system, typically more advanced economies such as Brazil and China. Pakistan, a weak economy, and one of the WTO’s original developing country members, fits this general pattern, with limited participation in the WTO DSS. As this thesis explains, Pakistan’s modest use of the WTO DSS can be attributed not only to its small proportion of global trade but, more significantly, to its limited trade capacity to pursue cases in the WTO DSS. These trade capacity limitations include inadequate institutional, informational, human, financial and legal resources, which are needed to litigate effectively in the WTO DSS. Current WTO institutional support is limited to address the trade capacity issues of countries like Pakistan, and reform of the WTO DSS seems far-fetched. Pakistan, thus, has to enhance its trade capacity resources independently within existing constraints, in order to make better use of the current WTO DSS. Public–Private Partnerships (PPPs), or government–business resource sharing, have been cited as a factor in the US, the EU and Brazil’s enhancing of their trade capacity and success in WTO litigation. Developing countries such as Pakistan, on the other hand, have made only limited use of PPPs. The academic literature examining in detail their use of PPPs is also fairly sparse. This thesis, therefore, examines PPPs as a means of addressing Pakistan’s trade capacity issues. The thesis identifies the significance of PPPs for Pakistan in WTO litigation, and examines Pakistan’s current arrangements and potential barriers to the formation of effective PPPs. Most importantly, it explains how a poor economy like Pakistan can adopt PPPs successfully fitting in its unique needs and circumstances, and concludes that PPPs show great potential for other developing counties in similar situations.