guest lecturer
Mag. Janez Rogelj
Ministry of economic development and technology
Lecture title:
WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION, TRADE POLICIES AND AGREEMENTS
Koper ǀ May 28th 2019 ǀ 4.30 PM
Faculty of Management ǀ Trg Brolo 12 ǀ hall B2
KINDLY INVITED!
About lecturer
Janez Rogelj, M. Sc. is expert on bilateral cooperation of the Republic of Slovenia on development projects, expert on international development cooperation projects, member of Market Access Advisory Committee - MAAC at EU Commission for Slovenia, member of the Economic Tariff Questions Group - ETQG at EU Commission for Slovenia. He works for the Ministry of the Economic Development and technology of the Republic of Slovenia, Ljubljana, Slovenia. He is Master of economic Science in the field of interest on non - financial services, international trade of goods and services and trade policy.
Janez Rogelj is Ph. D. student at the University of Maribor, Faculty of Economics and Business, Maribor with the thesis “Connectedness between export and innovation insensitiveness in the business services sector in Slovenia”.
In cooperation with United Nation Industrial Development Organisation - UNIDO he has organised and managed 21 international development projects in Western Balkans, Central Asia and Africa (between 2011 and 2018) in total amount of almost 2,8 million €.
He organised a few international conferences, some of the most important:
- Conference on circular economy in tourism sector, 7. - 8. May 2018, Ljubljana, in cooperation with UNIDO. Alongside this conference he organised official visit of Mr. Hieroshi Kuniyoshi, Deputy General Director UNIDO to Slovenia. The representative of the Primorska University of Koper has actively participated on it.
- 2nd Regional conference on technology and industrial parks, 7. - 9. April 2014, Ljubljana, in cooperation with UNIDO and Technology park Ljubljana. Alongside this conference he organised official visit of Mr. Lee Yong, General Director UNIDO to Slovenia.
About lecture
1. After the World War I world leaders failed to put the world trade and payments system, which had been severely disrupted by the war, to run functionally. In 1942, James Meade, then a U.K. civil servant and later a professor and Nobel laureate in economics, drafted a plan for the International Commercial Union, the trade counterpart to John Maynard Keynes's proposal for an International Clearing Union for postwar financing. The post war plan as a part of a larger economic recovery was discussed on Bretton Woods Conference in 1944.
The basics for the new international trade rules have been established.
Basic facts on international trade system - the birth of GATT Agreement and establishment on the Worlds trade organisation – WTO:
- The birth of GATT and first period of trade rounds (1949 – 1979), the Uruguay round and the creation of the WTO (1986 - 1995)
- WTO from 1994 to 2018 - main events and the main functions, GATT tariff cuts
- Subsidies and countervailing measures - SCM Agreement
- Safeguard and safeguard actions
- What is expected from GATT in the future?
2. The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) is the most important among the World Trade Organization's agreements. The accord is the first and only set of multilateral rules covering international trade in services. It has been negotiated by the Governments themselves and it sets the framework within which firms and individuals can operate.
The contents of the presentation:
- Introduction to service trade and the GATS
- Services and differences between trade in services and goods
- The liberalization of the trade in service and the benefits of services liberalization
- GATS: objectives, coverage and disciplines, structure and some principles of the GATS
- The basic obligations under GATS, specific exemptions and special provisions for developing countries
- The future of the GATS?
3. Technical and non - tariff barriers in goods and services against EU countries
The tariff reduction on goods within the World Trade Organisation - WTO framework has been significant in the last decades of the 20th century. Consequently, the trade on goods should become more and more free and liberal. This led countries and political leaders to looking for other ways for protecting their industries.
There are some indicators to show that protectionism is growing up again. Over the past few years there has been a steady increase of international trade restrictions. During the last few decades the international trade was increasing rapidly until financial crisis in 2007-2008. After that the international trade raised for a few years and then it has started to decrease.
As tariff barriers have been substantially reduced, the crucial roles have started to play technical and non-tariff barriers. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to show what kind of technical and non-tariff barriers have emerged to EU exporters over the past years. A focus is put on different types of technical and non-tariff barriers which are introduced with differences by countries, regions and sectors. They have been implemented to protect local economy and reduce the competition from abroad on their own markets.
The lecture will be delivered in english language and in the subject International Economics, delivered by prof. dr. Štefan Bojnec.