Strengthening cooperation between the WTO and international and regional organisations specialising in areas such as public health, climate change, risk prevention and financial stability, is key to promoting coordination and coherence in the various efforts to build economic resilience, the World Trade Report 2021 has proposed.
The report, put together by the WTO, stated that although trade and trade policy could play an important role in supporting economic resilience, they cannot overcome other obstacles that may prevent economic resilience from fully materialising.
International regulatory cooperation has an important role to play in the development of emergency measures to increase predictability and in ensuring the consistency of policy approaches and mitigating unnecessary impacts on trade, it said.
“International organisations can promote a common understanding of the specific products that are relevant to fight crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic, and thus can help focus regulatory cooperation across countries and, in time, improve access to essential goods,” the report stated.
Stockpiling efforts
In an example of how international organisations can help, the report stated that handing over part of the stockpiling efforts in essential goods and their delivery to international organisations or regional associations can ensure that all governments, and not only those with the means to build up stockpiles, have access to stockpiled essential goods in times of crisis. “However, this system should be incentive compatible to make sure that countries do not forget their commitments in times of crisis, and that stocks are not confiscated for their own use by the countries where they are held,” it said.
Establishing regional or international stockpiles of medical equipment and other essential products could help address future supply chain disruptions for critical goods, primarily in case of pandemics, it proposed.
Collaboration between the WTO and other international and regional organisations contributes to greater policy coherence regarding economic resilience.