Wednesday 9 April 2008

Warwick Commission Report

I was at a Roundtable launching the Warwick Report in Singapore on Friday the 5th. Compared with the Sutherland Report, the Warwick Commission is different in two ways: First, it is an "unofficial" report in the sense that the commissioners are not appointed by the WTO, but by private parties. Of course, this in no way means that the report will be less relevant or important. Second, while many commissioners are big names in the WTO circle (such as Patrick Low, chief economist at the WTO; Pierre Sauvé, leading authority on GATS; etc.), the commissioners include more than the usual "suspects" by including several people who are not usually heard of in the trade circle. Of course, this also in no way means that they are less qualified than the good fellas of the "WTO mafia". Indeed, probably because the Warwick Commission do not have these constraints, some of their suggestions are even more interesting than the Sutherland Report. Interested readers can find the whole report here.

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