BY KUDZAI CHIMHANGWA recently in CAPE TOWN

THE World Trade Organisation (WTO) has challenged Zimbabwe to take advantage of its membership and stop mourning about sanctions imposed by the West.

President Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF argue that Western sanctions were the largest contributor to the country’s unprecedented economic collapse.

Keith Rockwell, the WTO director for information and external relations told a workshop jointly hosted by the body and the Friederich Ebert Stiftung Foundation that despite the restrictions, Zimbabwe can still sell its goods and services to any country.

"As a member of the WTO, Zimbabwe is able to enjoy the rights of all members,” Rockwell said.

“What this means in practice is that WTO members cannot discriminate against Zimbabwe's trade in goods and services."

"Zimbabwe has access to the dispute settlement system which means it can defend its rights through our binding system of dispute resolution.”

Rockwell said Zimbabwe was involved at every level of the WTO’s discussions on trade policy and ongoing Doha round of talks.

The United States and the European Union (EU) have repeatedly dismissed accusations that the sanctions targeted at Mugabe and his inner circle were behind Zimbabwe’s economic collapse.

British Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mark Canning on Tuesday told journalists in Harare that the so-called sanctions impact one in every 70 000 of Zimbabwe’s population.
“They played no role in the economic chaos of the past, indeed if they did how is it that the economy is now growing for the first time since 1997,” Canning said.

“Would the UK really be pouring all this money into the country if it was simultaneously undermining the economy at the same time?

Zimbabwe’s trade promotion body, Zimtrade, has in the past called on local businesses to be proactive on issues relating to international trade agreements so that they can take advantage of export opportunities.

Some of the agreements, which are regulated by the WTO, are increasingly determining the direction of global trade.

Rockwell said developing countries including Zimbabwe can take up trade disputes with developed countries to the WTO for arbitration and win the cases. At least 70% of WTO members are developing countries.

Meanwhile, participants at the workshop noted that all was not well in the WTO as more developing countries were resorting to bilateral trade agreements.

They attributed the growing phenomenon to the lack of progress in the Doha round of negotiations.

Zimbabwe last year signed a bilateral trade agreement with South Africa and is ready to sign another one with Botswana to enhance trade and investment with its neighbours.

The experts said they foresee bilateralism becoming the preferred method of business and trade between various countries in the regions as multilateralism was getting more complex.

They said multilateralism involved serious power play between the bigger nations.
"Many regional African organisations are moving towards deeper integration in terms of trade and customs," said Prega Ramsamy, the head of Business for Development Southern Africa Trust.

"Integration deepens political and regional co-operation, enhances export and investment opportunities and increases market size and that's why we are seeing a proliferation of regional agreements," he explained.

Deeper integration however, would mean yielding part of a county's power and sovereignty to the regional institutions like Sadc.

Ramsamy said most African countries were not yet ready to compromise on their sovereignty.

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