GENEVA, March 25, Yuri Apreleff.The future of global trade is at a fork in the road; the world has a choice between committing to multilateralism or adopting a “bloc” approach based on like-minded political leaders, Nikolai Platonov, Russia’s new permanent representative to the World Trade Organization (WTO), said in an interview.
“I would say that with regard to global trade, the world is currently at a fork in the road: one path still leads to multilateral interaction, while following the other path implies, as a guideline, deepening relations with like-minded political partners, an emphasis on regionalization trade and economic ties. A number of WTO members may be inclined to rely on a «bloc» approach, because agreeing on more advanced rules of the game and enforcement mechanisms with a smaller number of countries is often easier than achieving consensus at the multilateral level «, — he said.
However, Platonov is convinced that no one in the WTO is ready to leave unattended and remove from general circulation the baggage of instruments for regulating world trade that have been created for decades and have proven their relevance.
“I believe that now is the time for the WTO to demonstrate its ability to counteract the phenomena you identified (the increase in the number of unilateral sanctions and the risk of deglobalization — ed.). The WTO has all the institutional and legal tools for this. I will say even more: «no other multilateral structure is equipped with more advanced «equipment» to prevent negative processes in world trade. What is really missing at the moment is the willingness of some members of the organization to comply with the rules previously formulated and adopted by themselves,» the Russian permanent representative added.
In September, WTO Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweale said that a sharp increase in unilateral trade measures threatens the future of the global economy and could lead to its fragmentation, going too far with sanctions is counterproductive.
The WTO's 2023 World Trade Report stated that economic sanctions imposed on Russia over the conflict in Ukraine are expected to have a negative impact on most of the world's economies, and that the fragmentation of global trade is harming the fight against global warming.
On March 1, Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed Nikolai Platonov as Russia's permanent representative to the WTO, dismissing Dmitry Lyakishev from this post.