stock repurchase announcements: a test of market ... - Asbbs.org

Kehoe and Whitten
of no trust between nations, no agreements, and no facilitating agencies for trade? Or, having
experienced the failure of a WTO trade-facilitating process in the Doha situation is the world
moving onward from the Doha failure; that is, will the failure enable success?
THE WTO AND DOHA
The WTO, established on January 1, 1995, emerged as GATT’s successor at the conclusion of
GATT’s Uruguay Round. Over its half century of activity (1947 to 1995), the GATT conducted
eight rounds of trade discussions.
GATT Rounds: The GATT rounds included (Kehoe, 2004):
• The First Round (Geneva Round: April 1947 to September 1948)
• The Second Round (Annecy Round: April-August 1949)
• The Third Round (Torquay Round: September 1950 to April 1951)
• The Fourth Round (Geneva Round: January-May 1956)
• The Fifth Round (Dillon Round: September 1960 to July 1962)
• The Sixth Round (Kennedy Round: May 1964 to June 1967)
• The Seventh Round (Tokyo Round: September 1973 to November 1979)
• The Eight Round (Uruguay Round: September 1986 to December 1993)
The WTO: As the GATT’s successor, the WTO (WTO About, 2007) is the “only global
international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations. At its heart are the
WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the world’s trading nations and ratified in
their parliaments. The goal is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers
conduct their business.” Structured around Ministerial Conferences held at least every two years,
the WTO is comprised today of 151 member nations (WTO Member Nations, 2007). Among
responsibilities of the WTO are: administering WTO trade agreements; forum for trade
negotiations; handling trade disputes; monitoring national trade policies; technical assistance and
training for developing countries; and cooperation with other international organizations (WTO
About, 2007). The WTO offers the world’s trading nations a forum (WTO at Sixty, 2007) “to
reduce uncertainty, facilitate negotiations, disseminate information, reduce transaction costs in
various ways, help to settle disputes, administer agreements, monitor policies and act as an agent
for surveillance.” All of these activities are under the purview of the WTO’s Ministerial
Conferences.
WTO Ministerial Conferences: The WTO Ministerial Conferences to date:
• First WTO Ministerial Conference, Singapore, December 9 to 13, 1996.
• Second WTO Ministerial Conference, Geneva, May 18 to 20, 1998.
• Third WTO Ministerial Conference, Seattle, November 30 to December 3, 1999.
• Fourth WTO Ministerial Conference, Doha, Qatar, November 9 to 13, 2001. (This
Ministerial Conference initiated the Doha Development Agenda.)
• Fifth WTO Ministerial Conference, Cancún, Mexico, September 10 to 14, 2003. (This
Ministerial Conference reviewed the program of work under the Doha Development
Agenda and specified the remaining work.)
• Sixth WTO Ministerial Conference, Hong Kong, China, December 13 to 18, 2005. (This
Ministerial Conference sought primarily to find common ground for a 2006 Doha
conclusion (Doha Work Program, 2006).
DOHA AND AGRICULTURE
There are twenty-one areas for discussion specified under the Doha Development Agenda (WTO
Doha, 2007a). Perhaps the most sensitive area is agriculture wherein “member governments
commit themselves to comprehensive negotiations aimed at: 1. Market access: substantial
ASBBS E-Journal, Volume 4, No.1, 2008 65