Sponsors  
 
The conference is jointly organised by the Graduate Institute of Internat ional Studies (HEI), Geneva,  and the WTO Secretariat w ith the help of 
CEPR. It is financed by the generous support of HEI, the Swiss Go vernment (SECO), the NCCR Trade project (IP3), the UK's Depart ment for 
Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Refo rm (BERR, formerly DTI), the WTO, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the 
Asian Development Bank, and CEPR.   
 
 
 
 
Conference on  
"Multilateralising Regionalism"  
  
Sponsored and organized by WTO - HEI  
Co-organized by the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)   
  
 10-12 September 2007  
  
Conference Room II, WTO,  Geneva, Switzerland  
 
Background  
 
The explosion of regional agreements in many parts of t he world over the last decade and a half raises important 
questions about what this trend means for multilateral trade re lations in an increasingly globalized world. There is much 
literature that seeks to explain and understand what motivates regionalism. But little has been written about the 
consequences for future trade relations of a continued splintering of trading arrangements into dozens of often 
overlapping and potentially incons istent agreements. Is there a point at which this process finds its own saturation level? 
Or will the political and economic costs of increas ing fragmentation lead to a reversal of regionalism? 
 Multilateralising Regionalism is a two and a half day confer ence dedicated to exploring these issues, and in particular, 
the relationship between regionalism and the multilateral trad ing system. The first two days of the conference will explore 
how regional trade agreements might be tamed through a multilaterally based approach to redefining trade cooperation. 
The final half-day will consist of a high-level discussion by polic ymakers and scholars of the i ssues teased out in the first 
part of the conference.
 
 
Programme (03.09.07)  
 
Monday 10 September  
 08:30 – 09:00   Registration at WTO – Venue: CRII 
 09:00 – 09:20   Welcome and opening remarks  
 
   Pascal Lamy (Director-General, WTO) 
   Philippe Burrin (Director, Graduate Institute of International Studies)  
 
09:20 – 09:40   A brief introduction to the issues  
    
   Richard Baldwin (Graduate Inst itute of International Studies) 
 
Taming Tangles: Lessons and Challenges 
Session Chair: Simon Evenett (University of St. Gallen) 
 
09:40 – 10:40   Multilateralising Regionalism: Relaxing Rules of Origin  
   Michael Gasiorek (University of Sussex) 
    
Discussant:  Vera Thorstensen (Chairper son, WTO Committee on Rules of Origin) 
 10:40 – 11:00   Break 
 11:00 – 12:00  The Information Technology Agreement: Sui Generis or Model Stepping 
Stone?  
  Written by: Catherine L. Mann (Brandeis University) 
    Xuepeng Liu (Kennes aw State University) 
  Presented by: Chad Bown (Brandeis University) 
 Discussant: Alejandro Jara, Deputy Director-General, WTO Secretariat 
  
 212:00 – 13:00   Fitting Asia-Pacific Agreements into the WTO System 
  Gary Hufbauer (Peterson Instit ute for International Economics) 
   Jeffrey Schott (Peterson Instit ute for International Economics) 
 Discussant:  Joe Francois (Linz University) 
 
13:00 – 14:30   Lunch (own arrangements) 
 
 Session Chair: L. Alan Winter s (University of Sussex) 
 
14:30 – 15:30   Multilateralising Regionalism: Case Study of African Regionalism 
   Peter Draper (South African Institut e of International Affairs)  
   Mzukisi Qobo (South African In stitute of International Affairs) 
    
Discussant:  Cédric Dupont (Graduat e Institute of International Studies) 
 15.30 – 16:30   Multilateralising RTAs in the Americas 
   Antoni Estevadeordal (Inter-American Development Bank) 
   Kati Suominen (Inter -American Development Bank) 
    
Discussant:  Marcelo Olarr eaga (University of Geneva) 
 
16:30 – 16:50   Break 
 
16:50 – 17:50  Services Provisions in Regional Trade Agreements: Stumbling or Building 
Blocks for Multilateral Liberalization? 
  Carsten Fink (World Bank) 
  Marion Jansen (WTO Secretariat) 
 
Discussant:  Juan Marchetti
 (WTO Secretariat ) 
 
17:50    End of First Day 
 
 Tuesday 11 September
 
 
 Some Specific Issues 
 Session Chair: Gary Hufbauer (Petersen Institute for International Economics) 
 09:00 – 10:00  A Private Sector Perspective: Living with Regionalism  
  Michael Treschow  (Chairman of the Board, Ericsson) 
 
10:00 – 11:00  Harmonizing Preferential Rules of Origin Regimes around the World    Antoni Estevadeordal (Inter-American Development Bank) 
   Jeremy Harris (Inter-A merican Development Bank) 
   Kati Suominen (Inter -American Development Bank) 
 Discussant: Olivier Cadot (Université de Lausanne) 
 
11:00 – 11:20  Break 
 11:20 – 12:20  Beyond Tariffs: Multilaterising Deeper RTA Commitments  
  Richard Baldwin (Graduate Institute of International Studies and CEPR) 
  Simon Evenett (University of St Gallen) 
  Patrick Low (WTO Secretariat) 
 Discussant: Sébastien Miroudot (OECD) 
 
 
  
 312:20 – 13:50  Lunch (own arrangements) 
13:50 – 14:20  Introduction:  Philippe Burrin (Director, Graduate Institute of International Studies)  
 
  Keynote Speech:  
  Jean-Daniel Gerber (State Secret ary for Economic Affairs, Switzerland) 
 
 Session Chair: Alejandro Jara (Deputy Director-General, WTO Secretariat) 
 
14:20 – 15:20   Multilateralising Regional Trade Arrangements in Asia 
   Masahiro Kawai (Asian Development Bank Institute) 
   Ganesh Wignaraja (Asian Development Bank) 
 
Discussant: Inkyo Cheong (Inha University, Korea) 
 
 
 Some Systemic Issues 
 
15:20 – 16:20  Legal Avenues to “Multilateralising Regionalism”: Beyond Article XXIV  
  Joost Pauwelyn (Graduate Inst itute of International Studies) 
 
Discussant: Roderick Abbott (European Centre for International Political Economy)  
16:20 – 16:40  Break 
 
16:40 – 17:40  Systemic Implications of Multila teralised Regionalism for Developing 
Countries 
  Bernard Hoekman (World Bank) 
  L Alan Winters (University of Sussex) 
 
Discussant: Philip I Levy (Yale University)  17:40 – 18:40  The Challenge of Negotiating PTA’s for Developing Countries: What Could the 
WTO do to Help? 
  Jim Rollo (University of Sussex) 
 Discussant: Claude Barfield (American Enterprise Institute) 
 
18:40   End of Second Day 
 
19:00  HEI Reception for the Geneva trade community  (venue HEI)  
   
  Introduction: Alexander Swoboda (Graduate Institute of International Studies)  
 
 Keynote speech: Coping with the Pandemic of Preferential Trade Agreements: 
What will work? 
  Jagdish Bhagwati (Columbia Universi ty and Council of Foreign Relations) 
 
Wednesday 12 September
 
 
09:30 – 10:00 Report to the high-level segment from the conference  
  Patrick Low (WTO Secretariat) 
 
10:00 – 12:30 Roundtable open debate 
 
 Chair: Pascal Lamy (Director-General, WTO) 
 
 Academic panellists:   
   
  Jagdish Bhagwati (Columbia Univer sity and Council of Foreign Relations) 
  Richard Baldwin (Graduate Inst itute of International Studies)  
 4Panellists from delegations:  
   H.E. Ambassador Arsene Balihut a (Permanent Mission of Uganda) 
  H.E. Ambassador Eirik Glenne (Permanent Mission of Norway) 
  H.E. Ambassador Mario Matus (Permanent Mission of Chile) 
  H.E. Ambassador Sun Zhenyu (Permanent Mission of China) 
 
12:30  Closing Remarks  
  Pascal Lamy (Director-General, WTO) 
 
 
 
 
Organizers Richard Baldwin (Graduate Institute of  International Studies and CEPR) 
Theresa Carpenter (Graduate Inst itute of International Studies) 
Patrick Low (WTO Secretariat) 
Paulette Planchette (WTO Secretariat) 
 The published output from the conference will include a s hort monograph summarizing the conference findings, together 
with a conference volume containing the papers prepared for the conference and discussants' comments.  The conference 
volume will also contain a paper surveying the current situat ion regarding regional and bilateral trade agreements.  This 
paper will be prepared by WTO Secretariat staff.