Inside Geneva: can the WTO shape a fairer world economy?

The World Trade Organization (WTO) Public Forum is underway in Geneva and its key theme is ‘re-globalisation’. Are we nervous about that word? Inside Geneva sat down with WTO officials to find out what it means. “Trade has been a very powerful force for reducing between-country inequality. Since 1995, for example, since the foundation of the WTO, extreme poverty in the world has been reduced from 40% to 10%, because of growth in many countries that was also export-led,” says Ralph Ossa, WTO chief economist. Many ordinary people think global trade makes them poorer. How can it benefit them? “At the WTO, our members have gotten together and many of them have formed a working group on trade and gender to especially put the lens of women to trade policy and to see what more can be done so that they can take advantage of opportunities,” says Johanna Hill, WTO Deputy Director. The WTO doesn’t tell countries how to run their industries, but it does hope they can learn from one another.