“It’s time African Countries utilized the WTO, Dispute Settlement Understanding more to leverage their International Trade Interests.”

Abstract

The paper unravels the law relating to WTO, Dispute Settlement Understanding, pointing out why African Countries have failed to harness it to leverage international trade Interests. The ability of African Countries in international trade has been saddled by many factors that characterize Less Developed Countries. The Uruguay Round (1986-94) introduced many changes such as the reduced timelines (from when disputes are initiated to when they are disposed of), admission of third parties to represent poor Countries which may be deficient in requisite capacity to deal with the complexity of the World trade disputes. The paper articulates that the marginalization of African Countries in the World trade system is partly caused by their inability to harness the Dispute Settlement Measure out whys and other inherent factors that saddle them as Less Developed Economies. We adopted a qualitative research methodology, reviewed existing literature and empirical evidence to foster the objectives for writing the paper. There is ample evidence that African Countries have been sidelined because they have not utilized the Dispute Settlement Understanding to leverage their international trade interests