Benefits of WTO Accession for a Civil War-Torn Country with Tattered Institutions

Challenges Syria is facing in its path towards having an effective government with working institutions and a stable economy abound and can hardly be comprehended in full. Leaders of new regime have limited experience of statecraft, urban as well as rural areas of the country teem with bandits and armed gangs, while rule of law appears to be lacking. Furthermore, rivals and direct uprisings against the legitimacy of the prospective central government are ubiquitous. Support from international organizations is a prerequisite for a resilient government and its extraterritorial recognition which would empower the new leaders of Syria in dealing with the complexities ahead. In this respect an accession to World Trade Organization (WTO), the main international institution with 166 member states with an expansive mandate over the governance of international trade represents a tremendous opportunity for the new government to overcome at least some of these complexities. This study envisages the benefits of Syria’s accession of WTO to be threefold. First the Organization’s intensive Article XII membership procedure ensures that a prospective member would have legal and structural framework prerequisite for the effective functioning of financial and economic national administrative institutions. Second, given the position of WTO governing 98 per cent of world trade with a membership roster consisting of an overwhelming majority of international society seconded only to the United Nations, the accession procedure itself would provide international legitimacy, recognition and de jure character to the new government. Finally the accession to WTO would enhance the new government’s ability to enter into foreign relations and arrangements with an improved standing particularly for international trade and commerce. Legal framework established under WTO provides fundamental protection against trade-restrictive measures of other States, while allowing the conclusion of preferential arrangements responding development, financial and trade needs of developing countries. The study concludes with a proposition that the new government of Syria should start accession negotiations without any delay.