Thread by @DmitryOpines

1/ One of the WTO groups the UK has repeatedly expressed interest in joining post-Brexit is the Cairns Group of Agricultural Exporting Members (see their new twitter below!).

But what are WTO Groups? What do they do? Why do Members join them?

https://twitter.com/CairnsGroupWTO/status/1140766388631375872

2/ In multilateral organisations like the UN and WTO, Groups are informal alliances.

These can be broad, covering the entirety of the organisation's mandated work (such as the UN's G77+China) or issue based (like the 'Friends of E-Commerce' at the WTO).

g77.org

3/ Groups endeavor to speak with one voice on the issues they focus on.

They do this by internally coordinating a unified position prior to important meetings or when issues arise which call for a response (such as a new proposed WTO rule change).

4/ Because the WTO makes decisions by consensus, being part of a Group doesn't convey direct benefits the way, for example, being part of a voting bloc in a Parliament might.

Rather, the benefits are about soft power, burden sharing and coordination.

5/ While in theory all WTO Members are equal under the rules, in practice larger economies carry more weight.

When the US or China speak, diplomats take notes. When Armenia does, maybe not as much.

Forming groups allows smaller countries to pool their voices to redress this.

6/ The most prominent Groups at the WTO are those of the developing countries.

- The Least Developed Country Group (LDC)
- African Group
- Africa Caribbean and Pacific Group

These carry significant moral authority, having positioned themselves as the voice of the global poor.

7/ While not all Members of these groups agree on every issue (Nigeria and Uganda disagree strongly on e-commerce, for example), they have generally retained cohesion.

When they don't, they'll either not issue a statement or issue one indicating who in the group disagrees.

8/ Developing country groups have complex rules about who 'Chairs' or 'Convenes' each group every year.

For example. the African Group convener position theoretically rotates between Anglophonie and Francophonie Africa annually, with an effort at geographic diversity too.

9/ Issue based groups like the Cairns Group are more focused.

The Cairns Group works to liberalize agricultural trade by lobbying Members to lower limits on subsidies, reduce agricultural tariffs and end trade distorting practices.

10/ At a typical meeting of the Committee on Agriculture Special Session (the WTO Committee which negotiates new trade rules), someone (generally Australia) will read statements on behalf of the Cairns Group as a whole, in addition to Australia's own national statements.

11/ In addition to magnifying their voice, being in a Group allows Members to share labor.

Putting together and trying to advance a WTO proposal is a huge undertaking, both technically and in terms of time. Smaller Members with smaller WTO Missions can struggle.

12/ Being in a Group lets the Members pool resources, dividing up the labor into more manageable chunks.

It also means that by the time a Group proposal emerges, it has been internally vetted and comes with a lot of co-sponsors right out of the gate.

13/ Finally, being in a Group can sometimes get Members access and information they wouldn't ordinarily have.

Not only do the Groups share intelligence internally, but smaller meetings (called informals) will often invite the Conveners of the major groups.

14/ The WTO maintains two informal lists of the major groups operating within it, and who is in each.

This list tracks each Members declared group allegiances:
wto.org/english/tratop…

This list tracks all the Groups and their Members:
wto.org/english/tratop…

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