of its membership and stop mourning about sanctions imposed by the West.
President Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF argue that Western sanctions were the
largest contributor to the country's unprecedented economic collapse.
Keith Rockwell, the WTO director for information and external relations told
a workshop jointly hosted by the body and the Friederich Ebert Stiftung
Foundation that despite the restrictions, Zimbabwe can still sell its goods
and services to any country.
"As a member of the WTO, Zimbabwe is able to enjoy the rights of all
members," Rockwell said.
"What this means in practice is that WTO members cannot discriminate against
Zimbabwe's trade in goods and services."
"Zimbabwe has access to the dispute settlement system which means it can
defend its rights through our binding system of dispute resolution."
Rockwell said Zimbabwe was involved at every level of the WTO's discussions
on trade policy and ongoing Doha round of talks.
The United States and the European Union (EU) have repeatedly dismissed
accusations that the sanctions targeted at Mugabe and his inner circle were
behind Zimbabwe's economic collapse.
British Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mark Canning on Tuesday told journalists in
Harare that the so-called sanctions impact one in every 70 000 of Zimbabwe's
population.
"They played no role in the economic chaos of the past, indeed if they did
how is it that the economy is now growing for the first time since 1997,"
Canning said.
"Would the UK really be pouring all this money into the country if it was
simultaneously undermining the economy at the same time?
Zimbabwe's trade promotion body, Zimtrade, has in the past called on local
businesses to be proactive on issues relating to international trade
agreements so that they can take advantage of export opportunities.
Some of the agreements, which are regulated by the WTO, are increasingly
determining the direction of global trade.
Rockwell said developing countries including Zimbabwe can take up trade
disputes with developed countries to the WTO for arbitration and win the
cases. At least 70% of WTO members are developing countries.
Meanwhile, participants at the workshop noted that all was not well in the
WTO as more developing countries were resorting to bilateral trade
agreements.
They attributed the growing phenomenon to the lack of progress in the Doha
round of negotiations.
Zimbabwe last year signed a bilateral trade agreement with South Africa and
is ready to sign another one with Botswana to enhance trade and investment
with its neighbours.
The experts said they foresee bilateralism becoming the preferred method of
business and trade between various countries in the regions as
multilateralism was getting more complex.
They said multilateralism involved serious power play between the bigger
nations.
"Many regional African organisations are moving towards deeper integration
in terms of trade and customs," said Prega Ramsamy, the head of Business for
Development Southern Africa Trust.
"Integration deepens political and regional co-operation, enhances export
and investment opportunities and increases market size and that's why we are
seeing a proliferation of regional agreements," he explained.
Deeper integration however, would mean yielding part of a county's power and
sovereignty to the regional institutions like Sadc.
Ramsamy said most African countries were not yet ready to compromise on
their sovereignty.
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