engleski

WTO, Business, and Governments: Elements for an analysis of the Croatian Case

Croatia as a Central European transition economy acceded to the WTO relatively late (2000). Joining the WTO was seen as a prerequisite for gaining access to the European regional markets (CEFTA and the EU). More importantly, however, membership in the WTO was supposed to provide a framework for restructuring a wide spectrum of policies and regulations and for changing the role of the state. While WTO allows state trading, its core philosophy is based on the MFN rules and the national treatment principles. This requires the adaptation of different ways of doing business both on the level of enterprises and governments. This is particularly true in the area of government procurement. The introductory section discusses the interface between the business sector and government from the WTO's perspective. The second and central section discusses government procurement from three perspectives: international rules making, economic theory, and the measurement of the bias in government procurement. The last section identifies the features of the Croatian economy as a transition economy which needs to be taken into consideration when the decision to sign the Agreement on Governement Procurement is made.

government procurement; discrimination; trade liberalization; regulation; WTO; transition

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