Commodity market stabilisation and commodity risk management: Could the demise of the former justify the latter?.
The objective of this paper is to cautiously analyse whether leaving commodity markets to operate in unfettered fashion while hedging commodity price risks through the use of commodity risk management instruments is a viable and better alternative than market stabilisation policies. (more…)
Analysis of Actual Liberalisation Versus Quad Members GATS Commitments and Offers: Focus on a) Mode 1 and b) Tourism and Travel Related Services.
This note is focused on two areas: a) mode 1 or cross-border supply of trade in services, and b) the tourism and travel related services sector. The goal of this exercise is to assess whether GATS commitments made by a few of the most developed service economies, i.e. Quad members, can be considered “weak”, below actual levels of liberalisation and occurring outside of the WTO GATS regime. (more…)
Issues of Interest to LDCs in the WTO Services Negotiations – Series No. 1: Tourism and Travel-Related Services.
The specific goal of this primer on the tourism and travel-related services sector (hereinafter referred to as “tourism services”) is to provide LDCs with both basic information pertaining to economic activity of the sector and insights of the GATS negotiations related to the sector. (more…)
Strengthening Developing Countries’ Capacity for Trade Negotiations: Matching Technical Assistance to Negotiating Capacity Constraints.
This paper looks at the negotiating needs and constraints of developing countries vis-à-vis international trade negotiations, and at the deficiencies of existing trade-related technical assistance and capacity-building initiatives in addressing such capacity needs and constraints. (more…)
From Doha to the July 2004 Framework Package.
On 31 July 2004, the WTO General Council decided to establish a framework for continued negotiations under the Doha Work Programme set out in the Doha Ministerial Declaration (DMD, WT/MIN(01)/DEC/1) of 2001. This note seeks to present a content analysis of the WTO General Council Decision of 31 July 2004 (WT/GC/W/535). (more…)
The World Development Report 2005: An Unbalanced Message on Investment Liberalization.
The principal message of the World Development Report 2005 of the World Bank to the developing countries is that they should adopt liberal policies related to foreign investment to spur economic growth and development, and that the development of binding multilateral rules relating to foreign investment would create a favorable climate for foreign investment in developing countries. (more…)
Considerations for the Submission of Initial Offers in Light of the Current State of Play of Negotiations.
This note discusses the differing negotiating scenarios for individual Members and aims to present a clearer picture of the near term prospects for market access negotiations. From this, general considerations and options are provided for Members facing pressure to submit initial offers. (more…)
Analysis of Actual Liberalisation versus GATS Commitments of Quad Members: Mode 4 and Health Services.
This note is the first of a series assessing the actual or current level of trade liberalisation in select modes and sectors of the Quad members (Canada, European Communities, Japan and the United States) compared with their General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) commitments in the respective areas. (more…)
The UNCTAD XI: Comments on the 13 May 2004 Draft Negotiated Text.
This paper is intended as a follow-up to the South Centre’s informal paper entitled “The UNCTAD XI: Defining UNCTAD’s Future Mandate” in which readers were provided with a brief overview of the current state of play (as of late March 2004) of the pre-conference negotiations, and then a paragraph by paragraph description of the differences in negotiating positions among various countries. (more…)
A Development Agenda for Intellectual Property Negotiations in 2004 and Beyond.
In 2003, activities in the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) were fairly subdued, save for the negotiations relating to the implementation of paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health. (more…)
Comments on the WTO Secretariat’s Paper – Tariff Reductions for Agricultural Products: Some Simulations of the Operation of the Blended Formula (JOB(04)/1).
One of the most contentious issues in agriculture negotiations is the blended approach for market access presented in the proposed framework on agriculture in the Draft Ministerial Declaration produced by the Chairman of the Cancun Conference on 13 September 2003. (more…)
Implementation-Related Issues and Concerns: The Way Forward After Cancun.
This paper looks primarily at the history of implementation issues in the WTO since the 2001 Doha Ministerial Conference, and at some of the major initiatives that developing countries have suggested in order to push the negotiations on implementation issues forward. (more…)
