Trade Policy Note Final-rev08 - Development

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supported by measures that ensure that the benefits of export growth are shared equitably, and (c) the protection of food security and rural livelihoods, should set in play a virtuous spiral of growth, poverty reduction and human development. The objective of trade negotiations should be the preservation of national policy space needed for development and achievement of the MDGs, while obtaining commitments from trading partners supportive of these development objectives. Preparing a Strategy A first step would be to review trade policies (i.e. trade in the broad sense of covering all matters subject to “trade” concessions) to target those most conducive to pro-poor and pro-development outcomes and the achievement of the MDGs. These can be divided into those where the maintenance of domestic policy space would seem crucial, and those where the objective would be to obtain action on the part of other countries, with the support of policy measures at the national level. Policy measures at the national and international levels would focus on (a) preventing the poor from bearing the burden of trade disciplines and liberalization and (b) equipping poorer people to derive maximum benefit from trade and globalization. In both cases, the achievement of the MDGs would be a central objective. Governments which have not clearly defined their interests and goals inevitably find themselves on the defensive in trade negotiations. A pro-development trade policy not solidly based on a broad national consensus will not be defensible for long in negotiations, as it will come under pressure from foreign trade negotiators, multilateral financial institutions and special interest groups within the country. A solid consensus building exercise should, therefore, be seen as a prerequisite for effective participation in trade negotiations. This is to preempt the risk of “elite capture”, where special interests are successful in distorting priorities to serve their own interests at the expense of other segments of society. This can result in undermining development strategies and give rise to political conflict. An intensive consensus building process involving all stakeholders can greatly strengthen the ability of governments to achieve a pro development, pro-poor outcome in trade negotiations. A consensus should be reached on a list of priorities to be pursued in trade negotiations, whether at the multilateral, regional or bilateral level. This strategy would incorporate pro-poor and pro-development objectives into national trade legislation and regulation, and anticipate the requests of trading partners so as to prepare to protect existing pro-MDG programmes and preserve policy space for future initiatives. A bottom-up pro-poor and pro-development trade strategy could be devised so as to attain the following goals in domestic policy and trade negotiations: Goal A: to protect the most vulnerable segments of the population and to ensure greater equality within national societies, notably by providing universal access to basic services , health, education, water and sanitation and energy, and to protect poor farmers from disruptive surges of imports that could threaten their livelihoods. Negotiating strategy: to defend national policies and regulations in negotiations on trade in services and investment, (Sections 6 and 7) and flexibilities in agricultural trade regimes, (Section 5), and of ensuring access to medicines (Section 9). 14
Goal B : to empower people to become productive member s of their national societies and compete in the world economy. Negotiating strategy: to retain the flexibility to implement a coherent industrial policy, and export strategy setting off the virtuous upward spiral (Sections 3 and 4), obtaining advanced capital and technology, (Sections 5, 6, 7 and 8) while building upon traditional knowledge and community achievements (Section 9). Goal C: to establish a set of objectives which should be pursued as a demandeur in trade negotiations, seeking commitments from other trading partners either in terms of specific concessions on their part or acceptance of trade rules that will serve to make the international trading environment more supportive of the national development strategy 7 . Negotiating strategy: to pursue the elimination of tariffs and tighter disciplines over the application of restrictive trade measures in negotiations at the multilateral, regional, plurilateral and bilateral levels (Sections 2, 3 and 10). The WTO Multilateral Negotiations and the MDGs The goals of the Doha Declaration are consistent with the objectives outlin ed in this Policy Note. In this context, developing countries have been insisting that commitments be made to deal with measures most inimical to their exports (e.g. agricultural subsidies in developed countries) as a prerequisite to liberalization on their part. All WTO members are participating in the Doha Round whose final package was more clearly defined at the sixth WTO Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong in December 2005. 8 While the Doha Declaration sets out objectives aimed at further liberalization, it also recognizes development objectives and the need to revisit certain obligations from a development perspective. Certain actions have already been taken, such as the Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health and some measures deriving from it (eg. Paragraph 6). Some of the new “Singapore” issues opposed by developing countries have also been withdrawn from the agenda as a result of the Cancun Ministerial Conference. What can be achieved in the multilateral trade negotiations that could be supportive of development strategies and is it possible to foresee the main elements of the Doha outcome that will set the multilateral framework within which trade policies will be formulated and pursued. 9 7 See UNCTAD, A Positive Agenda for Future Trade Negotiations (UNCTAD/ITCD/TSB/10) (New York and Geneva: 2000), which sets out the spectrum of developing country goals in multilateral trade negotiations (http://www.unctad.org/en/docs/itcdtsb10_en.pdf ). 8 See Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration WT/MIN(05)/Dec, and other relevant documents on www.wto.org. 9 See Das, Bhagirath Lal, The Current Negotiations in the WTO, options, opportunities and risks for developing countries (ZED books, London: 2005) www.zedbooks.co.uk. 15
Page 1 and 2: NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES POL
Page 3 and 4: Preface The outcome document of the
Page 5 and 6: A “New Generation” of Bilateral
Page 7 and 8: TNCs TRIMs TRIPS TRQ UNCTAD UNESCO
Page 9 and 10: The case and options for widening t
Page 11 and 12: outcomes are less clear. Moreover,
Page 13: countries struggle to ensure that t
Page 17 and 18: Tigers), has not followed the Brett
Page 19 and 20: III. TARIFFS AND INDUSTRIAL POLICY
Page 21 and 22: across the board tariff bindings. F
Page 23 and 24: Such tariff policy should ensure th
Page 25 and 26: Export duties can also be an elemen
Page 27 and 28: IV. EXPORTS AND POVERTY Can develop
Page 29 and 30: Increase Productivity Exports shoul
Page 31 and 32: Box 14: Export Policies and WTO and
Page 33 and 34: percent of domestic consumption) wa
Page 35 and 36: developing countries with a few not
Page 37 and 38: Different products emerge at the to
Page 39 and 40: safeguard measures on agricultural
Page 41 and 42: suppliers in the domestic market fo
Page 43 and 44: Investment Policy is Central to Tra
Page 45 and 46: water and sanitation. Sustainabilit
Page 47 and 48: traditionally done in trade in good
Page 49 and 50: Mode 1 service exports, often terme
Page 51 and 52: It is now incumbent on developing c
Page 53 and 54: commercial value to their tradition
Page 55 and 56: The Proliferation of FTAs Over rece
Page 57 and 58: services liberalization in these ag
Page 59 and 60: copyright protection may be extende
Page 61 and 62: (q) SPS and TBT. Within the framewo
Page 63 and 64: Market Access Even after the abolit
Page 65 and 66:
were established almost exclusively
Page 67 and 68:
Annex 3B: Fisheries, Putting the pr
Page 69 and 70:
also enshrined in the Code of Condu
Page 71 and 72:
poorest people. 140 Governments in
Page 73 and 74:
Annex 5B: Energy services Attainmen
Page 75 and 76:
Box 25: Strategies for Strengthenin
Page 77 and 78:
On the contrary, a sharp decline ha
Page 79 and 80:
small farmers find themselves left
Page 81 and 82:
A number of developing countries ar
Page 83 and 84:
Commission on Intellectual Property
Page 85 and 86:
Mathew, Sebastian (2003). Trade in
Page 87 and 88:
UNDP (2005). Human Development Repo
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Trade Policy Note Final-rev08 - Development

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