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WTO Issues
Regional Economic
Cooperation
Developmental
Issues
CUTS CITEE in Action
Call for Publications
WTO Issues
Opening up of
Services Sector
The government is believed to have committed to the World Trade
Organisation (WTO) to further open up its services sector for foreign
services providers without assessing its impact on the domestic market.
Pakistan's permanent mission to the WTO has sent a draft offer to commerce
ministry for approval. In the year 2005, Pakistan made an initial offer
for liberalisation of nine out of 12 sectors. This has been followed up in
revised offers for remaining areas of the sector.
http://worldtradereview.com/
A Structural Theory of WTO Dispute Settlement: Why
Institutional Choice Lies at the Center of the GMO Case
The regulation of agricultural biotechnology (the use of
genetically modified organisms, GMOs) is of great importance. Opponents
maintain that it can irreparably harm the environment and threaten human
health. Supporters contend that it can significantly increase food yields
and enhance nutrition in a world where almost a billion people go hungry
every day. Disputes over this technology threaten to trigger a trade war
among the world’s two economic powers, the United States and European
Union ………
http://www.law.uga.edu/intl/shaffer.pdf
Trade
Liberalization & WTO: Impact on Developing Countries
The international movement towards open markets prompted by the World
Trade Organisation (WTO) has its premise that trade liberalization will
benefit all those who are concerned. Each country will be able to exploit
its position of comparative advantage, once a free and fair trade regime
has been implemented. After the Second World War, world trade has been
growing continuously due to a number of factors. In particular, the
liberalization of trade restrictions and advent of WTO in recent times ………
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1084394
Bilateralism in Services Trade: Is There Fire Behind the (Bit-) Smoke?
Far less attention is given to the even more rapid proliferation
of bilateral investment treaties (BITs) and their overlap with obligations
assumed by WTO Members under the General Agreement on Trade in Services
(GATS). About 60 per cent of world foreign investment stocks are in
services and, thus, covered by mode 3 (commercial presence) of the GATS. A
closer look reveals that BITs generally apply across a far wider range of
sectors, in particular in the case of LDCs and developing countries, than
those scheduled under the GATS.
http://www.wto.org/english/res_e/reser_e/ersd200801_e.htm
Special and Differential Treatment Problems: Scope and
Limits
Special and differential (S&D) treatment for developing and the
least developed countries (LDCs) is an important characteristic of the
multilateral trading system put in place by the World Trade Organisation (WTO)
and its predecessor the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).
However, opinions are divided over the usefulness of S&D treatment. The
two major forms of S&D treatment are provisions for preferential tariffs
on imports from the developing countries and LDCs ………
http://worldtradereview.com/
Regional Economic
Cooperation
Regionalism
and Trade Facilitation: A Primer
This paper investigates when trade facilitation reform should be
undertaken at the regional level. First, looking at both efficiency
and implementation considerations, it confirms the perception that
the regional dimension matters. Investigating where efficiency gains
can be made, this research explains why national markets alone fail
to produce the full scale economies and positive externalities of
trade facilitation reform. Second, because trade facilitation
policies need to address ………
http://www-wds.worldbank.org/
Can a Preferential Trade Agreement Benefit Neighbor Countries
without Compensating Them?
PTAs are generally negotiated without any tariff
concessions or transfers to non-member countries. Can such a PTA
benefit the neighbors’ welfare? In a two-good competitive
equilibrium model in the absence of an entrepot, a PTA without
concessions to the outsider will hurt the outsider’s welfare when
goods are normal. If one of the member countries is an entrepot,
however, it definitely improves the neighbors’ welfare.
http://econpapers.repec.org/paper/egcwpaper/961.htm
Tread Warily on China RTA
It’s not often that lack of progress is reason for cheer,
however cautious. But then the India-China Regional Trade Agreement
(RTA) is a bit of an exception. RTAs, it is commonly accepted, are a
poor substitute for multilateral rules-based trade. They are complex
to negotiate and despite detailed rules of origin, could well lead
to trade diversion, with serious implications for domestic industry
and debatable benefits overall. More so in the case of an RTA with
China.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/
EPA Negotiations in The CARIBBEAN Region: Some Issues of Concern
This Analytical Note explores some of the main challenges
related to the EPA negotiations in the CARIFORUM ACP region,
particularly with respect to Market Access and regional integration,
Agriculture, Manufacturing, and trade in Services. This note
highlights some of the region’s main concerns and explores some
possible positive linkages between the EPAs and the WTO Doha Round
of negotiations in an effort to increase negotiators’ understanding
about the EPA developmental implications.
http://www.southcentre.org/
Asian Textile and Apparel Trade: Moving
Forward with Regional integration
This paper evaluates the competitive position of the members of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the members of the South
Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), and the PRC in terms
of growth in volume and value of apparel and textile shipments, market
shares, and unit prices for the period 2004–2007 in the US market. The
results indicate that although the PRC is a strong competitor in world
markets, this does not preclude other developing nations from succeeding.
http://www.adb.org/Documents/ERD/Working_Papers/WP111.pdf
Developmental
Issues
Gender Expertise of Family and Labour Codes of The Republic of Uzbekistan
Among the numerous social problems which are taking place in the centre of
attention of our society and the state, special value is got with a
problem of improvement of women position, wide involving them in process
of active participation in sociopolitical life of the country. Women, who
make a half of population, render huge influence on a society. Development
of women is a sensitive parameter of progress of mankind as a whole.
http://www.adb.org/Documents/Books/Gender-Expertise-Family/gender-en.pdf
Evaluating Alternative Approaches to Poverty Alleviation:
Rice Tariffs versus Targeted Transfers in Madagascar
This paper uses a partial equilibrium framework to evaluate the relative
efficiency, distributional and revenue implications of rice tariffs and targeted
transfers in Madagascar, especially in the context of identifying their
respective roles for poverty alleviation. Although there are likely to be
substantial efficiency gains from tariff reductions, these accrue mainly to
higher income households. In addition, poor net rice sellers will lose from
lower tariffs.
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=21548.0
Education Exclusion and Inclusion: Policy and Implementation
in South Africa and India
In South Africa and India, the patterns of inequality in education
correlate consistently and significantly with race and caste, and further, with
gender and poverty, and suggest the complex intersections between each in the
production of persistent education exclusion. In both countries, further
constitutional and other policy commitments and efforts have explicitly
addressed the issue of race and caste disadvantage. This report focuses on the
qualitative experiences of these excluded groups.
http://www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/Researchg-the-Issues-No.72.pdf
How Can Farmers'
Attitudes to Innovation be Improved?
TThis paper presents results of an analysis of farmers’ behaviour, based on
two case studies in Bolivia. It discusses how knowledge management modalities
affect innovation behaviour among small farmers. It also examines how schemes,
which involve multiple agents, can influence farmers’ attitudes towards
innovation.
The authors explore two hypotheses. Firstly that multiple-agent knowledge
management enhances the adoption of innovations among farmers; and ………
http://www.eldis.org/
New data on African
Health Professionals Abroad
The paper finds that approximately 35,000 African-born physicians and 70,000
African-born professional nurses were working overseas in a developed country in
the year 2000. This represents about one fifth of African-born physicians in the
work, and about one tenth of African-born professional nurses. The fraction of
health professionals abroad varies enormously across African countries, from one
per cent to over 70 per cent according to the occupation and country.
http://www.human-resources-health.com/content/pdf/1478-4491-6-1.pdf
Call for
Publications
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experts publishing articles in South Asian newspapers/publications,
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organisations, research
institutes and academics, if you
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Disclaimer
Views expressed in these articles and papers are those of the respective
authors and in no way reflect the official positions of CUTS and the
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