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A Trade Strategy for Guyana

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Guyana has little time to position itself to make the most of the opportunities ... Guyana must be prepared for the transition from one-way to two-way bargaining ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: A Trade Strategy for Guyana


1
A Trade Strategy for Guyana
  • Craig VanGrasstek
  • Washington Trade Reports

2
Part I
  • Introduction

3
Mainstreaming trade policy into the development
strategy
  • Trade policy is merely one aspect of a broader
    national undertaking that will require a
    sustained and coordinated national effort to
    reduce poverty through economic opportunity.
  • Globalisation sets the context in which this
    strategy is to be pursued, presenting risks and
    opportunities.

4
Risks and opportunities of globalisation
  • Globalisation is an inevitable trend
  • The main opportunities are in the reciprocal
    removal of trade barriers
  • The main risks are in the loss of preferential
    market access
  • Guyana has little time to position itself to make
    the most of the opportunities and deal with the
    risks

5
The short, medium, and long terms
  • Short term (2003-2004) Preparation conduct
    of negotiations
  • Medium term (2005-2008) Absorbing the changes
    of 2005
  • Long term (After 2008) Implementation and
    exploitation of trade and investment
    opportunities

6
2005 is the key year
  • Regional Completion of the Caribbean Single
    Market and Economy
  • Hemispheric Ratification of the Free Trade Area
    of the Americas agreements
  • Global Conclusion of the Doha Round of World
    Trade Organisation negotiations
  • Sectoral Final phase-out of the apparel quotas

7
Globalisation means an expanded definition of
trade policys scope
  • Trade no longer means just the movement of
    goods across borders and border measures such as
    tariffs
  • Services (not the invisible or untraded
    sector any more)
  • Ideas (intellectual property rights)
  • Capital (investment measures)
  • People (movement of natural persons)

8
All ministries have responsibilities in trade
policy
  • A few illustrative examples
  • Finance Trade-related taxes account for about
    40 of revenue, so liberalisation must be
    budgeted
  • Tourism, Industry and Commerce Promotion of
    tourism, administration of export-processing
    zones
  • Agriculture ( NGMC) Exports of traditional
    non-traditional agriculture
  • Transportation Shipping costs pose a greater
    barrier to Guyanas exports than do tariffs

9
Cost of Importing Goods From Selected Countries
and Regions into U.S., 2002
10
Globalisation means shifting from preferences to
reciprocity
  • Guyana must be prepared for the transition from
    one-way to two-way bargaining
  • For tariffs, the margins of preference are being
    diminished by negotiations
  • Apparel quotas are being phased out by 2005
  • Sugar quotas face both dispute-settlement and a
    negotiated phase-out
  • The value of preferences is often over-estimated

11
Changes in U.S. Imports of Non-Oil, Non-Apparel
Goods, 1992-2002
12
Changes in U.S. Imports of Apparel, 1992-2002
13
Strategy More than a set of tactical instructions
  • Tactical directions for specific negotiations
    have a limited shelf life
  • The strategy establishes general principles for
    the conduct of policy
  • Each negotiation or other initiative needs to be
    seen in the broader context

14
Follow-up to the strategy
  • WTOs Trade Policy Review
  • FTAA Capacity-Building Strategy (Hemispheric
    Cooperation Programme)
  • Improved coordination with the donor community
  • Increased presence in Geneva
  • Enhancing the resources of MOFTIC
  • Promoting closer collaboration between ministries
    and with civil society

15
Part II
  • The Strategy

16
Structure of the strategy
  • Section I Principles and objectives
  • -- What Guyana should seek in its
  • trade policy
  • Section II Principles and resources
  • -- What Guyana needs in order to
  • attain these objectives

17
Mapping Guyanas Existing Rights and Obligations
  • Guyana has made commitments to its trading
    partners (and vice versa) in CARICOM, the WTO,
    and other fora. The country must ensure both that
    its own trade laws and agreements, as well as
    those of its partners, are devised and executed
    in accordance with these commitments.

Principle I.A
18
Guyanas commitments
  • Commitments made in the WTO
  • The Trade Policy Review
  • CARICOM commitments
  • Bilateral, regional, and hemispheric agreements

19
Prioritisation of Future Objectives
  • MOFTICs investigative, coordinating, and
    negotiating resources should be allocated
    according to a hierarchy of objectives, with
    sectoral objectives in the lead.

Principle I.B
20
Primary Issues Market Access
  • In addition to tariffs (preferential and
    non-preferential), these include non-tariff
    barriers imposed for any reason, as well as
    intellectual property rights and barriers to
    trade in services. Guyanas own tariffs and
    services commitments should be addressed in this
    same context.

21
Secondary Issues Legal defense of Guyanas trade
interests
  • These include trade disputes (either as
    complainant or defendant), defense against
    actions taken under trade-remedy laws (i.e.,
    antidumping duties, countervailing duties, and
    safeguards), and trade-related issues such as
    intellectual property rights and investment.

22
Tertiary Issues
  • Matters that do not bear a reasonably close
    relationship to the primary issues, involve a
    greater investment in capacity-building than may
    be justified, or that are best left in the hands
    of regional Caribbean institutions. These include
    such matters as the governance of international
    organisations and trade-related investment
    measures.

23
Preferential Access to Foreign Markets
  • Guyana should make the most of existing
    preferential arrangements, seeking their
    continuation for as long as possible and even
    their expansion, but policymakers must be
    prepared for their gradual diminution in value
    and eventual disappearance altogether.

Principle I.C
24
Key issues in preferences
  • Sugar and rice
  • Special and differential treatment in the WTO and
    FTAA
  • Parity with least-developed countries for HIPC
    countries

25
Reciprocal Access to Foreign Markets
  • While negotiators should seek whenever possible
    to include principles of SD treatment in these
    agreements, they must also be prepared to make
    specific requests for tariff commitments on
    products of interest to Guyanas exporters, and
    to make reciprocal commitments for reductions in
    the countrys own tariff barriers.

Principle I.D
26
Key issues in reciprocal negotiations
  • Using bound rates as the base rates in
    negotiations
  • The meaning of substantially all in the context
    of GATT Article XXIV

27
A Voice for Trade in Related National Policy
Debates
  • MOFTIC has a key role in promoting the
    principles of competitiveness and compliance.

Principle I.E
28
Defense of Guyanas Interests
  • MOFTIC must be prepared to defend the
    countrys trade interests in regional and
    multilateral bodies

Principle I.F
29
Key issues for the defense of Guyanas interests
  • Dispute-settlement mechanisms in the WTO and
    elsewhere
  • Antidumping law

30
Empirical Preparation
  • The most immediate need for MOFTIC is to
    enhance its analytical capacities in advance of
    trade negotiations.

Principle II.A
31
Key issues in empirical preparation
  • Identification of sectoral-based negotiating
    objectives (primary issues)
  • Identification of rules-based negotiating
    objectives (secondary and tertiary issues)

32
Internal Cooperation, Coordination, and
Colaboration
  • Coordination between ministries, and between
    the government and the private sector, is
    essential at all stages of trade policymaking.

Principle II.B
33
Key issues in internal coordination
  • Inter-ministerial coordination at the Cabinet and
    working levels
  • Consultation with the private sector

34
External Coordination
  • Negotiations with other countries involve not
    only the exchange of commitments, but also the
    establishment of coalitions in larger
    negotiations. MOFTIC must work closely with
    like-minded countries in general and its CARICOM
    partners in particular.

Principle II.C
35
Enhancement of MOFTIC Resources
  • The financial, physical, and human resources
    available to MOFTIC must be increased to a level
    commensurate with the ministrys
    responsibilities.

Principle II.D
36
Key issues in MOFTICs resources
  • Enhanced representation in Geneva
  • Increase in MOFTIC staff size
  • Improvement in MOFTIC staff capacities
  • Improvement in MOFTIC information technology
  • Establishment of a trade reference library
  • Improving MOFTICs dissemination of information
  • Improvement in the trade data system
  • Better coordination with the donor community
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