Aid for trade and services General reflections

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Aid for trade and services General reflections

• Dirk Willem te Velde
• Overseas Development Institute
• ILEAP-EABC meeting, Nairobi, 26-28 February 2009

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Introduction

• The key elements that make up an Aid for Trade
  strategy.
• Aid for trade categories (top-down)
• Constraints to trade in services (bottom-up)
• Role of Aid for Trade in overcoming constraints
• Appreciation of negotiations fora and aid
  modalities
• General and specific examples

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Aid for Trade WTO Task Force

• Trade policy and regulations
• Trade development
• Trade-related infrastructure
• Building productive capacity
• Trade-related adjustment
• Other trade-related needs

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Constraints to trade in services

• Lack of services supply capacity
• Inadequate regulatory framework and regulators
• Absence of national services trade policy
• International trade barriers
• Inability to translating regulatory framework
  into GATS language (lack of information)

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Roles for Aid for Trade
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Trade Negotiations, Aid modalities and AfT for
Trade in Services

• GATS includes references to TA
• EPA explicit link to development support
• Aid modalities EDF procedures, global
  initiatives (EIF etc), new vulnerability / fiscal
  stimulus fund?

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Technical Assistance in GATS

• Guidelines and Procedures for the Negotiations in
  Trade in Services (S/L/93), re GATS Art XXV
• Assessments (paragraph 14)
• LDC modalities
• Paragraph 8 (measures to enhance participation of
  LDCs)
• Paragraph 12 (targeted assistance to strengthen
  domestic services capacity and for assessments)
• Lack of follow up on these commitments?

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Assistance to trade in services (2005 review)

• TA for trade in services is 0.75 of all TRTA/CB
  (2004), or 0.01 of aid
• UNCTAD, World Bank, OECD, WTO, ILEAP, COMESA,
  RNM, others
• TA for offers/requests (one-off), assessment and
  policy research, negotiation capacities,
  workshops, toolkits, services baselines.
• Capacity
• To little emphasis on working in capitals (as
  opposed to

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Cotonou articles

• EC to support ACP export capacity and it mentions
  the following sectors specifically labour (i.e.
  Mode 4), business, distribution, finance,
  tourism, culture and construction (CPA Article
  41.5).
• CPA article 24 deals with tourism Cooperation
  will aim at the sustainable development of the
  tourism industry in ACP countries and
  sub-regions, recognising its increasing
  importance to the growth of the services sector
  in ACP countries and to the expansion of their
  global trade, its ability to stimulate other
  sectors of economic activity, and the role it can
  play in poverty eradication.
• CPA article 43 deals with Information and
  Communication Technologies, and Information
  Society 43.5 arguing that the parties agree to
  step up cooperation between them in the area of
  information and communication technologies, and
  the Information Society. This cooperation shall,
  in particular, be directed towards greater
  complementarity and harmonisation of
  communication systems, at national, regional and
  international level and their adaptation to new
  technologies.

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From Cotonou to development measures in an EPA

• Formulating Aid for Trade needs on trade in
  services
• Discuss practical support measures
• Link to existing support mechanisms
• EDF resources (NIPs and Rips) or additional?
• Mandatory vs optional?

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General support measures (examples wrt to EPA)

• Information provision (in the EU) to provide
  information on EC rules on services (specific
  focus on new member states)
• Development of service import promotion agencies
  (in the EU)
• TA to develop regulatory regimes for specific
  service sectors
• Support for a Coalition of Service Industries
  (secretariat, data gathering etc) and/or existing
  Business Associations
• Technical assistance to service suppliers and
  professional associations to comply with relevant
  standards and achieve relevant accreditation
• Stock take of qualifications in professional
  services (e.g. accountants, engineering related
  profession), IT related professions and health
  services.
• Facilitation of dialogue between professional
  associations of the Parties with a view to
  signing mutual recognition agreements in various
  professional services through a regular EAC-EU
  forum for professional associations.

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Specific support measures (examples wrt to EPA)

• Offshored services / IT enabled services / BPO
  (in financial. Legal and health services)
• Support for developing IT training programmes
  such as placements in IT companies (credit /
  grants)
• Support for upgrading data protection regimes
  (regulatory reform)
• Support for marketing and match making
• Tourism
• Marketing of new products and services in new
  markets
• Support for further liberalisation
• Assistance to SMEs to effectively use methods of
  e-commerce.
• Upgrading of hospitality schools
• Education, health (training centres) and mode 4
• Support for training programmes for nurses
• Support for managed migration programmes (e.g.
  IOM)
• Support for a stock take of temporary migration
  schemes in key countries
• Marketing of health tourism from EU market

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Towards an Aid for Trade and Services strategy

• Review of Aid for Trade needs so support services
  reform and trade in services (general specific)
• Link to trade negotiations fora
• Link to aid modalities

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MRA issue

• Steps
• Reference in EPA
• Industry intent (recommendation of professional
  service associations)
• Market access commitments
• Safegards wrt quality of agreement

Box Mutual Recognition (simple
option) Article Mutual Recognition of
Professionals in sector X The Parties shall
cooperate to ensure that the X sectors of each
region recognise and accept as appropriate the
respective X training qualifications and
certifications of the other region, with a view
to encouraging further future liberalization of
Mode 4 trade in X services. In this regard, the
Parties shall indicate their respective current
lists of X certifications and qualifications for
recognition. The Parties agree to update their
lists periodically and to notify trading partners
of the same.
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Box Mutual Recognition Article Mutual
recognition 1. Nothing in this Title shall
prevent a Party from requiring that natural
persons must possess the necessary qualifications
and/or professional experience specified in the
territory where the service is supplied, for the
sector of activity concerned. 2. The Parties
shall encourage the relevant professional bodies
in their respective territories to provide
recommendations on mutual recognition to the
Joint Committee, for the purpose of the
fulfilment, in whole or in part, by investors and
service suppliers of the criteria applied by each
Party for the authorisation, licensing, operation
and certification of investors and service
suppliers and, in particular, professional
services. 3. On receipt of a recommendation
referred to in the preceding paragraph, the
Joint Committee shall, within a reasonable
time, review the recommendation with a view to
determine whether it is consistent with this
Agreement. 4. When, in conformity with the
procedure set in paragraph 2, a recommendation
referred to in paragraph 1 has been found to be
consistent with this Agreement and there is a
sufficient level of correspondence between the
relevant regulations of the Parties, the Parties
shall, with a view to implement that
recommendation, negotiate, though their competent
authorities, an agreement on mutual recognition
of requirements, qualifications, licences and
other regulations. 5. Any such agreement shall be
in conformity with the relevant provisions of the
WTO Agreement and, in particular, Article VII of
GATS.