Weitzenegger's Trade Policy Report

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How to Design, Negotiate, and Implement a Free Trade Agreement in Asia
http://www.aric.adb.org/pdf/FTAManual.pdf
This ADB reference book is intended to be used mainly in present and planned FTA training courses of the Asian Development Bank, to increase the knowledge and capacity of officials who are active in designing, negotiating, and implementing FTAs. Building on theories of international trade economics and the good?practiceFTA experiences accumulated by both front-runners and late beginners in this area, the book explains important facts and benchmarks to be considered when preparing, negotiating, and enforcing FTAs. Rather than going into the details of specific topics, this reference book covers the overall FTA process and its main features.

Trade in the WAEMU: Developments and Reform Opportunities
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2008/wp0868.
This IMF paper provides an overview of trade reform in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) since 1996 and a quantitative assessment of potential effects on trade patterns and tariff revenue of the current reform agenda. Despite evidence of significant trade complementarities within WAEMU, implementation of the union's current trade regime still suffers from persistent non-tariff barriers and administrative weaknesses. Based on an assessment of prospects for further trade integration, the paper also recommends strengthening the implementation of the present tariff union and supports the plan to extend it to all ECOWAS members. Finally, the paper stresses that an Economic Partnership Agreement with the EU could bring to the region the political momentum needed to address the weaknesses of the current trade regime, while also underlining the corresponding challenges in terms of trade diversion and tariff revenue losses.

UNCTAD XII adopts wide-ranging conclusions
http://www.unctadxii.org
UNCTAD Secretary-General Supachai Panitchpakdi hailed the Accra Accord and its accompanying political declaration for embodying the shared commitment of the developing and developed world ''to work toward making globalization a powerful means to achieve poverty eradication.” Quoting Ghanaian President John Kofi Agyekum Kufuor, whose country hosted the conference, Dr. Supachai referred to a new mood of ''development solidarity” around the objective of narrowing gaps between countries and achieving the Millennium Development Goals, which include halving extreme poverty by 2015.
The Accra Accord highlighted the challenges facing many developing countries as they strive to integrate successfully into the international economic and financial system and set out a detailed agenda for progress in economic and social development spanning areas ranging from commodities, trade and debt to investment and new technologies. While welcoming the strong economic growth rates that global trade and investment flows have brought many in the developing world, UNCTAD XII cautioned that these advances have not been shared by all and have been accompanied by new difficulties, most notably the current crises in food prices and financial markets, as well as growing income inequalities.

Report shows EU imports from developing countries growing
http://ec.europa.eu/trade/issues/global/development/pr220408en.htm
The European Commission has presented to the European Parliament its regular report on the openness of the European market to imports from developing countries. The report sets out how the EU has continued in 2007 to use its trade policy to advance a pro-development agenda and analyses the relevant data for which the most recent available is for the period up to the end of 2006. The report shows that the EU continues to offer market access for developing country exports that is unmatched by any other major economy. EU imports from developing countries rose 16% in 2006 from 2005 and by 14% if imports from China are excluded. According to the WTO, overall global merchandise trade grew by around 8% over the same period.
The report also assesses EU measures to help developing countries integrate further into the global economy by developing their capacity to trade. The EU's Aid for Trade strategy of October 2007, jointly agreed by the Commission and EU Member States, provides a strong basis for implementation of Aid for Trade in their respective development assistance activities. It argues that both the Doha WTO trade talks and the ongoing negotiations for comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements and other bilateral and regional agreements have considerable potential for increasing imports and economic diversification in the developing world.

CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement : An Overview
http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2008/april/tradoc138569.pdf
Information paper by DG Trade, European Commission, gives an overview of the content of the agreement, outlining the provisions with respect to various subject areas.

Removing Barriers to SME Access to International Markets:
http://www.oecdbookshop.org/oecd/display.asp?sf1=identifiers&st1=852008021P1
This book sheds light on facilitating SME internationalisation and also presents a synthesis of the Conference discussions and the main outcome of the Conference: the ''Athens Action Plan for Removing Barriers to SME Access to International Markets''.

The new EPAs: comparative analysis of their content and the challenges for 2008
http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/?doc=36293
This report, prepared by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) addresses questions around national level impacts of interim EPAs, individual level agreements in relation to future regional integration initiatives and details of agreed opt out options and time schedules. It also examines how far the agreed texts are similar to each other and how development friendly are they?

eldis Ressource Guide: EU trade policy
http://www.eldis.org/go/topics/resource-guides/trade-policy/eu-trade-policy/
This Resource Guide provides easy structured access to our extensive collection of research and policy documents. All are editorially selected, summarised and available free to download in full text. Resource guides are intended to help you keep up to date with the latest in development research, policy and practice.

Geneva Trade and Development Forum (GTDForum)
http://www.gtdforum.org
The GTDForum seeks to provide an enduring platform – and a novel experience – for reflection, innovation, debate and dialogue. It will address the specific challenges and opportunities of developing countries trying to reap the benefits and heal the wounds from globalization and trade liberalization. The Forum offers a much needed neutral environment away from the negotiating table for all stakeholders, where the needs and interests of the poorer countries and the use of trade as a development tool will be at the centre of discussions.

Analysis of Subsidies for Services: The Case of Export Subsidies
http://tinyurl.com/yox6n9
This study by the OECD presents an exploratory analysis of export subsidies in the services field. It draws from a variety of sources in an effort to provide insights into the characteristics and use of these measures. The report, while not generating accurate measures of the extent and effects of export subsidies for services, provides evidence that these measures are used by many countries in the developed and developing worlds to support a wide range of services sectors. The analysis also indicates that broadly speaking the definitions contained in the WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (ASCM) are relevant for services. The most important types of export support appear to be direct tax incentives, particularly profit tax exemptions or reductions. Based on the detailed analysis of export subsidies for services, the study then discusses some possible elements of a definition of these measures.

CUTS Centre for International Trade, Economics & Environment
http://www.cuts-citee.org
Since October 2007, CUTS Centre for International Trade, Economics & Environment (CUTS CITEE) has been posting latest developments, news items, etc on trade and development issues onto its site. They are gathered from various sources and put under three heads: WTO Issues, Regional Economic Cooperation, and Developmental Issues. For instance, the latest draft texts on agriculture and NAMA (non-agricultural market access) of the Doha Round of negotiations by the WTO Members are there.

United Nations Online Course for Finance-sector and Trade Officials
http://www.unitar.org/pft/elearning
The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) is pleased to announce its 2008 e-Learning Course Calendar. For 2008, UNITAR will be conducting over least fifteen online courses intended for a global audience of finance-sector and trade officials.

Trade and Climate Change
http://www.socialistgroup.eu/gpes/newsdetail.do?lg=en&id=68953&href=home
Socialist Group in the European Parliament, with contributions from a series of stakeholders, including Nathalie Bernasconi from CIEL and Meena Raman and I from Friends of the Earth. The pamphlet is available in four languages: DE, EN, ES, FR.

ENTWINED Research programme on Trade and Environment
http://www.entwined.se
This project examines the role of private and governmental environmental policies under the trade regime from both a positive and a normative point of view. It focuses in particular on the treatment of trans-boundary problems. Its ultimate aim, first, is to identify areas where governmental and private environmental policies are able and where they are insufficient to address these problems. The second purpose of the project is to suggest alternative solutions to allow for better simultaneous achievement of environmental and other objectives of trade.

Updated WTO trade statistics online
http://www.wto.org/english/rese/statise/its2007e/its07toce.htm
The WTO has released two updated statistical publications. This year’s edition of the annual ''International Trade Statistics”, and an updated ''Trade Profiles”, which offers a quick but comprehensive look at WTO members’ trade statistics and policy measures as well as those of countries negotiating WTO membership.

Aid for Trade: New OECD Report
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/trade/highlights/viewHighlight.do~activeHighlightId=114720?intcmp=925
The WTO Aid for Trade Task Force argued that a global picture of aid-for-trade flows is important to assess whether additional resources are being delivered, to identify where gaps exists, to highlight where improvements should be made, and to increase transparency on pledges and disbursements. For that purpose the Task Force defined aid for trade as comprising support for trade policy and regulations, trade development, trade-related infrastructure, building productive capacity and trade-related adjustment if identified as trade-related development priorities in partner countries' national development strategies.

WTO launches first Global Review of Aid for Trade
http://www.wto.org/english/tratope/devele/a4te/globalreviewproge.htm
WTO provided an overview of what has been learned from the first year of Aid for Trade monitoring, with a focus on global flows and the result of the donor and partner self-assessments. Subsequently, roadmaps for mainstreaming trade in national development strategies were brought on the way.

The Trade Knowledge Network
http://www.tradeknowledgenetwork.net
The Trade Knowledge Network (TKN) is the collaboration of research institutions in developed and developing countries located in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. The Trade Knowledge Network is aimed at building long-term capacity to address issues of trade and sustainable development in developing country research institutions, non-governmental organizations and governments through increased awareness, knowledge and understanding of the issues. The TKN links network members and consolidates new and existing research on trade and sustainable development.

EcoFair Trade Dialogue
http://www.ecofair-trade.org
This Dialogue is a project carried out by the Heinrich Böll Foundation and Misereor in cooperation with the Wuppertal Institute. The overall aim of the project is to enrich and influence the debate on the reform of the current multilateral regime of international agricultural trade through the development and advancement of forward looking guidelines and instruments which respond to the 21st century’s social and ecological challenges to global agriculture.

World Customs Journal
http://www.worldcustomsjournal.org/
The World Customs Journal provides a forum for customs professionals, academics, industry researchers, and research students to contribute items of interest and share research and experiences to enhance its readers' understanding of all aspects of the roles and responsibilities of customs. The World Customs Journal is published electronically, free of charge, twice a year.

Gender and Trade
http://www.genderandtrade.org
The Commonwealth Secretariat in association with the Gender and Trade Initiative, GATI and DFID initiated a e-newsletter Gender and Trade as also set up a comprehensive web-based resource centre on Gender and trade. A programme is sensitizing key stakeholders and senior policy makers through training workshops on the linkages between gender, trade and export promotion in different regions.

UNCTAD-Least Developed Country Report
http://www.unctad.org/en/docs/ldc2007en.pdf
The UNCTAD has recently released the Least Developed Countries Report, 2007, subtitled ''Knowledge, technical learning and innovation for development''. UNCTAD, in past LDC Reports, has taken the view that the key to sustained economic growth and poverty reduction in LDCs is the development of productive capacities and related creation of productive employment. The Least Developed Countries Report 2007 corroborates this view by focusing on knowledge accumulation, technologica l learning and the ability to innovate as vital processes toward genuine productive capacity development in these countries. The Report shows that the current pattern of technology flows to LDCs through international trade, foreign direct investment and intellectual property licensing does not contribute to narrowing the knowledge divide. Sustained economic growth and poverty reduction are not likely to take place in countries where viable economic re-specialization would remain impossible in the absence of significant progress in technological learning and innovation capacity-building. The Report suggests that national governments and development partners could meet this challenge, notably through greater attention to the following four key policy issues.

The value of EU preferences for the ACP and EPA contribution to market access
http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/?doc=33163
This South Centre fact sheet addresses questions on access to the EU market by African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries.

TRADECOM
http://www.tradecom-acpeu.org
The TradeCom Programme was established to provide and coordinate assistance to ACP countries. It aims at consolidating, and even creating, where absent, the necessary capacity that would enable them to craft trade policies, with a view to achieve sustainable development and balanced societies. The Programme therefore intends to develop capacity within the ACP countries and regions and to provide intellectual expertise to help them to devise their own development-oriented trade policies, as well as to formulate effective negotiation strategies on trade matters.

Export Helpdesk to Europe (EH)
http://exporthelp.europa.eu/
The Export Helpdesk is an online service, provided by the European Commission, to facilitate market access for developing countries to the European Union. This free and user-friendly service provides relevant information required by developing country exporters interested in supplying the EU market.

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