IIFT UNCTAD UNDP ESCAP

REPORT

OF REGIONAL MEETING

ON RESEARCH AND TRAINING NEEDS IN

INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN ASIA-PACIFIC COUNTRIES

New Delhi • 13-15 November 2000

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF FOREIGN TRADE B-21 QUTAB INSTITUTIONAL AREA, NEW DELHI-110016

CONTENTS

Conclusions and Recommendations .................................................................................1

Workshop on Increasing Capacities in Trade Promotion .................................................6

Assessing the Impact of Trade Liberalisation in Asia-Pacific Countries ........................9 - K.V. Ramani

Better Positioning the Developing Countries in the Asia-Pacific to Increase Visibility, Trading Power and Participation in the Multilateral Trading System............................17

- Mustafizur Rahman

Research and Training Needs in the Context of Current Negotiations in WTO ............25 - B. Bhattacharyya

Developing Institutional Capability on International Trade Issues ................................33 - Mia Mikic

PRESS RELEASE...........................................................................................................45

AGENDA ........................................................................................................................47

List of Participants ..........................................................................................................51

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Conclusions and Recommendations

CONCLUSIONS

1. The Meeting had four main objectives:

• to identify in concrete terms, the research and training deficits in international trade in the National Governments and concerned institutions of the region, especially in the context of multilateral trade negotiations;

• to formulate institutional mechanisms for the development of research and training programmes for trade negotiators;

• to facilitate establishment of a network of institutions in the Asia-Pacific region to enhance cooperation among them; and

• to present the preliminary findings of a pilot programme covering five trade-related training institutions with the objective of developing a training programme in the integrated area of trade policy and trade promotion.

2. The participants in the New Delhi meeting strongly endorsed the positive agenda as formulated by the UNCTAD, in view of their continued relevance for the developing and the least developed countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

3. A summary of the important points deliberated in the meeting is presented in the following sections.

General Observations

There is a strong threat perception in most participating countries as to the implications of the increased globalisation in general and the ability of the respective countries to get more integrated with a positive outcome, in particular. The threat perception is due to the inadequate understanding of the globalisation process, of the implications of the commitments made by the respective countries in the Uruguay Round as well as those which might be required to be made under the mandated negotiations. The countries are also worried about the enormity of

the tasks that are involved in implementing the WTO commitments including those associated with amending and developing the national legal systems with a view to conforming them with international obligations. The threat perception is also conditioned by the intrinsic uncertainty involved in making adjustments in economic policies, consequent to agreements arrived at in multilateral negotiations.

There is inadequate appreciation of the benefits arising out of the increased market access now available to the developing and least developed countries through the Uruguay Round Agreements. The mercantilist approach to trade negotiations which emphasises on quid-pro-quo, continues to dominate the ongoing negotiations even though its economic justification is of doubtful validity. This approach tends to discriminate against the developing and least developed countries as it may involve accepting unfair level of market access and other commitments.

Deficits in Research

There is a paucity of research with specific country focus on what the country has gained or lost in terms of the commitments made in the Uruguay Round since 1995.

For the countries seeking accession in the WTO, analytical research required for preparing country positions and negotiating strategy is highly inadequate in most countries in the region. The inadequacy of the current research in respect of impact analysis and competitiveness studies was highlighted.

There is a need for greater interaction among trade researchers to discuss the appropriate methodology for conducting such studies. This is especially important in view of the inadequate database in most countries.

The most glaring deficit was identified in the national trade database in terms of quality,

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coverage, timeliness as well as the institutional mechanism for trade data compilation.

Institutional weaknesses, in terms of the capacity of the research institutions to provide governments with on-line, appropriate research inputs needed for taking decisions on trade policy and negotiating positions are visible. The only exception is the IIFT which provides almost on-line support to the Government of India on WTO negotiations. In the majority of the institutions, the “transmission belts” between: (a) the trade negotiators and the researchers, (b) the trade practitioners and the institutions providing training on trade promotion and export development, are extremely weak. The confusion on the impact of the WTO disciplines and on what “WTO knowledge” is needed to offer training on export promotion adds to the weak institutional capacity.

Deficits in Training The most visible deficits were observed in

the area of international trade law. Most

countries do not have access to expertise required for international trade negotiations. The national higher education system is not currently geared for this task.

Commercial diplomacy is another area where national training institutions are mostly unprepared for effective delivery of high quality training. The deficit is most visible in training facility involving simulation exercises for trade negotiators.

Training deficits are also evident in the field of developing programmes in trade promotion in some developing and least developed countries in the region.

The training deficits are visible across the target audience which includes Government officials, parliamentarians, trade practitioners, academicians, public advocacy groups and the media.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Research

The meeting has identified a large number of researchable issues. These can be divided into two major categories:

(i) short-term policy-oriented studies (ii) long-term substantive research.

The more important research issues identi- fied in the meeting are listed in Annexure 1. There are three broad classifications of researchable areas: (i) How to manage the political impact of trade

policy negotiations at the national level? (ii) How to prepare the industries/sectors to face

international competition which might get adversely affected by the Uruguay Round commitments?

(iii)How to maximise gains from the increased market access negotiated in the Uruguay Round?

Training In view of the very large deficits in the

training area, the meeting strongly recommended the approach of training the trainers. This was considered to be the most effective, in terms of both cost and time, to develop a critical mass of trainers in this field.

For effective delivery of training across the country, information technology has to be harnessed.

The future training portfolio must address all segments of the target audience. Modality

and training. Networking was advised both within a country if more than one training and research institution exists, across countries in the region, with regional bodies such as ESCAP and international organisation such as UNCTAD. It was felt that the networking might be launched

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with clearly laid down and preferably a narrow objective to make it more workable. It was felt that the research and HRD activity on WTO issues might be taken up initially for networking purpose. Specific proposal for resource sharing within the formal members of the network as well as those outside needs to be worked out.

IIFT (India), Centre for Policy Dialogue (Bangladesh), East West University (Bangladesh) and Institute for Trade Studies and Research (Iran) have already agreed to start the networking process.

The meeting recommended developing one or two institutions in the region as Centres of Excellence. These Centres are obviously those which have already developed a high level of in-house capability in terms of training and research in international trade. IIFT was identified as one institution which can be further supported by regional and international bodies to be developed as a Centre of Excellence. IIFT in turn will extend support to other regional institutions under a mentorship-cum-partnership framework.

Foreign Service Institute of Philippines has expressed interest to work as a sub-regional centre.

The Meeting emphasised the need for associating the participating institutions under the ESCAP pilot programme at each stage of developing the integrated programme. Specific suggestions were made regarding the Centres and the delivery mechanism of the proposed programme.

The deliberations also raised an important issue: to what extent can a private, market-oriented institution provide the research and training inputs that the government requires for its trade policy and negotiating strategies? This question is, however, less relevant in the case of training on marketing and trade promotion for trade practitioners. In this context, the example of the IIFT—a governmental institution — deserves further reflection as a model of integration of research/training in all trade areas for all audiences, with differentiated curricula and modalities.

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ANNEXURE 1 RESEARCH ISSUES

Agriculture 1. What policies, required to ensure food

security, need to be outside the WTO discipline?

2. Should there be a separate Food Security Box? If so, what should be the constituent components?

3. What can be an appropriate definition of resource-poor farmer in the context of Article 6 para 2 of AoA?

4. Does the provision relating to calculation of AMS in relation to public stockholding for food security purpose (Annex 2 of AoA) needs amendment?

5. How should the technical issues which include, inter alia, impact of inflation and choice of national currency for notification purpose be resolved? Will a basket of currency, such as SDR, be preferable?

6. Which tariff cutting formula will be the best from the country’s point of view?

7. In which sectors, an import surge can be anticipated? What possible types of state intervention can be thought of within the WTO framework?

8. Will it be better in such a context to extend the right of special safeguards to all WTO members rather than seeking its abolition?

9. What are the implications of the world seeds industry for the country’s food security? How can the country’s seeds industry be developed?

10. What legal system is required to protect the farmer’s traditional rights? What lessons can be learnt from experiences of countries which are similarly placed?

11. What should be the country’s position on GMO, especially keeping in view food security?

12. What is exactly the concept of multi-functionality in agriculture? Is it possible that some components of this broad concept are useful to developing countries?

Implementation Issues 1. Analysis of the post-UR experience to

identify the products where SPS measures have acted as non-tariff barriers. Identification of products where domestic standards upgradation is called for.

2. How to identify specific commodities where exportable surplus can be generated on a sustainable basis? What are the current product standards and how do they compare with those of Codex? Will it be possible to adopt the Codex standards with/without technical assistance from other countries?

3. How has Art. VI provision of GATT has affected the country’s exports? What will be the country’s preferred position regarding future negotiations on this provision?

4. Which are the areas where technical assistance is most required? Can concrete proposals be worked out for operationalising the technical assistance provisions in WTO Agreements?

5. How can the present S&D provisions be made more realistic? Is it possible to counter the argument that S&D provisions effectively reduce the bargaining leverage of the beneficiaries?

Services

1. What is the importance of the service sector in the country’s economy? What is the status of data collection and the areas of upgradation? Which are the sectors where opening up will be most beneficial to the country’s growth process?

2. Are there service sectors where the country has the potential to become a net exporter? What are the constraints in terms of market access for such services exports, in what markets?

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S&D and LDC – Specific Issues • Country-specific assessment of the benefit

accrued from S&D treatment provided under the UR (under the various provisions, e.g. removal of quota, subsidy, rules of origin).

• Comprehensive assessment of the rules of origin under the various GSP schemes as these apply to AP-DCs.

• Country specific technical assistance needs in the AP-DCs for realising potentials for greater market access provided under S&D status.

• Modalities to strengthen the aid-trade nexus from AP-DC perspective.

• Design of strategic policy briefs for trade negotiators to safeguard AP-DCs’ interest in traditional and indigenous technologies.

• Design of a comprehensive action plan to be submitted to the third UN Conference on LDCs to be held in Brussels in July 2001.

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Workshop on Increasing Capacities in Trade Promotion

Pilot Training Programme with Selected Trade-Related Training Institutes

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS The ESCAP Workshop, which took place on

15 November 2000 as part of the UNCTAD/UNDP/ESCAP/IIFT Regional Meeting on Research and Training Needs in International Trade in Asia-Pacific Countries, was held at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), New Delhi, India from 13-15 November 2000. The participating countries agreed that there exists a need for institutional capacity building and skills development in the area of trade-related research and training in the region, particularly in least developed countries and economies in transition. They also recognised the importance of the development of an integrated training programme in trade policy and trade promotion, to help stimulate national economic development, integrate countries into the multilateral trading system and gain greater access to global markets.

The Workshop observed that:

1. UN-ESCAP initiative in organising this workshop to provide a common platform for identification of training and research needs in the integrated area of trade policy and trade promotion, was important and timely;

2. adoption of trade promotion activities that are effective in a market economy and are consistent with WTO rules and disciplines is imperative for both member countries and those in the process of accession to the WTO, in order to become internationally competitive; and

3. strengthening institutional capacity and networking amongst the region’s trade-related research and training institutes will provide essential and necessary direct support for trade policy-makers, negotiators, trade practitioners and exporters.

Recommendations for follow-up activities

1. UN-ESCAP to develop a framework for curricula development (content) of the pilot training programme in the integrated area of trade policy and trade promotion;

2. to ensure “ownership” at the national level of the pilot training programme, target national institutions of the pilot training programme, should be involved in the development of the training modules and should be responsible for the “local content” of the training material;

3. research and training institutes should develop a “cook-book” of training and research material that they can pick and choose from to make tailormade training programmes that meet the needs of the identified target groups (trade policy- makers, trade practitioners, NGOs, economic journalists);

4. UN-ESCAP and regional research and training institutes should create an inventory of existing training material developed by international organisations (ITC, UNCTAD, ESCAP) so as not to replicate readily available training material;

5. research and training institutes should explore new methodology to improve training programmes through: training needs assessment (pre-training exercise); improving teaching methodology and use of effective teaching aids (IT as a teaching tool); evaluation and impact studies to improve and upgrade training programmes (post-training) and clear identification of target beneficiaries of training programmes; and

6. research and training institutes should determine mechanisms and modalities to operationalise networking by: employing regional centres of excellence such as IIFT to act a coordinator of a regional network and

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through a mentorship system promote the TCDC modality for skills development and resource sharing (both training material and experts).

ANNEX 1

FRAMEWORK FOR THE ESCAP PILOT TRAINING PROGRAMME ON TRADE

POLICY AND EXPORT PROMOTION FOR LDCs AND ECONOMIES IN TRANSITION IN

SOUTH ASIA AND THE GREATER MEKONG SUBREGION

CONTENTS (MODULES)

Module I – Globalisation, Development and Trade Purpose: Introduction to globalisation issues. Link trade and development and explain why trade policy is one of the pillars of a national development strategy—enabling trade by ensuring social and economic infrastructure. Explain role of international organisations and the multilateral trading system.

1.1 International trade – basic concepts and trends of post-Uruguay Round for developing countries and LDCs

1.2 Trade liberalisation and development – basic concepts and recent trends (include indicators to measure the impact of trade liberalisation on development)

1.3 Trade and development strategies – case-studies from the regional and “local” country experience

1.4 Interface between trade policy and trade promotion – trade policy and trade promotion as key for an effective development strategy (include case-studies of market success and failure)

1.5 Role of international organisations and the multilateral trading system

Glossary References

Module II – World Trade Organisation (WTO)

Purpose: Overview of international trading agreements and rules under the WTO.

Implication of agreements demonstrated through cross country evidence and experiences on implementation of existing rules and dispute settlement procedures. Discussion of issues for future negotiations, accession, post-Seattle developments and emerging issues.

2.1 The need for a rules based trading system such as the WTO

2.2 Overview of the WTO agreements – Box on WTO

2.2.1 Multilateral agreements on trade in goods 2.2.2 General agreement on trade in services 2.2.3 Agreement on trade-related aspects of

intellectual property rights 2.3 Least developed countries and the WTO –

Special and differential treatment – Box on GSP; Box on ACP and the EU; Box on “local” country experience

2.4 Post-Seattle and emerging trade policy issues – Box on “local” country experience

2.5 Dispute Settlement Mechanism – Box on “local” country experience

2.6 Trade Policy Review Mechanism

Glossary References

Module III – Regional Approaches to Trade Liberalisation Purpose: Introduction to the concept of regional liberalisation (economic integration). Taxonomy of levels and effects. Relationship between regionalism and multilateralism. 3.1 Bilateral, regional, multilateral trading agreements – advantages and shortcomings 3.2 Basic theory of regional liberalisation – Box on regional integration in the world today – Box on Rules of Origin – Box on “local” country experience 3.3 Regionalism – friend and enemy of multilateralism Glossary

References

Module IV –Building Institutional Support for Trade Promotion Purpose: Discussion on replacement of state trading enterprises by new institutional forms for trade promotion. Role and function of business

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support centres and trade promotion organisations to help local small and medium size enterprise sector (SMEs). 4.1 Intermediaries in trade: state trading enterprises, chambers of commerce, trade promotion organisations and business support centres. Box on “local” country experience 4.2 Private and public sector linkages—promoting trade and macroeconomic policies for a pro-active business environment. Box on “local” country experience 4.3 Trade liberalisation, privatisation and foreign direct investment within the context of the evolving international trade agenda. Box on “local” country experience 4.4 Export promotion for SMEs— case-studies on best practices and Box on “local” country experience 4.5 Networking and clustering at the national, regional and global level. Box on networking and clustering in exports; Box on “local” country experience 4.6 Role of international trade consultant as buyer/seller “match-maker” Glossary

References

Module V - Accessing Global Markets as An International Player Purpose: Consider methodology for the determination of national and firm export potential in terms of product development and access to global markets. 5.1 Developing a national export strategy 5.2 Identification of products/services with export potential 5.3 Assessing export readiness of local firms – Box on “local” country experience 5.4 Building competitive advantage of export-oriented SMEs 5.5 Developing an export plan–Box on “local” country experience

5.6 Developing a market plan–Box on “local” country experience 5.7 Market research and new market identification 5.8 Products/services development for overseas markets (adaptation, redesign, branding, labeling, packaging, warranties, quality control and meeting international standards) – Box on “local” country experience Glossary

References

Module VI – Trade Facilitation and Electronic Commerce Purpose: Steps and procedures in conducting export business. 6.1 Finance, insurance and guarantees – Box with local content 6.2 Export credits – Box on current debate in the WTO 6.3 Trade risks – cross-country examples and “local” country experience 6.4 Using IT in facilitation and electronic commerce - Box on cross-country examples and “local” country experience Glossary

References

Module VII – Basic Training Principles Purpose: Introduction to basic principles of training (design, implementation, evaluation, reassessment). 7.1 Location of training 7.2 Aims and objectives 7.3 Methods of instruction 7.4 Training aids 7.5 Assessing participants 7.6 Evaluation of training Glossary

References

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Assessing the Impact of Trade Liberalisation in Asia-Pacific Countries

K.V. Ramani∗

∗ Asian and Pacific Development Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Agenda 1: FUTURE OF WTO The creation of the World Trade

Organisation (WTO) in 1995 as the successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was hailed as a landmark breakthrough in international trade relationships. While GATT’s orientation was primarily on the removal/reduction of tariff barriers that stood in the way of a global multilateral trading system, WTO has a broader scope, which is a cause for both hope and despair. The uniqueness of WTO lies in its mandate to address both tariff and non-tariff trade barriers to smoothen the flow of international trade, and to provide a coherent and fair dispute settlement mechanism in the pursuit of trade liberalisation. Since international trade has profound interconnecting developmental impacts in the ongoing process of globalisation, the world community has placed a very high expectation on WTO’s ability to transform itself into a truly objective and fair forum to guide the course of future economic cooperation.

Initially, WTO was greeted with universal enthusiasm, a fact signified by the surge in its membership from about 100 countries (under GATT) to 135, with applications from some 30 other countries, including China, under negotiation. Barely five years after its establishment, the organisation seemed to have turned into the most visible symbol of the North-South divide in its worst manifestations. Contrary to their expectations, WTO’s real courses of action have been viewed by developing countries as no different from that of GATT, in that its decisions and actions are perceived to be weighted heavily in favour of the industrialised countries of the North with scant regard to the genuine development concerns of

the South. The most apparent sign of this divide was the drama surrounding the appointment of WTO’s second Director-General. The tensions from that episode spilled over into WTO’s much-anticipated Ministerial Conference in Seattle which collapsed for want of the very spirit of cooperation which is supposedly the distinguishing feature of the organisation. Furthermore, partly as an extension of the rising disenchantment with WTO and partly as an effect of the controversy surrounding the actions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank — both seen to be working in tandem with WTO – during the Asian economic crisis of 1997, there has been a rising tide of criticism against the present international order as such. So much so that, in many ways, WTO might have served to bring long-simmering issues of global equity to a head rather than helped dampen them.

Today, the future of WTO has become much less certain than was the case just a short while ago. The organisation stands accused of susceptibility to pressure from the industrialised nations, an unquestioning acceptance of the interests of multinationals and a lack of transparency in its decision-making process. On the other hand, WTO has consolidated and accelerated the process set in motion by GATT to enhance the volume of international trade. Market access to developing country products is alone expected to increase global GDP from US$120 billion in 1999 to US$315 billion when full implementation of agreements is achieved. Also, WTO had dealt with more than 167 disputes up till March 1999 as compared with the 300 cases dealt with by GATT in its entire existence of 47 years.

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Much as it is easy and convenient to see WTO as a villain perpetuating inequities in the present international economic order, there is potential for good in the organisation. Its absence from the scene will leave a vacuum that can setback development debate itself and rob nations of the opportunity for collective interaction. Indeed, the problems that are now assigned to WTO are not of recent origin. To the extent that the world is divided along affluent and impoverished nations, questions of domination and unfairness have been around for decades, if not centuries. To be fair to WTO, the circumstances under which it has functioned are vastly different from those that prevailed at the time of GATT. Today, there is far more open access to information and potential for free debate due to the expansion of the Internet and other means of mass communication. These circumstances have offered much-increased opportunities for participation and critique by numerous stakeholders than were possible in an era when trade negotiations were carried out by a select few behind closed doors. Besides, even if there were no organisation like WTO, the same controversies will very likely surround negotiations at the regional, sub-regional or bilateral levels so long as the central issues remain unchanged. The questions to be addressed are:

• Is WTO still the most appropriate forum for international trade negotiations? If so, what changes are needed to make the organisation more effective, and acceptable to both industrialised and developing countries?

• If WTO is no longer relevant, what alternatives are conceivable? For instance, should regional, sub-regional or bilateral agreements on trade be more effective tools as they offer countries to make self-enlightened commitments in a manner and at a pace of their own choice?

Research in this context should focus on an objective review of WTO’s operating mecha- nisms, crucially concerning issues of participation and transparency, and suggest ways and means to enhance its acceptance to developing countries. Research could also be directed at the effective- ness of regional/sub-

regional/bilateral agreements within and outside of the WTO framework. Agenda 2: APPROACHES TO TRADE

LIBERALISATION Irrespective of which organisation or forum

is used for trade negotiations in the future, one has to deal with the central issue of economic integration leading to globalisation. In the aftermath of the Seattle debacle and the upsurge of criticism against the Bretton Woods institutions following the Asian economic crisis, developing countries are generally far more cautious about embracing the promised potential of globalisation. Many of them — Bangladesh, India, Indonesia and Pakistan, among others — are characterised by the phenomenon of a dual economy. Each has a large population and a largely unskilled and illiterate labour force, wheareas the modern sector of the economy is small but relatively better-equipped for exposure to the openness and market-oriented processes of trade and economic liberalisation. In these countries, globalisation through trade liberalisation may, at best, benefit the modern segment of the economy, while the much larger and backward segment — dominated by agricultural workers, unskilled industrial labour, subsistence and marginal farmers, small and medium industries/enterprises — is likely to suffer rather than benefit, at least in the short to medium term, from liberalisation. Globali- sation is also viewed with concern rather than eagerness by even the more advanced economies of South-East Asia which had to absorb the brunt of upheavals in regional financial markets recently. While economic dualism is less apparent in these countries, they are nevertheless wary of their newly discovered vulnerability to exposure. Under the circumstances, the following questions need to be addressed:

• When is trade liberalisation a desirable goal for developing countries to pursue? The principle of reciprocity implies that

developing countries cannot gain much-needed access to industrialised countries markets for their goods and services without opening up their own markets to industrialised countries and to one another. An anti-liberalisation stance may, therefore, be neither practical, nor in the self-

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interest of developing countries in the long run. However, evidence linking liberal trade policies and higher economic growth is not clear-cut. While South-East Asian countries are often cited as examples of trade-led growth, the economies of Japan and South Korea experienced high economic growth rates during a period of widespread import controls, as did China during the period when its economy was largely closed out to foreign investment.

Studies and analyses will be essential to understand the varying circumstances under which different countries have been gainers or losers due to liberal trade policies, focusing in particular on cross-country comparisons within the Asia-Pacific region. The intent of this work would be to develop alternative models of liberalisation from historical data.

• Under what conditions should trade liberalisation take place?

Neo-classical free-market advocacy argues that free trade is ultimately essential for economic growth which, in turn, is necessary to resolve basic needs issues like poverty and deprivation. While the “trickle-down” theory has its merits and is supportive of the fundamental reality that one cannot eradicate poverty without creating wealth, developing country experiences suggest that growth and distributional equity can be, and often are, divorced from one another. Again, evidence on the subject is mixed. While poverty levels have come down in some countries that have registered high economic growth rates, absolute numbers of the poor in Asia have risen, more so in the wake of the regional economic crisis. If the elimination of poverty and related socio-economic inequities is the ultimate aim of development as such, then economic growth by itself may not be desirable unless it translates into clear opportunities for reducing income disparities within a society. Consequently, trade-led economic growth may be unacceptable as the determining criterion for trade liberalisation.

There is, therefore, a need for research linking trade more directly to broader development indicators, such as the human development index of UNDP. In this context, the sustainable development approaches being

explored under research carried out in the industrialised countries is relevant, but perhaps not adequate in view of its stress on environmental issues. However, such research could be extended to embrace human development factors under the intra-generational equity focus set out by the Brundltand Commission report. • At what pace should trade liberalisation

proceed?

Viewed in the above light, the pace of trade liberalisation will obviously, then, be determined by the preparedness of countries relative to their economic vulnerability. To the extent that a country starts out with significant socio-economic disparities internally, has a weak, industrial base and financial system, and a large population that is economically backward, its vulnerability to global market forces is high. Yet, participation in global markets is often also the alternative to economic stagnation for many countries that are dependent on their low-cost labour and natural resources in the absence of technological capability. Trade liberalisation may, thus, be seen as a gradual step function whereby the degree of relaxation of controls is closely linked to the extent by which economic vulnerability is reduced.

Research is needed on quantifying this vulnerability, for example, level of poverty, income disparity, share of primary industries in aggregate GDP, development levels of manufacturing and tertiary industries, extent of food self-reliance, and so forth. These “vulnerability indicators” could be used to develop a more realistic classification of countries rather than the existing broad band classification of “developing” and “less developed”. Agenda 3: IMPACTS OF TRADE

POLICY REFORMS

Until now, the removal or reduction of tariff and non-tariff barriers, and changes in the volumes of trade flows have been the most-used indicators to measure trade liberalisation. Given the swell of opinion to widen the trade liberalisation debate as such to address broader

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development concerns, these conventional indicators will obviously not suffice in the future.

Trade policy reforms in Asia-Pacific countries predates the Uruguay Round, much the same as it was with Latin American countries. An UNCTAD study on the latter highlights the following structural adjustment process that Latin American countries were undergoing prior to the Uruguay Round:

(a) external financial constraints, and conditionalities and restrictions on macroeconomic policy imposed by creditor countries and international financial institutions;

(b) retrenchment in public expenditures, including the elimination of several sectoral subsidies and special regimes (e.g., fiscal and credit instruments to promote local industries and export diversification);

(c) privatisation of industrial, infrastructure and service companies;

(d) reorientation in foreign economic relations, with the abandoning of import-substitution strategies and sectoral targeting in favour of unilateral trade liberalisation and relaxation of foreign investment regimes; and

(e) pursuance of regional trade initiatives in parallel with multilateral negotiations.

The Asia-Pacific countries were going through a similar process of economic reform and structural adjustment well ahead of the Uruguay Round. China’s open-door policy dates back to the mid-1980s and India’s economic liberalisation policy, along with that of Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, commenced in the early 1990s. South-East Asian countries were much ahead of South Asia and Indo-China in public investment divestment. For example, in 1983, the mix of public-private sector investment in industry was 70:30 in India as against its exact reverse of 30:70 in Malaysia. Thus, economic liberalisation was an ongoing process in the Asia-Pacific region ahead of the Uruguay Round agreements, the main difference being that post-Uruguay policy reform became far more sharply focused on tariff barriers commensurate with the multilateral commitments made under WTO agreements.

Yet, economic and trade liberalisation policies do not seem to have materialised into prosperity for all at the global level. According to UNDP’s Human Development Report, 1977, “The top fifth of the world’s people in the richest countries enjoy 82 per cent of the expanding export trade and 68 per cent of foreign direct investment — the bottom fifth, barely more than 1 per cent. These trends reinforce economic stagnation and low human development. Only 33 countries managed to sustain 3 per cent annual growth during 1980-96. For 59 countries (mainly in Sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern Europe and the CIS) GNP per capita declined. Economic integration is thus dividing developing and transition economies into those that are benefiting from global opportunities and those that are not”.

Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi, Director-General of WTO echoes these views. In a recent interview with the APDC Newsletter, he states that: “…the participation of LDCs in the multilateral trade negotiations has not yielded significant benefits or meaningful market access, and the marginalisation problem is increasingly apparent in the LDC. In 1997, the total trade of LDCs (48 countries) was less than 0.5 per cent and they received less than one per cent of Foreign Direct Investment.”

Martin Khor of the Third World Network captures the central issue succinctly when he states: “…trade liberalisation can (and often) cause imports to surge without a corresponding surge in exports. This can cause the widening of trade deficits, deterioration in the balance of payments and the continuation or worsening of external debt, all of which constrain growth prospects and often result in persistent stagnation or recession. This should lead us to conclude that trade liberalisation should not be pursued automatically or rapidly and in a “big bang” manner. Rather, what is important is the quality, timing, sequencing and scope of liberalisation (especially import liberalisation), and how the process is accompanied by (or preceded by) other factors, such as the strengthening of local enterprises and farms, human resource and technological development, as well as the build up of export capacity and markets. A logical conclusion must be that if conditions for success

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are not present yet in a country, then to proceed with liberalisation can lead to specific negative results or even a general situation of persistent recession. Thus to pressurise such countries to liberalise would be to help lead them into an economic quagmire.

In the light of the foregoing, the research questions to pursue in the Asia-Pacific context could be the following: • What economic benefits have resulted from

the lowering/removal of tariffs?

Obviously, the answers to this are to be found by each country on its own. However, the design of the research, in particular, the criteria for national assessments and the research methodology, should ideally be at a regional level. Crucial factors to be assessed would include the widening or narrowing of trade deficits, identification of export/import growth in specific sectors, net impacts of foreign trade on aggregate and sectoral economic growth, income impacts with emphasis on effects on minimum wages by sector, impacts on employment by sector, poverty trends, and other aspects that link trade with economic well-being. • What have been the social impacts of trade

liberalisation so far?

The social impacts of trade are admittedly difficult to quantify. Nonetheless, from an ultimate development perspective, they are just as equally important as are the economic impacts. The international development debate has been subject to increasing, and well-justified, pressure to accommodate the concerns of the social sector. Among others, two factors are crucial to consider, namely gender and civil society.

Gender issues have risen to the forefront of development debate following the Beijing Conference on Women and the more recent UN General Assembly Special Session on Women. Where trade issues are concerned, there are specific moves to understand the implications of trade liberalisation on the livelihood and living conditions of women, especially self-employed women operating or engaged in household and microenterprises. The impacts of trade reform

policy on women cannot be captured by broader studies on economic impacts and need special attention.

The question concerning civil society is even broader in scope and, consequently, more complex to address. In essence, it challenges the legitimacy of governments as the sole arbitrators of trade issues and calls for greater participation by concerned stakeholders in determining national priorities that should feature in international trade negotiations. Ironically, the emergence of civil society awareness in the Asia-Pacific region, spanning both developed and developing countries alike, is a consequence of economic integration, and new opportunities for interaction and expression. This process is largely irreversible. The issue, therefore, is to identify what impacts will further globalisation, with trade a part of it, have on the civil society movement at large and how governments could accommodate the views of those groups and people not traditionally associated with trade. • What has been the political fall-out from the

failed negotiations at WTO’s Seattle Conference and how could domestic trade policy adjust to them?

There is considerable substance to the rising view that many developing countries, lacking adequate capacity to understand the full implications of the WTO agreements they have signed, have only since realised the extent of their commitments and their impacts. In political terms, they might have paid a far higher price than what their people are ready to accept. The many popular protests and rising swell of opposition to the implementation of existing agreements, crucially on Agriculture, Textiles, Investment and Services, cannot be ignored by the political leadership in developing countries. How far is this a researchable issue will depend on the political system of individual countries. In systems where policy critique is accepted, even encouraged, as a means to strengthen the robustness of future policy reform, research can be tool for refinement and should focus on identifying measures that are acceptable to the large majority of the people. This would involve opinion polls and surveys intended to assess the

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political climate for change and advise policy-makers on acceptable directions for the future.

A key issue related to the political impacts of trade reform is the aspect of corruption. Many industrialised countries have sought to focus on anti-corruption research in recent years under their technical assistance to developing countries. A number of developing countries in the region, notably China of late, have already initiated major national efforts to root out corruption. In the context of trade, corruption is clearly an area for further research on the part of developing countries themselves. Irrespective of whether this should feature in future WTO negotiations, corruption dilutes economic efficiency and undermines the legitimacy of the political leadership of any country. Therefore, any study of the issue will clearly be of interest to both developing and industrialised countries alike.

Overarching the foregoing areas for research is the necessity of addressing not only the economic, social and political impacts of trade reform policy till date, but also the potential impacts of agreements signed in the future. This is necessary since the implementa- tion process is incomplete in most cases.

Agenda 4: TRADE AND INVESTMENT Encouraging Foreign Direct Investment

(FDI) and portfolio investment by foreign investors has been a key policy desire of many developing countries as a part of their economic liberalisation efforts. FDI flows reflect a long term commitment to a country and are, therefore, conditional on many factors that determine the robustness of a country’s financial system, legal process and commitment to economic integration with the rest of the world. Portfolio investment, on the other hand, is far more volatile as outflows can be just as swift as inflows as countries affected by the Asian economic crisis discovered to their dismay. The link between capital flows and trade flows is close, but not necessarily convergent at all times. For instance, FDI catering mainly for the domestic market of a developing country is relatively insulated from fluctuations in that country’s external trade flows. On the other hand, FDI aimed mainly at creating a globally competitive manufacturing base for international markets is far more

susceptible to foreign trade movements. In contrast to portfolio investment, FDI also carries a significant technology transfer component which is sought after by developing countries to enhance their domestic industry’s capabilities.

Following the Asian economic crisis, and the realisation as to how the volatility of portfolio investment flows could cause economic shocks within a very short span of time, there is far greater interest on the part of developing countries in FDI flows. Some countries like Malaysia face the tough choice of balancing between their post-crisis policies to regulate portfolio investment flows and their desire to continue to attract FDI.

Not all FDI is equally beneficial though. According to the South Centre, “Historical and empirical evidence strongly suggest that it is not so much the quantity of foreign investment which counts but the nature of the investment and the sorts of linkages that are made with the local economy”. Opposing the World Bank’s view that free capital flows contribute to economic growth, the South Centre points to the case of Latin American countries which were “particularly hard hit by the capital supply shock which is either ignored or not properly examined in the mainstream analyses. With respect to the question of openness...the Latin American countries were in fact much more open to the international economy, at least on one important dimension, than the Asian economies. The former generally had larger degrees of currency convertibility and practised a far greater degree of financial openness than the latter. Most Asian countries had fairly strict exchange controls”.

Attempts by industrialised countries to introduce a multilateral agreement on investment have been stalled so far and it is unlikely that the issue would be revived very soon as it infringes upon many areas that are considered sovereign policy rights among the developing countries. At the same time, the existing WTO agreement on trade-related investment measures (TRIMS) does prohibit the many measures that developing countries had adopted towards import substitution.

The key issue for developing countries is: how to balance their desire for foreign investment against their internal development

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objectives, such as promotion of domestic industry?

UNCTAD has identified several areas for research on the topic, of which the following are crucial:

• Conditions under which FDI contributes most to the development process, and the kind of rules that would ensure sufficient flexibility to allow national policy objectives to be achieved;

• Impacts of performance requirements on building domestic capacity;

• Impacts of the Asian financial crisis on trade and investment flows;

• Differences between portfolio investment and FDI;

• Benefits of a multilateral agreement on investment and the disadvantages of not having such an agreement;

• Reasons for the boom in FDI to specific countries and sectors;

• Impacts of trade-restrictive measures on investment flows; and

• Identification of investment-related instruments and policies which are effective development instruments in the experience of certain developing countries (including as an instrument for the transfer of technology), as well as of those which are less effective.

Agenda 5: PARTICIPATION OF ASIA-

PACIFIC COUNTRIES IN WTO Developing countries in general, and Asia-

Pacific countries in particular, will need to acquire a much more proactive outlook in their future participation in WTO negotiations. In particular, they should not only become more aware of issues brought to the negotiating table and be able to assert their views, but also be able to carry their own domestic constituencies while entering any agreements. The issue of capacity-building, thus, is crucial to effective participation on their part. The following actions could be considered to address this topic. • How to elaborate a positive agenda for

developing countries?

Ever since the failure of WTO’s Seattle Conference, there has been a rising tide of opinion for developing countries to set the pace of trade liberalisation on terms that are acceptable to and manageable by them. Setting aside issues of transparency and similar inhibiting factors, the most promising and rational initiative in this direction has been the concept of a “positive agenda” suggested by UNCTAD. In its essence, a positive agenda will transform developing countries from the role of passive respondents to industrialised country proposals to a position of actively initiating proposals of their own.

Since negotiating positions and capabilities among developing countries in the future will depend on the extent to which such a positive agenda can be framed, considerable research is imminent in this area. Furthermore, due to the obvious advantages of common or collective positions, research leading to a positive agenda will have a much greater potential for actiona- bility if it is carried out within a multicountry framework rather than by individual countries on their own.

• What is the basis for developing a positive agenda?

The development of a positive agenda must rest on actual accomplishments and impact so far arising from agreements that are in force and under varying stages of implementation. The aim of research in this context will be to consolidate the outcomes of the WTO negotiation process so far, through a stock-taking exercise leading to essential “corrections” in agreements (for which provisions exist in WTO) based on implementation experience. Such a position, in spite of potential resistance to it from industrialised countries, is justified because no fresh negotiations, on either prevailing agreements or new ones, are possible without an effective understanding of experience on the ground. • What new issues should be brought into WTO

by the developing countries?

A third area for research and further study has to do with new issues which industrialised countries are keen on introducing into any new

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round of negotiations on trade, for instance, Environment and Labour. So far, the reactions of developing countries to these proposals have been largely negative. Many have argued that no new issues be considered until there is a consolidation of existing agreements and the implementation process associated with them. There is much justification for this position given the many questionable instances of “interpretation” of existing agreements by industrialised countries, such as the use of Anti-Dumping measures, End-Loading of tariff reduction lists and, most controversial of all, Agricultural Subsidies.

That said though, staunch resistance to the introduction of any form of new issues might be counterproductive. For one, it may have the effect of stalemating any future negotiation altogether. For another, it could inhibit the developing countries’ own initiatives towards a positive agenda under which they themselves might desire the introduction of new issues, for instance, the question of poverty as an integral part of trade agreements in the future. Therefore,

research on new issues raised by both industrialised and developing countries is necessary and it might be made a pre-condition before formal negotiations are initiated on the concerned issues. Some of the possible new issues of interest to developing countries, in addition to the overarching question of poverty, would include:

(a) review and revision of WTO agreements committing developing countries to phase out deletion programmes in industrial ventures established in collaboration with multinationals;

(b) special considerations to promote the growth of small and medium industries/enterprises;

(c) transfer of appropriate technology to develop indigenous manufacturing capability directly linked to reducing unemployment; and

(d) studies of industrialised countries’ progress with implementing their commitments under WTO agreements (to be carried out by developing country institutions/scholars).

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Better Positioning the Developing Countries in the Asia-Pacific to Increase Visibility, Trading Power

and Participation in the Multilateral Trading System

Mustafizur Rahman∗

∗ Research Director, Centre for Policy Dialogue, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Context of the Discussion The revealed wisdom originating from the

experience of the five years which span the post-WTO era amply demonstrates the challenges that Asia-Pacific developing countries (AP-DCs) are expected to face in an era of rapid globalisation. The reforms undertaken by the AP-DCs in recent years have resulted in an increasingly high degree of openness of the economies in the region and have led to an increasing exposure to the fluctuating fortunes of the global marketplace. Within this global context, in spite of the export-oriented growth strategy pursued by countries of the AP region many of the 37 AP-DCs, specially the 13 LDCs of the region have seen their economies further marginalised in the global context. To a great extent this has happened as a consequence of the failure of the regional developing countries to translate their comparative advantages into competitive advantage in the global market.

For developing countries (and more prominently, the LDCs) of the region as a group, the task of designing a comprehensive strategy in the face of fast globalisation by taking into cognisance the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats is one that still remains to be accomplished. This task essentially entails looking at the issue of strengthened global integration from three different but related perspectives: (a) assessing the implications of the WTO provisions and designing a strategy for exploiting emerging opportunities; (b) designing a comprehensive strategy to avail of the Special

and Differential (S&D) treatment provided to the DCs and LDCs under the Uruguay Round (UR); and (c) strengthening the capacity of the stakeholders to address the built-in and new issues in the agendas of current and future negotiations. It is from this vantage point that the session is expected to throw some useful insights into issues which are critically important for strengthened global integration of the AP-DCs.

Objectives The overarching objective of the session is,

thus, to articulate a set of recommendations for trade policy makers, negotiators and imple- mentators which would enable the AP-DCs to integrate into the global economy from a position of strength by realising the potential oppor- tunities and addressing the attendant risk factors.

On a more concrete note, the objective of the discussion in this session is three-fold:

• To make an assessment on the implications of key WTO provisions negotiated during the Uruguay Round (UR) GATT in terms of export competitiveness and export sector performance, market access, investment and capital flows as these relate to the AP developing countries.

• Evaluate the Special and Differential (S&D) treatment accorded to the Developing Countries (DCs) and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) under the UR from the perspective of (a) actual capacity of the AP countries to make best use of the S&D treatment; (b) problems which need to be

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addressed in order to effectualise the S&D treatment; (c) articulate negotiating positions in the future rounds to better exploit the S&D provisions.

• Identify modalities for effective multistakeholder contribution towards effective global integration of the AP-DCs which will enable these countries (i) to make the best use of current agreements, (ii) to ensure closer cooperation between public and private sectors of their countries, and (iii) to enhance the skills of the public sector officials and trade negotiators in dealing with complex issues in the built-in agenda, positive agenda and the new issues. In view of the objectives of the discussion

mentioned above, the Technical Session-II may address three broad areas of concern to the AP-DCs. A number of pertinent issues which may inform the discourse on each of these three areas is presented below. However, it needs to be stated upfront that obviously other important issues will also be raised during the discussion in Technical Session-II.

A. Implications of the WTO Agreements on Exports from AP-Region with Specific Reference to Some of the Key Sectors

A.1 Premise Key WTO provisions such as the Agreement

on Textile and Clothing (ATC) and Agreement on Agriculture (AoA), TRIPs, TRIMs and GATS are expected to have important implications in terms of export competitiveness of the AP-DCs. As is well documented, over the recent past most of the AP-DCs have opted for an export-oriented growth strategy; textiles, readymade garments and agricultural products have come to constitute important items of export for many of these countries. The degree of export concentration in many of these countries is indeed very high, ranging between 0.4 to 0.6. As a matter of fact, an increasing trend of concentration is clearly discernible both product-wise and market-wise which has had a tendency to deepen in recent years. The ATC in the WTO, with the phased withdrawal of MFA quotas, and the AoA in the WTO with its dirty tariffication, tariff peaks, tariff escalation and tariff dispersions, have put the AP-DCs before new and formidable

challenges. The possible implication of the various WTO provisions on the export sectors of the AP-DCs is still to be fully realised and analysed. Although a number of important works have been carried out by multilateral organisations such as the UNCTAD, and by researchers in some of the countries of the AP region, a proactive agenda to tackle the emerging challenges faced by the region as a group in view of the built-in and continuing agendas is still to be detailed out. Much of the research in this area have tended to focus on the performance of the relevant export sectors of the respective countries over the five years subsequent to the establishment of the WTO. However, there is a serious lacunae as regards holistic and comprehensive studies which concern, from a dynamic perspective, expected incremental gains and losses stemming from the provisions negotiated during the UR for most of the countries of the AP region.

A.2 Agenda for Discussion In the above context, some of the key issues

to be addressed by the discussants appear to be:

Impact Related Issues

• Have the categories integrated under the first two stages of the integration of MFA into the ATC had any significant relevance for exports of textiles and apparel from the AP-DCs?

• What have been the impact of the two phases of withdrawal of quota under the ATC on the export performance of AP-DCs in textiles and apparel sectors?

• What are the possible implications of the programme of integration submitted by the quota imposing countries for the third stage of phase out?

• Do AP-DCs gain if the integration scheme is brought forward by one stage, i.e., if quota-free access is allowed to AP-DCs beginning from the third stage of the phase out?

• How NTBs in the guise of labour issues, social clauses, environmental concerns, etc. have impacted on export sector performance of AP-DCs?

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• How implementation of WTO provisions such as anti-dumping, sanitary and phytosanitary measures have impacted on export sector performance of AP-DCs?

• What are the implications of dirty tariffication, tariff peaks, tariff escalation and tariff dispersion, as practised by developed countries, for exports of agricultural commodities of the AP-DCs?

• What impact the AoA may have in terms of food security of AP-DCs which are net food importers?

• What are the possible implications of GATS and TRIPs for the regulatory policy mechanisms of AP-DCs?

• How to design a proactive policy in the light of concerns raised in the course of maintaining the implementation of the various WTO provisions (such as those raised by textile monitoring body - TMB) to ensure greater market access?

• Sharing of cross-country experience.

Evaluative Issues

• Computation of the aggregate measure of support (AMS) allowed under AoA to the AP-DCs.

• Value of the zero-tariff access given to AP-LDCs.

• Extent of erosion of GSP margins of the AP-LDCs as average tariff rates in the importing countries gradually come down.

• Implications of zero-tariff, zero-quota access which has been provided to non-AP DCs and LDCs (such as under US TDA 2000).

• Technical and financial assistance required to address the formidable supply side constraints in the AP-DCs.

• How provisions of the TRIPs agreement are going to impact the development of agri-sectors of AP-DCs.

Forward Looking Issues

• Dynamics of changes in the market structure for textile and apparel exports from the region in the context of full implementation of ATC in 2005.

• Changes in the investment policies which are trade enhancing.

• Negotiating strategies for the continuing agenda towards enhanced market access for agri-exports.

• Amendment of the Special Safeguard Measures which, as currently allowed under AoA, negatively affect the AP-DCs.

• Implications of AoA provision for net food-importing developing countries (NFIDCs) of the AP region.

• Implications for the operations of state trading enterprises in the AP-DCs which are likely to be targeted in the new negotiations under AoA.

• Modalities of regional cooperation for trade enhancement in AP region.

• Role of regional cooperation for enhancing trade capacities in the regional countries.

A.3 Priority Research Needs • Identification of product-specific, country-

specific market access barriers faced by AP-DC exports in major developing countries.

• Assessment of the implications of the various options as regards subsidies and domestic support in the built-in and continuing agendas in the AoA.

• Assessment of incremental gains from greater market access in terms of quota-free and duty free access for AP-LDCs.

• Country-specific assessment of AMS allowed under AoA.

• Design of negotiating strategy with respect to future negotiations under AoA in the area of international disciplines on export credit, export credit guarantees and insurance programmes.

• Identification of modalities to address food security issues in view of the AoA.

• Strategic options to strengthen backward and forward linkages in the apparel sector in order to enhance competitive strength of the AP-LDCs in the global apparel market.

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• Identification of avenues of regional cooperation in the area of trade and investment to enhance domestic export capacities of the AP-DCs.

• Analysis of problems faced by AP-DCs in terms of compliance with SPS and TBT provisions (sanitary-phytosanitary measures, standards, technical regulations, conformity assessment procedures).

• An assessment of the change in terms of trade of AP-DCs in the post-UR context.

• Potentials for intra-regional flow of investment in the AP region.

Research for Inputs into Possible New Round of Negotiation

It is to be recognised that future negotiation under a possible New Round will review the built-in agenda which essentially embraces four areas: (a) Specific Provision Review, (b) General Review, (c) Continuing Negotiations, and (d) New Issues. Box-1 provides the major issues in any future Round of Negotiation.

Any research agenda for the AP-DCs needs to focus on issues mentioned in the Box in order

BOX 1 : BUILT-IN-AGENDA

Focus of Review: • Improvements in existing agreements • Traditional WTO agenda for continuing the

process of liberalisation

Types of Review: • Specific provisions review (e.g.

subsidies/countervailing measures) • General review (e.g. TRIPs) • Continuing negotiations

- Specified service sectors (e.g. movement of natural persons)

- Specific subjects (e.g. safeguards/govt. procurement)

- New negotiations (e.g. in agriculture and services)

• New Issues (e.g. Labour issues and trade union rights, Protection of environment, Competition issues)

for a meaningful contribution towards safeguarding the interest of the developing countries from the perspective of the AP-DCs.

B. Assessment of Implementation of the Special and Differential (S&D) Treatment under the Uruguay Round

B.1 Premise The Special and Differential (S&D) treatment

provided to the DCs and LDCs under the various provisions of the UR is, as a matter of fact, a continuation of the recognition about the special needs of the DCs and LDCs which has informed the GATT process from its very inception. The need for S&D treatment led to the introduction of the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) schemes following UNCTAD II Conference in New Delhi in 1968, and was reflected in the Decision on Differential and More Favourable Treatment, Reciprocity and Fuller Participation of Developing Countries (commonly known as the “Enabling Clause”) which was negotiated during the Tokyo Round. These included (a) more flexible arrangements in tariff provisions in the form of higher, unbound tariffs, (b) more flexible use of QRs for balance of payments reasons, (c) GSP facilities, and (d) Non-reciprocity. By contrast, although UR provisions recognise the need for positive efforts, the assumption is that the developing countries will eventually be full participants in international trading regime, eventually undertaking the same (and full) obligations as the developed countries. Herein lies the challenge for AP-DCs. Even if the S&D treatment, which are essentially time-bound do not encapacitate the DCs to participate in the process of globalisation from position of strength, they are negotiation-bound to play by the rules of the game at a certain stage (specified under the various provisions of the WTO). This, thus, reinforces the need to use the S&D treatment for trade capacity building in the AP-DCs.

S&D treatment provided to the developing countries in the WTO essentially constitutes: (a) time-limited derogation in terms of favourable thresholds for implementing commitments, (b) greater flexibility as regards implementing certain obligation, (c) best endeavour clauses, and (d) special treatment to the LDCs. The

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developed country participants in the UR have promised substantial technical and financial support to enable the DCs, and specially the LDCs, to enable these countries to realise their potential opportunities in the context of globalisation.

Box 2 highlights some of the major constraints which limit the capacity of the countries of the AP region to fully exploit the S&D status accorded under the UR. The box also highlights some of the possible interventions which have been articulated in various foras in order to address such constraints. Thus, the task before AP-DCs is to articulate (a) new S&D measures, (b) design of domestic policies to best access the S&D treatment, and (c) design of global assistance required for fuller realisation of the S&D facilities.

The S&D treatment accorded to the DCs and LDCs under the various UR Agreements has been well documented in many studies. Important works have also been done in articulating the specific problems faced by the developing countries including some of the AP-DCs in accessing and realising the S&D treatment. However, comprehensive analyses of S&D related issues in terms of the welfare loss and welfare gains to the developing countries and LDCs is still few and far between. This is specially important in the light of the views which contests the justification of S&D

provisions, and argues that the cost-benefit logic of S&D treatment is at best inconclusive and, at worst, untenable. It should be noted in this context that even when DCs and LDCs are given favourable treatment under the S&D provisions there are considerable costs involved in implementing the provisions themselves. For example, it is estimated that the average cost for an LDC to implement the SPS notification commitments in the WTO which will involve the restructuring of ongoing domestic regulations is in the order of $130 million. An objective and comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of the UR for any single country of the AP region should take into account, inter alia (a) implementation costs of the commitments, (b) the demand and supply elasticities and their implications for import and export performance, (c) global price changes (originating from tariffication, withdrawal of quotas and removal of quota rents and lowered tariffs), and (d) expected structural shifts in global demand. There may also be both positive and negative externalities arising out of a particular agreement in terms of environment, labour displacement, structural shifts, etc. within the economy which need also be brought under the purview of a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis. Many of the AP-DCs, specially AP-LDCs, are yet to conduct socio-economic analyses along these lines from the perspective

BOX 2 : CONSTRAINTS AND INTERVENTIONS

Interventions required Nature of constraints Major cause

Domestic Global

Lack of policy design and implemen-tation capacity; Lack of infrastructure; Low level of technology; Paucity of financial resources

Domestic originated

Policy design with better governance in external sector; Participation of Private sectors; Establishment of trade institutions; Incentives to stimulate participation of FDI in infrastructure

Help train up trade cadres; Facilitate technology transfer; Create global fund for infrastructure development of LDCs

Weak market penetration; Low quality of exportable; Lack of standardisation; Insubstantial nature of FDI flow

External – induced

Put in place compatible rules and regulations; Improve quality and standards; More investment in R&D.

Support compliance capacity; Strengthen negotiating capacity; Facilitate flow of trade information

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of the negotiated agenda in the UR. Addressing this concern is also equally important in order to design appropriate and adequate strategies for on-going and future trade negotiations.

B.2 Agenda for Discussion Given the above context, the session could

look at some of the following pertinent issues from the perspective of the S&D treatment accorded to DCs and LDCs.

Impact Related Issues

• Identification of important and relevant S&D provisions which are critical to export sector performance of AP-DCs and AP-LDCs.

• Impact in terms of greater market access arising out of S&D treatment to AP-DCs.

• Impact in terms of shifts in competitiveness arising out of S&D treatment to AP-DCs.

• Possible implications of S&D treatment on AP-LDCs.

• Experience of the AP-DCs during the post-UR period.

Evaluative Issues • Financial assistance required to address the

Demand Side Constraints that inhibit the ability of the AP-DCs to take the fullest advantage of the S&D treatments under the various provisions.

• Financial assistance required to address the Supply Side Constraint which inhibit greater market access provided to AP-DCs in the context of S&D treatment.

• What are the specific difficulties faced by AP-DCs in accessing the S&D treatment from a systemic perspective (for example, S&D treatment in the context of the Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU) in such areas as formation of panels, preparation in terms of facing complaints in matters regarding ADDs, CVDs, legal support and advice, etc.).

• Assessment of the Integrated Framework (IF) initiative for Trade Related Technical Assistance for the LDCs.

• Creation of global fund for trade capacity building in the Developing Countries.

• Bilateral initiatives favouring the AP-LDCs.

Forward Looking Issues

• In view of the current experience what new types of S&D treatment should the AP-LDCs argue for in any future round of Trade Negotiations.

• In view of the increasing marginalisation of the LDCs as a group, concrete positive agenda which ought to be designed towards enhancement of trade capacities in the LDCs (quota-free access, duty-free access, technical assistance for trade capacity building).

• Specific mechanisms to operationalise the provisions for liberalisation of market access in sectors and modes of supply which have specific export interest from AP-DC perspective (Article IV of GATS which concern movement of natural persons, Article 66.2 of TRIPs Agreement dealing with transfer of technology to the LDCs).

B.3 Priority Research Agenda • Country-specific assessment of the benefit

accrued from S&D treatment provided under the UR (under the various provisions, e.g. removal of quota, subsidy, rules of origin).

• Comprehensive assessment of the rules of origin under the various GSP schemes as these apply to AP-DCs.

• Country specific technical assistance needs in the AP-DCs for realising potentials for greater market access provided under S&D status.

• Modalities to strengthen the aid-trade nexus from AP-DC perspective.

• Design of strategic policy briefs for trade negotiators to safeguard AP-DCs’ interest in traditional and indigenous technologies.

• Design of a comprehensive action plan to be submitted to the third UN Conference on LDCs to be held in Brussels in July 2001.

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C. Enhancing Cooperation amongst Policy- Makers, Trade Negotiators and the Private Sector in Designing Export Promoting Policies and Strategies

C.1 Premise

In WTO countries get not what they deserve, but what they negotiate. Usually it is the policy- makers in the individual countries who provide the broad guidelines and policy directions vis-a-vis the negotiating positions, and it is the task of the trade negotiators to conduct negotiations according to the briefs they have received from their respective governments. The result of negotiations get reflected in the Agreements. Although most of the AP-DCs have continued to remain outside the Green Room Consultative Process, domestic policies of all WTO members have to be put under certain disciplines in accordance with the negotiated Agreements and public and private sectors are expected to conduct business according to these rules. Thus, governments bind themselves to certain frameworks through international agreements, and firms are to operate within these frameworks as they get reflected in the domestic policies. The process of rule based trading regime is, thus, in effect the outcome of a tripartite collaboration between policy- makers, trade negotiators and the private sector (including entrepreneurs, farmers and the business community). The more effective this collaboration the better would the outcome be in terms of (a) (relatively) favourable agree- ments, (b) (relatively) easy implementation, and (c) useful results originating from implemen- tation of the negotiating agenda. There is, thus, a common interest between the government and the business in the area of trade policy design and implementation. In practice, however, the task of forging a close partnership amongst the abovementioned three key stakeholders towards effective trade policy making has continued to under perform in most of the AP-DCs, specially in the 13 LDCs of the region. More specifically, public-private cooperation has continued to remain particularly weak. As a result there is a sense of exclusion in both the private sector and the civil society of most of the developing countries which in effect has, in the past, weakened not only the implementation process but also the mandate of

negotiators. In many countries the interface between the initiatives which the public and private sector have taken have remained very weak. C.2 Agenda for Discussion

Improved use of trade agreements by the government and the private sector

• Modalities for broader dissemination of the negotiated provisions amongst government officials and businessmen in the AP-DCs (workshops, training, website, circulation of made-easy bulletins, dissemination of UNCTAD publications).

• The task of preparing easily understandable briefs on negotiated agreements for major stakeholders in the AP-DCs (in this regard, role of WTO and UNCTAD; role of concerned government agencies, which is often either the Ministry of Commerce or the Ministry of International Trade, role of Chambers of Commerce and Industries).

• How to place a system of consultations between relevant government ministries and the chambers (event-specific, issue-specific; provision-specific; regularity; mandate).

• Modalities for better inter-governmental agency coordination in implementing cross-cutting provisions.

• How to enhance networking capacities to forge closer cooperation in the area of exchange of information and data between public and private sectors of the AP-DCs and multilateral trade related institutions including WTO and UNCTAD (setting up website, internet access, internet conference).

Public-Private Dialogues in the Formulation of Negotiations

Some of the following strategies could be discussed:

• Formation of issue-specific permanent consultative committees with participation of relevant ministries and chambers.

• Holding of Hearings by relevant Parliamentary Standing Committees in AP-DCs to access expert opinion.

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• A mechanism for regular consultation with interested civil society groups in the process of designing negotiating positions and building broad based support for particular strategies.

• Modalities for broadened approach to negotiating positions by overcoming the narrow focus which often inhibit the approach of various stakeholder groups in the AP-DCs.

• Creation of a committee with participation from both the governments and civil societies of the AP-LDCs to design a comprehensive agenda for the S&D treatment for LDCs in any future round of trade negotiations.

Sharpening Negotiating Skills of Trade Negotiator • Creation of a domestic trade cadre capable of

adequately addressing the emerging trade issues in future negotiations in the area of built-in, continuing and positive agendas (setting up foreign trade institutions such as IIFT, introducing trade negotiations courses in the curriculum of the universities).

• Building issue-based coalitions with respect to particular agendas and ensuring their close interaction with trade negotiators.

• Inclusion of private sector in the process of trade negotiations (at least as observers).

• Modalities to strengthen the Trade Missions in Geneva (manpower, analytical capacity).

• Need for global initiatives towards effective participation of AP-DCs in trade negotiations (imparting of training in the area of trade law and negotiations; exchange of experts; more extensive internship of public sector officials in multilateral agencies such as WTO and UNCTAD).

C.3 Training Needs to Enhance Trade Policy Making Capacity

• Trade policy appreciation workshops for government officials on key WTO provisions which are expected to have important

implications for sectors of export interest to AP-DCs.

• Organisation of workshops on trade policy negotiations for high level policy-makers in the Ministries of Commerce/Trade and Foreign Affairs.

• Since coalition building is an important aspect of trade negotiations, there is a need to hold regional workshops on WTO provisions of common interest for developing countries of the AP region (for example, in South Asia it would be AoA, TRIPs, GATS).

• Many civil society groups are currently engaged in advocacy programmes covering issues which have come under the purview of UR, and also some of the emerging issues in the area of environment, labour rights, competition policies. Trade related workshops, dialogues, training sessions organised by the government and multilateral agencies tend to include only government officials (and sometimes representatives from the private sector) and often do not feel the necessity (or usefulness) to include this particular group of stakeholders. A modality should be designed to bring on board this particular group as well and make the consultations inclusive (often the single undertaking nature of the WTO commitments are not adequately appreciated since such special interest groups tend to have a narrow focus which ignores the emerging opportunities of a rule-based trading regime; hence the need for a more intense inclusive and participatory consultative process).

• Organisation of on-line conferences with participation of experts for the benefit of major stakeholders.

• Need for a comprehensive regional programme for training the government officials of the AP-DCs in the conduct of trade negotiations.

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Research and Training Needs in the Context of Current Negotiations in WTO

B. Bhattacharyya∗

∗ Dean, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi.

The Uruguay Round of Trade Negotiations was the most comprehensive multilateral trade agreement ever negotiated. Despite that, it had a built-in agenda which allowed follow-up negotiations for further liberalisation as well as review of implementation and working of some of the Agreements. The period, UR negotiations took place as well as the period thereafter coincided with the period when a general movement towards globalisation was taking place. This period is also witnessing a fair amount of unilateral liberalisation measures in many developing countries.

The expectations from the trade liberalisation

in terms of additionality in exports have, however, not been realised, especially for the developing countries. There can be three, not necessarily exclusive, explanations. First, the initial expectations were based on studies which possibly overestimated the overall gains. Second, there might have been adverse developments which effectively negated the beneficial impact of the trade liberalisation, such as the Asian economic crisis. Third, the infirmities in the implementation process of commitments might have impeded the full realisation of the trade potential. An Overview

Most quantitative research on the possible gains from trade liberalisation have either used a partial equilibrium or a general equilibrium model, though there were wide variations in the level of sophistication in the CGE type of models. The relative strengths and weaknesses of the alternative approaches are well-known. But the most severe problem is in interpretation of the results. There are large variations in the

estimated effects, some of which are attributable to different assumptions, data bases and time periods.

Despite these variations, there was more or

less universal acceptance of some results, atleast in terms of direction of change. First, there would be an upward movement in agricultural prices following implementation of UR commitments. Second, the net food importing countries will suffer the most welfare loss. Third, there will be some amount of production relocation, especially in the highly subsidised agro-sectors, from the developed to the developing countries, which are low subsidiers compared to the developed world. Fourth, there was an expectation, a priori, that there would be lesser volatility in the world prices of major agro commodities as the depth of the global market increases. Fifth, the welfare gains from liberalisation in the farm sector in OECD will be much more than what can be expected from reforms in the agro-sector in developing countries.

Studies both at institutional and academic level broadly reveal a gap between the anticipated and actual outcome. A WTO Secretariat study shows that the increase in export-share of the developing countries in global agricultural trade has come mostly from other developing countries. European Union is the largest market for agricultural exports from the developing countries but its share in total agro-exports from the developing countries declined between 1994 and 1998. A similar trend was observed in Japan.

On the other hand, studies by FAO reveal an asymmetry in the experience between the growth of food imports and the growth of agricultural

26

exports. While trade liberalisation has led to an almost instantaneous surge in food imports, these food importing countries were not able to raise their exports.

The decline in commodity prices has been documented in detail in many studies, including that of UNCTAD. The expectation regarding increase in prices stand refuted. Most studies have documented the shortfall but lacked in establishing rigorous causal links. This is because too many factors might have impacted the final outcome—only a few of these would be UR- related. It also needs emphasis that most generalised studies which by necessity have to group the entire world into a few trading blocs/regions, are of somewhat limited utility to smaller countries. These are always bunched into a larger region and estimates on export-import gains or losses, welfare losses/gains, etc. for the region as a whole cannot help much in policy formulation. Non-econometric studies have, however, been able to pinpoint some factors which might have contributed to the expectation-outcome gaps. Some of these are: • The continued high level of agricultural

subsidy in some OECD countries, especially in the European Union.

• A related issue is the perceived unfair transfer of certain types of subsidies from a trade-distorting box to a non-trade distorting box.

• The non-transparency in tariff quota administration and non/lower utilisation.

• The issue of peak tariff rates and tariff escalation as well as complexities in tariff rates.

Indian Case Study These studies have brought to the surface,

both the inequitous nature of the current AoA as well as the weakness in the implementation process. These research studies have been carried out mostly by multinational bodies, such as World Bank, UNCTAD, WTO and some by think-tanks in various countries. As a consequence, except for the latter, studies lack country focus. For a national Government, however, general studies need to be

complemented by those which have country as the major focus—to evaluate how would the country gain or lose from the Agreement and what prescriptive actions are required either to maximise gains or minimise losses.

India is taken as a case study to identify the

issues that confronted the Government during the preparatory phase of the Seattle Ministerial Meeting and since then for negotiations under the built-in agenda, the type of research required to be carried out and the mechanism for getting the research organised.

The major issues where government required

indepth research–the need for research in fact continues–were:

1. What does constitute food security? In what

way could AoA affect the food security policies as currently being practised? Could AoA effect a structural change in the global agricultural market which might influence, beneficially or otherwise, the country’s food security position?

2. How would AoA impact the small and

marginal farmers whose ability to participate in cross-border transactions is non-existent and consequently, are unable to benefit from trade liberalisation? But would they get adversely affected by open imports?

3. Is Indian agriculture globally competitive? If

so, in what sectors? What is the current level of nominal and effective protection to major agricultural produce in India?

4. What policy initiatives are required to make

Indian agriculture more productive and competitive in the long run? In the services sector, the basic questions that

needed answering include the following: 1. Which are the services sectors where India

enjoy international competitive- ness? 2. Which modes of supply are critical for those

sectors? Is movement of natural persons crucial in these sectors?

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3. What are the conditions regarding recognition of professional qualifica- tions, etc. which might nullify the market access negotiated?

4. What are the possible consequences of

opening select services sectors under GATS future negotiations? Compared to the services sector, more

exhaustive research has been conducted on agriculture. Apart from the relative importance of agriculture in the national economy, opening of agriculture was not only an economic issue but also a political issue with strong emotional content and divisive potential.

Studies on food security issues focussed on making estimates of foodgrains demand–supply in the medium term, under various assumptions. The major objective was to arrive at a conclusion as to whether India might turn into a net-food importer. If so, what is the expected quantum and precisely in what types of grains. Methodology in some cases involved single equation regressions with multiple variables, both in real and nominal terms. Rigorous econometric exercises have been carried out to estimate expenditure elasticities by some researchers.

Another focus of research was whether the hypothesis relating to reduced volatility of prices in the international market is empirically proven. Methodology used was to calculate several types of volatility measures. One important issue for India is that given its size, the small country assumption may not hold. Its entry either as an exporter or importer of food- grains influence global prices, especially in rice, where the world market is shallow. Quantification of the possible impact of India’s market entry in rice and wheat was made through simulation exercises.

Studies on international competitiveness of agriculture have mostly used the concepts of Nominal Protection Co-efficient (comparison of domestic vs international prices, adjusted for taxes, levies and transport charges) and Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) indices. Some studies have also looked at the protection given to Indian agriculture in real terms. One limiting factor for rigorous empirical research is availability and adequacy of data.

Countrywise data on international trade are available in a disaggregated level only with a lag of minimum two to three years. As WTO agreement has been implemented from January 1995, this makes it difficult to do any trend analysis at this point of time. Even within a country, database is somewhat deficient. For example, monthly price data on agricultural commodities in India are available only from the Mandis and the figures vary widely between Mandis in different parts of the country. Large differences in data have been observed between international databases such as PC TAS and TRAINS database. Inconsistency was also observed while working with data of national trade reporting systems.

Future Negotiations The importance of the on-going negotia-

tions on the built-in agenda lies, so far as the developing countries in Asia-Pacific are concerned, in ensuring that the market access for their important exports, both products and services, gets a favoured treatment. In the case of agriculture, this will imply addressing the issue of tariff peaks, tariff escalation and tariff rate quota, substantial reduction in domestic support and unfair export competition. In addition, there must also be an acceptance of the non-trade concerns, especially of food security and the special needs of developing country agriculture. In the services sector, the competence of most developing countries lies in those sub-sectors where movement of natural persons is a primary requirement. How to make forward movement on this front is of major concern.

Though the current situation is not too conducive to a new round of multilateral trade negotiations, there is a view even among some developing countries that such a round may be desirable to address several issues which are of critical importance to them, e.g., industrial tariff on labour-intensive products.

Research Needs

Earlier studies have helped clarify some of the issues involved as well as prepare the country responses. There are still many areas where hardly any analytical work has been carried out. If research is undertaken on these areas, that will

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be of substantial benefit to the developing and least developed countries for their effective participation in WTO as well as domestic policy formulation. Such research needs to be carried out by each country. The related capacity-building dimension is discussed in the next section.

Agriculture

1. What policies, required to ensure food security, need to be outside the WTO discipline?

2. Should there be a separate Food Security

Box? If so, what should be the constituent components?

3. What can be an appropriate definition of

resource-poor farmer in the context of Article 6 para 2 of AoA?

4. Does the provision relating to calculation of

AMS in relation to public stockholding for food security purpose (Annex 2 of AoA) needs amendment?

5. How should the technical issues which

include, inter alia, impact of inflation and choice of national currency for notification purpose be resolved? Will a basket of currency, such as SDR, be preferable?

6. Which tariff cutting formula will be the best

from the country’s point of view? 7. In which sectors, an import surge can be

anticipated? What possible types of state intervention can be thought of within the WTO framework?

8. Will it be better in such a context to

extend the right of special safeguards to all WTO members rather than seeking its abolition?

9. What are the implications of the world seeds

industry for the country’s food security? How can the country’s seeds industry be developed?

10. What legal system is required to protect the farmers’ traditional rights? What lessons can be learnt from experiences of countries which are similarly placed?

11. What should be the country’s position on

GMO, especially keeping in view food security?

12. What is exactly the concept of multi-

functionality in agriculture? Is it possible that some components of this broad concept are useful to developing countries?

Implementation Issues 1. Analysis of the post-UR experience to

identify the products where SPS measures have acted as non-tariff barriers. Identification of products where domestic standards upgradation is called for.

2. How to identify specific commodities where

exportable surplus can be generated on a sustainable basis? What are the current product standards and how do they compare with those of Codex? Will it be possible to adopt the Codex standards with/without technical assistance from other countries?

3. How has Art. VI provision of GATT has affected the country’s exports? What will be the country’s preferred position regarding future negotiations on this provision?

4. Which are the areas where technical

assistance is most required? Can concrete proposals be worked out for operationali- sing the technical assistance provisions in WTO Agreements?

5. How can the present S&D provisions be

made more realistic? Is it possible to counter the argument that S&D provisions effectively reduce the bargaining leverage of the beneficiaries?

Services 1. What is the importance of the service sector

in the country’s economy? What is the status

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of data collection and the areas of upgradation? Which are the sectors where opening up will be most beneficial to the country’s growth process?

2. Are there service sectors where the country has the potential to become a net exporter? What are the constraints in terms of market access for such services exports, in what markets?

Training Needs

These can be broadly segmented into three categories: • Techniques of negotiations / international

negotiations

• Economics and Politics of Global Trading

System

• WTO issues – negotiating agenda.

Officials who participate in actual negotiations need to be exposed to the well-developed literature on negotiations. Through appropriate training methodologies, their negotiating skills are to be developed.

Negotiators must also be aware of the

economics of global trade, the power equations, strategic agenda of the major trading nations, mandate and work programme of the important international bodies, such as UNCTAD, World Bank, OECD, ILO, UNEP. Imparting know- ledge on the WTO agenda is obviously the focus of the training programmes. However, this cannot be accomplished effectively unless the other two are integrated into a holistic knowledge-cum-skill development exercise.

Apart from the group that actually participates in negotiations, the programme for training must also include a much larger target audience. This target will comprise middle and senior level government officials in the concerned Ministries who contribute to the development of Government policies, industry/trade bodies, academics and public advocacy groups, concerned with WTO issues. For this target audience, the focus will have to be on the negotiating agenda, in the context of the

national economic priorities as well as socio-political constraints.

Methodology of Capacity Building To illustrate how this task can be approached,

India is taken as an example. The nodal agency for WTO negotiations is the Ministry of Commerce, specifically the Trade Policy Division. This Division along with the Permanent Mission in Geneva coordinates the Government of India’s interface with the WTO. Up to Marrakesh, the staff size in both was miniscule. The realisation for increasing the capacity level came with the approach of the Seattle Ministerial Conference. It was appreciated that preparing for this conference would need a much larger staff, both in Delhi and Geneva. Further, it was also appreciated that Government officials alone would not be able to provide the analytical inputs required for policy formulation. Accordingly, a two-track approach was followed. Several national level think-tanks were identified having the research capability, though not necessarily in WTO issues. These were assigned specific research area, such as agriculture and services.

IIFT, which is the premier Institute in the country for foreign trade research, was given additional funding by the Government of India to set up a Centre for WTO Studies. This Centre has the mandate of carrying out policy-oriented research on the WTO issues, both in-house as well as by outside experts. It was also given the responsibility of conducting Workshops and Seminars to deliberate on WTO issues, to conduct training programmes at various State Capitals for State Government Officials on WTO matters as well as officials at the Centre. One of the major deficiencies in domestic capability is in the area of International Trade Law. As a medium term solution, the Government has created a Chair for International Trade Law in the National Law School which is a premier training and research Institution in that field.

It was also realised that the concerned Ministry might require research support on a continuing basis before and during the negotiations. Accordingly, the Ministry of Agriculture retained IIFT on a contractual basis to provide on-going support, whenever required,

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for analysing the submissions of various countries and developing various options for India for eventual submission to WTO.

The enumeration of these initiatives basically reveals a two-track methodology: first, to increase the staff strength within the Government and second, to strengthen and utilise the research and training capability available nationally. While these initiatives have created a fairly developed training and research support system, glaring deficits are visible in two areas:

(i) There is no institutional mechanism for developing international negotiating skills of current and future participants.

(ii) The efforts towards creating a sufficiently large pool of legal expertise in matters relating to trade law will take at least several years before any impact could be expected.

On the issue on negotiating skill development, the Colombo Plan Secretariat has taken an initiative by organising a series of Workshops for Government Officials and

industry representatives from the member countries. The Workshops have the objective of upgrading the negotiating skills by exposing them to the relevant literature and techniques of international negotiations.

Conclusion At the Asia-Pacific level, there are several

countries which have developed a fair level of competence in matters relating to WTO. These national centres can be further developed through appropriate linkages with and technical support from international organisations such as World Bank, WTO and UNCTAD. These centres in turn can provide substantial training and research support not only to their own governments but also to other National Governments in the region requiring such support or to an identified national nodal agency which may be a training/research institution. The advantage of this two-tier system will be in terms of lower level of upfront investment, better regional country focus and shorter delivery time for organising research/training support.

REFERENCES

1. ABARE, The Impact of Agricultural Trade Liberalisation on Developing Countries, Canberra, 2000.

2. Abbott and Morse, “TRQ Implementation in Developing Countries”, Paper prepared for the World Bank/WTO Conference on Agriculture and the New Trade Agenda in the WTO 2000 Negotiations, Geneva, 1-2 October 1999.

3. Anderson, Erwidodo and Ingco, “Integrating Agriculture into the WTO: The Next Phase”, Paper presented at the WTO/World Bank Conference on Developing Countries in a Millennium Round, Geneva, 20-21 September 1999 (Revised March 2000).

4. Anderson, Kym, and Yujiro Hayami, The Political Economy of Agricultural Protection: East Asia in International Perspective, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 1986.

5. Bhattacharyya, B. and Pal, Parthpratim, Opening Up of Indian Agriculture:

Implication for Food Security (mimeo), 2000 (WTO Project for Deptt. of Agriculture & Cooperation, Govt. of India).

6. Bhattacharyya, B. and Pal, Parthpratim, Identification of Product Sub-sectors for Negotiations on Increased Market Access (mimeo), 2000 (WTO Project for Deptt. of Agriculture & Cooperation, Govt. of India).

7. Bhattacharyya, B. and Dey, Prithwis K., Scanning Global and Domestic Developments in Agriculture: Developing In-house Capability in the Ministry of Commerce (mimeo), 2000 (WTO Project for Deptt. of Agriculture & Cooperation, Govt. of India).

8. Chand, Ramesh, “Trade Liberalisation, Agricultural Prices and Net Social Welfare” (Discussion Paper), NCAEPR, New Delhi, 1999.

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9. Dhar & Chaturvedi, WTO Agreements and Agricultural Sector: Implications and Options for India, RIS, New Delhi, 1999.

10. ESCAP, Benefits and Challenges Facing Asia-Pacific Agricultural Trading Countries in the Post-Uruguay Round Period, 1995.

11. ESCAP, Non-tariff Measures with Potentially Restricted Market Access Implications Emerging in a Post-Uruguay Round Context, 2000.

12. ESCAP/FAO, The Impact of the Uruguay Round on Tariff Escalation in Agricultural Products by J. Lindland, 1997.

13. FAO, “Synthesis of Country Case Studies”, Paper No. 3, Symposium on Agriculture, Trade and Food Security: Issues and Options in the Forthcoming WTO Negotiations from the Perspective of Developing Countries, Geneva, 23-24 September 1999.

14. FAO, “Issues at Stake Relating to Agricultural Development, Trade and Food Security”, FAO Symposium on Agriculture, Trade and Food Security, Geneva, 23-24 September 1999.

15. Gulati & Narayanan, “Indian Agriculture in the Global Economy : What Should India Negotiate in Seattle & Why”, Focus WTO, July-August 1999.

16. Hoekman & Anderson, “Developing Country Agriculture and the New Trade Agenda”, Paper presented at the American Economic Association Annual Meeting 1999.

17. Ingco, Merlinda, and Dale Hathaway, “Implementation of the Uruguay Round Commitments in Agriculture: Issues and Practice”, Paper presented to the Fourth World Bank Conference on Environmentally Sustainable Development: Rural Well-Being: from Vision to Action, Washington, 25-27 September 1996.

18. International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium (IATRC), “Implementation of the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture and Issues for the Next Round of Agricultural Negotiations”, IATRC

Commissioned Paper No. 12, St. Paul, MN: IATRC, 1997.

19. Josling, Tim, “Emerging Issues for the 1999 Round: Options for Agricultural Policy Reform”, Paper presented to the Fourth World Bank Conference on Environmentally Sustainable Development: Rural Well-Being: From Vision to Action, Washington, 25-27 September 1996.

20. Mehta and Kumar, Ujjal, “Implementation of SPS Agreement and S&D Treatment Therein”, Paper presented in IIFT Seminar on WTO Agreement on Agriculture India’s Negotiating Agenda, New Delhi, 10 June 2000.

21. Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Agricultural Policies in OECD Countries: Measurement of Support and Background Information, Paris, 1997.

22. Roberts, Orden and Josling, “WTO Disciplines on Technical Barriers to Agricultural Trade: Progress, Prospects and Implications for Developing Countries”, WTO/World Bank Conference on Agriculture and the New Trade Agenda in the WTO 2000 Negotiations, Geneva, 1-2 October 1999.

23. Sharma, Anil, “The WTO Agreement on Agriculture: Issues for the Next Round of Negotiation”, Paper presented in IIFT Seminar on WTO Agreement on Agriculture India’s Negotiating Agenda, New Delhi, 10 June 2000.

24. Tangermann, Stefan, Implementation of the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture by the Major Developed Countries, UNCTAD Document ITD/16 (3 October 1995), Geneva: UNCTAD.

25. Timothy Josling, Agricultural Trade Policy: Completing the Reforms (Institute for International Economics, 1998.

26. UNCTAD, Agreement of Trade in Services of Developing Countries: Summary of Findings, UNCTAD/ITCD/TSB/7, August 1991.

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27. UNCTAD, Positive Agenda and Future Trade Negotiations, 2000, UNCTAD/ITCD/TSB/10.

28. UNCTAD, The World Commodity Economy: Recent Evolution, Financial Crises, and Changing Market Structures, Trade and Development Board Commission on Trade in Goods and Services, and Commodities, TD/B/COM.1/27, 16 July 1999.

29. UNCTAD, Examining Trade in the Agricultural Sector, with a view to Expanding the Agricultural Exports of the Developing Countries, and to Assisting Them in Better Understanding the Issues at Stake

in the Upcoming Agricultural Negotiations, TD/B/COM.1/EM/2, 23 February 1999.

30. UNCTAD, Preparing for Future Multilateral Trade Negotiations: Issues and Research Needs from a Development Perspective, Expert Group Meeting, Geneva, 21-22 September 1998.

31. WTO, The Results of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations: The Legal Texts, GATT Secretariat, Geneva: World Trade Organisation (June 1995).

32. WTO, Agricultural Trade Performance by

Developing Countries 1990-98, G/AG/NG/S/6.

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Developing Institutional Capability on International Trade Issues*

Mia Mikic**

INTRODUCTION

* The views expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations Secretariat. ** School of Business and Economics, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.

In the conclusions adopted at the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)’s Expert Group Meeting on Regional Networking of Trade-related Training Facilities held in Bangalore, India, February 1998, a pilot training programme was proposed to help strengthen regional networking of trade-related training facilities, to assure for a transfer of knowledge and to provide contemporary and appropriate training for trade promotion.1 As a follow-up to this recommendation, the ESCAP is implementing a project entitled “Increasing Capacities in Trade and Investment Promotion – Pilot Training Programme with Selected Trade-related Training Institutes”. The first activity of this project, a research and training needs assessment at trade-related training institutes in Asia, was completed in September 2000.

Incorporating findings from the research and training needs assessment at five selected trade-related training facilities,2 four in least developed countries (LDCs), namely: Bangladesh, Cambodia, Lao PDR and Nepal and the fifth in Viet Nam, the report aims to analyse not only the institutional capacity at trade-related research and training institutes, but also to discuss the requirements in trade-related research and training in order to meet the challenges of the evolving international trade agenda and increasingly more specific demands of exporters and importers. It proceeds by assessing the weaknesses and strengths in current institutional

capacity at the selected trade-related training facilities. On the basis of the analysis and by identifying the gaps between “what is” and “what ought to be” at the training facilities, the report ventures a few recommendations and initiatives to help close these gaps and to work towards creating an integrated research and training programme in trade policy and trade promotion. It also offers some observations on regional networking and resource sharing.

I TRADE-RELATED RESEARCH AND

TRAINING NEEDS FOR THE EVOLVING INTERNATIONAL TRADE AGENDA Over the past decade, the external

environment for trade has changed in several directions: continuing globalisation, constantly evolving international trade agenda, information technology (IT) and the new economy, changing patterns of developing countries and LDCs’ exports, and greater potential for exports from such countries. Let us discuss each one in turn with reference to demands of each on research and training.

The relative success of multilateral and regional liberalisation processes has encouraged more governments, including the governments of developing and transition countries, to shift their economies from closed and regulated to relatively open-market in order to integrate into the global economy. Empirical

34

analysis verifies that open markets and free trade have long-term economic and social benefits, with the benefits being larger than the adjustment costs borne by a few. Although, this has constituted a rationale for furthering trade liberalisation by most governments, many of them have been ineffective in disseminating these research findings to society at large. As a consequence there has been a recent increase in a backlash against “free” trade and globalisation, mostly led by the NGOs in the developed economies. Further research to better explain why trade reforms have been so slow to deliver improvements in allocation of resources and standards of living (as promised by the theory) is critical to enable governments to engage in a constructive debate with civil society groups and NGOs on benefits and shortfalls of trade liberalisation. Such “refining-knowledge” research would be, one hopes, also vital in designing economic policies and other instruments to facilitate adjustments and restructuring so that costs of trade liberalisation could be reduced. This is essential if development based on furthering of trade liberalisation is to be sustained.

However, despite reduction in protectionism based on tariffs (or because of it), trade has not become “free” as many new trade impediments have arisen (such as tools of contingent protection – voluntary export restraints (VER), voluntary import expansion (VIE), anti-dumping and countervailing duties or a number of newly introduced technical and other standards). Consequently, the policy agenda has become much more complex making training of policy-makers and negotiators (particularly in LDCs) a continuous and an increasingly important component of their professional development. More and more so trade policy-makers have to take into account the international repercussions of regulatory actions in domestic markets (such as in the area of financial services). Confronted by the so-called “second generation” issues in trade liberalisation (issues related to standards, government procurement, competition policy, intellectual property rights, contingent protection, open service markets, etc.) which could be successfully dealt with only with adequate trade policies, policy-makers must understand the economics and the political

economy of those issues and for this must be able to turn to the findings of the most recent research.

Moreover, the pattern of trade has changed for developing countries and LDCs, with some countries diversifying away from traditional exports of basic commodities to experience a healthy growth in exports of labour-intensive manufactures and services and outsourcing. More often than not, a comprehensive national export strategy is the driving force of the trade engine of growth. It is, therefore, essential that a national export strategy be in place for trade facilitation and export promotion to be effective. For example, by reducing transaction costs (e.g. through simpler customs procedure for imports), trade facilitation improves competitiveness of exporters, while trade policy and trade promotion ease their access to international markets thus enabling them to gain greater market share and further improve efficiency and productivity of export-oriented sectors. When this interconnected operation of trade support tools happens on a large scale (as envisaged in a national export strategy), growth and development should be much easier to attain. Therefore training of both trade specialists and trade practitioners in this interconnected area is essential. Needless to say, as the international trade agenda becomes more complex and the number of players increases, the potential for trade conflicts grows also. Provision of research and training support to trade specialists and trade practitioners in the technical rules and agreements of the WTO could assist them to challenge and resolve trade disputes that may arise.

In addition, with the recent developments in information and communication technology, there is potential for developing countries and LDCs to develop new areas of comparative advantage in IT-specific services especially in the finance or tourism sectors. In future these new opportunities could be enriched by electronic commerce, which would make trading cheaper and would also expand trade in previously non-tradable areas. These fast growing new export areas and new modes of trade could not be tapped into unless techniques of and negotiations in electronic commerce are

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mastered. Therefore the LDCs, to become active players in the global economy, in addition to focusing training on general techniques of trade promotion, must seriously start developing training in techniques and tools of electronic commerce and on negotiation in the field of electronic commerce.3 This needs to be accompanied with advances in institutional and legal frameworks where developing countries are also lagging behind developed countries.

Not only do the advances in IT create a new demand for training, they affect supply of training (and research) too. The modern training techniques available with new IT such as videoconferences, distance learning, self-training with CD-ROMs are usable in any area of training but particularly so in the field of electronic commerce.4 There is no end in imagining various possibilities of bringing together many different actors in trade, like governments and their Export Promotion Boards (EPB), private sector, NGOs and representatives of civil societies to work together not only in research and training but in trade policies formulation and implement- ation of trade promotion tools.

These changes in the international trading regime and trade patterns of the LDCs render traditional research and training in trade-related areas inadequate and lacking in coherency, content and presentation media. There is no doubt that there has been an improvement in terms of both number and quality of public and private providers of research and training services in trade areas in Asia which, aided by numerous international providers, enabled a considerable learning to take place (particularly in areas of trade information, trade documentation, marketing, etc). However training needs have significantly grown and become very problem-specific. Increasingly, trade policy-makers and trading firms seek to learn about trade issues: ranging from trade facilitation, safety, health, environmental and social standards to intellectual property rights and links between trade and competition policies. Whereas, exporters and importers wish to be trained in very specific areas: how to conform to the rules of origin for specific regional markets, to health and other standards and labeling for specific products and markets, how to conduct

electronic commerce, branding and protection of geographic origin, and many others. These sophisticated needs have to be addressed by designing training courses which incorporate the new aspects of trade promotion, if trade is to drive economic growth of the LDCs.

II INSTITUTIONAL CAPABILITY

ASSESSMENT AT SELECTED TRADE-RELATED TRAINING FACILITIES IN

ASIA The key objectives of this training

needs assessment at selected trade-related training facilities are to: (1) examine institutional capacity at training centres with a specific focus on training and research programmes in trade promotion (dominantly in terms of curricula development and course material require ments), (2) highlight deficits in existing training and research programmes, (3) suggest steps to be taken to create training programmes which integrate trade policy and trade promotion,and (4) explore partnerships and experiencein regional networking and resource sharing.

Methodology adopted to carry out objectives of the training needs assessment at selected trade-related training institutes5 consists of four types of investigations: analysis of questionnaires completed by the selected institutes, missions to five countries which included interviews with the selected institutes’ general directors or directors in charge of trade-related training and other training/research staff, as well as inspection of training venues and technical capacities, and lastly analysis of some training materials and other publications collected during mission visits.

(A) Organisational Structures

Most of the trade-related research and training institutes surveyed are directly or indirectly linked to some government ministries. Therefore, an issue of research and training policies development and implement- ation arises. In some of the cases, these policies were directly influenced by the respective ministries or directly by allocation of funding to the institutes, but in other cases institutes

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were independent with respect to recruitment and setting the research and training agendas.

Where institutes are part of ministerial structures, there is a little collaboration amongst departments belonging to different ministries in charge of international economic matters. For example, while some departments in the ministry with portfolio of national economy would have relatively developed training programmes with international agencies [e.g. the World Bank and the World Bank Institute (WBI)] dealing among other issues with trade policies, there would be no formal involvement in such activities by the ministry directly in charge of trade. Similarly, whilst most countries have already developed national export (trade) strategies, or are embarking on this task, at present there has been no identifiable input to these strategies by the institutes dealing with trade-related research and training. Furthermore there is no clear connection between current research and training agendas and national trade strategies. This lack of synergy among the government departments was noticeable in most cases, having an adverse effect on the training and research capacities.

(B) Trainers and Researchers

The number of full-time research and training staff at the selected trade-related training and research institutes range from less than ten to almost a hundred. The least represented is staff with doctorate qualification, while the most is with bachelor’s degrees.

Not all institutes were able to provide refresher courses or training-of-trainers to their staff. One or two trainers from each institute were sent overseas to attend (mostly short) training courses and this was financed either by the overseas agency or by the trainers themselves.

There is a clear consensus amongst training institutes surveyed with regards to the most desirable type of assistance needed to improve training of their trainers: technical assistance, further education and overseas training. Generally, there is a widespread dependence on overseas sources of knowledge and information, both in the area of training and research. Trainers

and researchers clearly indicated their preference for training-of-trainers to be provided at overseas centres in developed countries. Only one of the institutes opted for the human resource assistance provided by local experts and centres of excellence.

(C) Interface between Research and Training

Although, it was not possible to identify existence of any national networks in either training or research in any of the selected countries, however, at the training institutes it was evident that when it comes to allocation of time on research, consultancy and training, most staff are specialised in research and consultancy (more than 40% of full-time staff across all institutes). In contrast, only 16% of all full-time staff at institutes surveyed conduct training only and close to a third of all staff conduct both training and research. For this last category of staff, it was not possible to assess if and how much of their own research is used in developing the training programmes they teach. This is probably more prevalent at the largest of the institutes visited, and also is probably true in the case of the university that was investigated.

The current level of cooperation, networking or resource sharing amongst the selected institutes, or between them and the centres of excellence in the region, is minimal. Apart from a few cases of satisfactory cooperation in the area of exchange of training materials and a joint organisation of training courses [with an involvement and coordination role of an overseas party, such as the Singapore Trade Development Board (STDB) or Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)] there is either no experience or it is extremely minimal in the areas of sharing of training staff, external consultants or research staff. There was no disagreement with the claim that there are advantages from bringing different stakeholders together to learn about common issues and discuss solutions.

As major obstacles to more extensive and more effective collaboration, the institutes singled out the lack of resources, which would enable them to equip appropriately for supporting regional networks. They all share the same belief that the burden to develop regional collaboration lies on their staff, which, they feel,

37

should be supported by the international agencies. Most institutes feel that their national governments have very limited financial resources and human capital to contribute significantly to furthering regional networks and cooperation. (D) Review and Analysis of Trade-Related Research and Training Materials

Over a period of the last 12 months the selected institutes have offered 26 training courses: nine on trade policy, nine on trade promotion, three on the WTO agreements, two on electronic commerce, two on product development, and one on bilateral trade agreements.

Most of the courses belong to the “short courses” category lasting from a few days to a week. Only the university investigated offered courses lasting 3 months, as these courses are degree-bearing courses. The dominant format of presentation is seminar style with integration of case studies. Most of these courses are aimed at national exporters.6

In preparing the courses, the surveyed training institutes with in-house capacity rely on consultations with the private sector and try to mount courses to satisfy requests of that sector. Other institutes due to lack of resources or experience depend completely on the supply of training programmes by overseas trade promotion agencies. In some cases the content and profile of overseas training programmes are adjusted to fit the national requirements. In cases where training is a product of overseas aid, institutes have more impact and involvement in the design of the training course, which provides opportunities for the needs of trade specialists and trade practitioners to be taken into account.

When asked about how they think courses could be improved, most institutes believed that better training and education of trainers and improved institutional support would be most effective. To facilitate developing a necessary training capacity in trade promotion, institutes opted for multiple remedies including employment of more specialist staff, re-organisation and re-structuring of current training programmes, improvement of the

technological capacity and motivation of trainers. Consistently, it was technical assistance, further education and overseas training-of-trainers that was selected as the most needed to develop training courses.

Overall, training materials are the result of a mixed effort: developed by in-house trainers, in collaboration with external experts, and adaptation (mostly translations) of materials prepared by international organisations. When institutes’ staff prepare training materials, they predominantly consult with former course participants about how to improve on the content and the format of the training.

Due to local language publication of training materials, it was not possible to provide an inventory of training material used. From a limited sample of materials collected and translated, it seems that a large section of materials fall into the handbook, monograph and yearbook categories. Major topics covered are export marketing, INCOTERMS,7 trade promotion agencies, WTO disciplines and trade representation.

(E) Training Methodology Training courses are delivered in both lecture

and seminar style, however on the basis of the little training material obtained it is hard to comment on training formats at any length. It seems that a modular format was used in some cases (for example, with modules on open trade rules, strategies for export promotion, and the implementation of the Uruguay Round), and a single topic/issue seminars in others (for example, tariff negotiation techniques).

From the data collected it seems that there is no formal training-of-trainers. It would then follow that little attention is paid to the actual teaching methodology and that focus is given more to the content of the training. Also, not many trainers have had any formal training in lesson planning, lecture techniques, small group facilitation, practical and active group exercises, evaluation of trainees, or one-on-one feedback and tutoring.

With respect to utilisation of teaching aids and various delivery modes, it seems that most of the trainers have fully mastered the standard

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teaching room equipment such as overhead projectors, videos and printed handouts. In contrast there is a clear lack of competence in using new training methodologies such as multimedia cases, distance learning or computer supported training aids.

When evaluating training courses to determine whether the training objectives were met, and whether training materials and content could be improved and how, the surveyed institutes have mostly used standard evaluation questionnaires, which are handed out to course participants. Participants’ comments obtained through course evaluations are analysed and used to update and re-design the materials and course contents. However, in practice training course evaluations are not performed regularly at all institutes and some of them lack important inputs from the beneficiaries of training on how best to modify courses and materials to meet demand.

III

INTEGRATED RESEARCH AND TRAINING PROGRAMME IN TRADE POLICY AND TRADE PROMOTION

(A) Integrating Trade Policy and Trade Promotion

Contrary to common perception, trade policy and trade promotion are not discrete entities within a national economic system. In fact, it is almost a norm that the same government ministry, typically the ministry of commerce, oversees both of these activities. Starting at the platform of achieving free trade, trade policy’s main task is (or ought to be) to negotiate transparent and necessary international commerce rules aimed at making national and foreign markets more accessible. Tools of trade policy normally include negotiation of multilateral, regional and bilateral trade agreements, assistance in trade dispute settlements, market access support, international cooperation in regulatory regimes (e.g. tax, competition, environment, labour) and international recognition of standards (like technical, health and sanitary and phytosanitary standards). Trade policy activities provide a more stable global environment for new economic opportunities. Trade promotion’s task is to

facilitate exploitation of these opportunities by easing the transition from domestic to international markets for goods and services and to enhance the competitiveness of national exports. Strong and sustainable growth of exports is more likely to materialise when active trade promotion is in place.

Integrating trade policy and trade promotion in trade-related research and training programmes will help create a virtuous circle in the national export sector and the rest of the economy. It goes without saying that entrepreneurs involved in the business of penetrating global markets by understanding the global trading system would be in a better position to lobby for more export-friendly trade policies. Similarly, entrepreneurs active in export markets are also the best source of knowledge about export impediments (non-tariff barriers, various other obstacles to market access or non-compliance of foreign governments to agreed WTO disciplines and commitments). This information might help trade policy-makers to improve formulation of trade policy and prioritisation of its objectives. The information on existent export impediments is crucial for trade policy negotiators who can work on incorporating entrepreneurs’ feedback into the Trade Policy Review Mechanism in the WTO and further trade talks at the multilateral level. To be able to perform their tasks successfully trade policy-makers and negotiators first have to understand the limitations of export promotion in the environment of inward looking and closed markets.

Although there is a demand for an integrated training programme, the survey at training institutes revealed that a significant proportion of the training programmes today still tend to focus on trade policy aspects of the training and only on a narrow selection of trade promotion topics. Typically, in their introduction, trade-related training courses refer to trade policy, trade promotion (and trade facilitation) from an organisational structure point of view, but this is not sufficient to demonstrate how trade policy and promotion (and facilitation) need to support each other to improve national trade efficiency. The most efficient way to proceed to meet the need for integrating trade policy and trade

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promotion is to organise a joint public and private sector training programme and to actively encourage programmes whereby the private sector can better understand why some of the policy instruments they lobby for cannot be adopted and how in contrast policy-makers should adopt good practice in export promotion to benefit all. Lack of resources and expertise, rather than lack in will, is the major obstacle here.

(B) Needs Assessment for An Integrated Training Programme

A need is not a want or desire. It is a gap between “what is” and “what ought to be” (now and in future). The training needs assessment at trade-related training institutes serves to identify the gaps. In this case, the gap is about discrepancies and differences between existing and desired competencies and skills in provision of training and research in areas of trade policy and trade promotion.

Given the internal and external constraints of the surveyed institutes one is inclined to say that they have done a fair job in the area of training. It is true that the training provided at the selected trade-related institutes has mostly been focused on a narrow set of topics (and driven by the availability of training programmes) and not on the confirmed needs and competencies required of international trade practitioners and specialists or policy- makers. Most training courses have been offered as a response to perceived needs rather than part of a coordinated national strategy towards the identified and agreed competencies and expertise demanded of local practitioners in the area of trade promotion and trade policy.

There is little doubt that good training must have support in theoretical, applied and empirical research activities. It is impossible to say how much of this support has been provided in the case of the selected institutes, as data on research is too limited. From observation and mission visits however a perception is formed that research was not delivered in an amount and across topics to contribute to trade policy formulation and trade promotion activities.

On the basis of the training needs assessment findings, the simplest path to design and develop an integrated trade policy and trade promotion

training programme should include: develop- ment of training curricula and training materials, choice of training programme delivery (techniques), and a plan on training evaluation. This programme should be research-driven where possible and at the least should have some support in a parallel research programme.

(C) Curricula and Training Material — Development and Validation

Procedures to develop curricula for new training programmes are definitely multifold. Experience of other countries show that the best results are achieved when a working group (focus group) comprising members with expertise in general training programme design as well as in trade policy and trade promotion fields is in charge of the process of curricula development. Such a working group is encouraged to consult with external experts in trade-related areas as well as with former and potential users of the training programme.

It is common that new curricula are developed as the main or the by-product of the needs assessment processes (as is in the present case). It would, however, be more desirable if a training institution would form a permanent consultative body (comprised similarly as the above-mentioned working group), which would enable proactive training programme development. In such cases, training might prevent formation of the gaps in competencies in future (that is, with pro-active design of training programmes, the emerging needs of the users such as trade policy-makers and trade practitioners would be met as they occur) and improve the efficacy of trade promotion activities.

An integrated programme curriculum should include the following components:

(a) the aims of the integrated approach; (b) the structure and content; (c) the expected training outcomes; and (d) description of training and evaluation

processes employed.

For validation of the curriculum it is best to develop it in discussion with focus groups comprised of the representatives of the selected

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training institutes and trade experts including trade policy-makers and trade practitioners.8

Training materials can be developed only if and when the objectives and the expected output of the training programme are clearly defined (otherwise training might become an end in itself). Development of a training programme in the integrated area of trade policy and trade promotion is a follow-up activity of this needs assessment. At present, a programme is envisaged to consist of interconnected modules integrating trade policy and trade promotion topics. It should be possible for most modules to be delivered independently from others if needed. Validation of the training material is best done by running a pilot followed by a thorough evaluation to ensure that the desired outcomes are achievable.

The integrated programme should allow for the following techniques to be used (needless to say not all of them are used in any given session and they are used with a different weighting): lectures, modified lectures, group discussions, case study presentations, programmed instruction (computer-based instruction), video and multimedia sessions and distance learning. Validation of training techniques is also best to be performed as part of a pilot training programme.

As suggested earlier, the final phase of any training programme should be an evaluation of the programme to determine whether the training objectives have been met. The evaluation process typically includes a determination of participants’ reaction to the training programme, how much participants have learned and whether the participants will be better able to transfer the training back on the job. The information gathered from the training evaluation ought then to be included in the next cycle of training needs assessment, which is in turn used to reassess training objectives, design of programmes, their implementation and again evaluation. It is important to accept that this is a continual process.

(D) Beneficiaries of Research

Ideally, a trade-related research programme integrating trade policy and trade promotion would support:

(a) Trade policy-makers by giving them a much clearer picture of the welfare effect of various policy alternatives on different local stakeholders (domestic producers, exporters, importers, consumers, etc.) and by giving them sufficient information to assess new policy initiatives.

(b) Trade negotiators by giving them a clear idea of the welfare and other effects of various new direct and indirect trade impediments so that they could be more effective when negotiating in the WTO or in regional/bilateral trade liberali- sation agreements.

(c) Exporters and importers by providing them with details on sectoral and total national impacts of various policy mixes and thus making them adversaries of distortive policies.

(d) Civil society representatives and the NGOs by providing them with details on gains and losses per special groups and for the whole nation (and global economy) of various policy alternatives which are needed in order to pursue goals such as environmental concerns and labour standards, reduction in poverty and protection of child labour.

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IV RECOMMENDED FUTURE INITIATIVES:

CREATING COMPREHENSIVE TRAINING AND RESEARCH

PROGRAMMES (A) Upgrading Existing Training Facilities

The training needs assessment identified only two institutes that have long and established experience in both training and research, one of which has neglected its training function in the recent years due to many complex reasons. Others have only recently embarked on training and/or research in trade-related areas.9

In fact all but one of the institutes visited could benefit from some investments in upgrading their training facilities, including refurbishments of the training venues or a purchase of technical equipment for training (modern multimedia projectors, data projectors, TVs with videos, electronic white boards, etc).10 However, as said before, the needs assessment is not to build a wish list, it is to find a deficit between what realistically ought to be but is currently not available. From that perspective, there are only two institutes that cannot offer training in their present form: one because it does not have a venue and has very few staff with competencies in training, and the other does not have in-house trainers, although it does have an appropriate training venue and technical equipment.11

Recommendations • No immediate urgency for construction of

new training facilities.

• Potentially, space might become a binding constraint in case of one of the training institutes — the private university (which is at present in the rented premises and does not have large training rooms).

• To upgrade and modernise existing facilities is an urgent need. Institutes need to be equipped with modern training equipment and with a sufficient number of computers with Internet and intranet connections.

(B) Developing Sustainable Training Programmes With particular reference to developing an

integrated training programme in trade policy and trade promotion some institutes voiced their concern in two issues: sustainability of training programmes and follow-up activities, and selection criteria for trainers. With respect to sustainability, it is of course important from the beginning to address this issue. There is no doubt that a long-term benefit of this programme is going to be felt only if it grows into a fully established training programme. However, none of the institutes surveyed have internal financial resources to support running of such an integrated and comprehensive programme. Especially as they face little flexibility when it comes to charging fees for their training. Except in one case (where a private university was investigated), the feeling at the other institutes is that there is little possibility for mounting courses on a cost recovery basis. Although, some institutes are looking at the possibility of introducing some nominal fees for training, none are prepared to charge real tuition fees, as they believe that demand for courses would weaken given the financial constraints of the target group of SMEs. Most institutions have been financed by national governments but with rising claims on government budgets there is a widespread belief that this funding for trade-related training might soon be inadequate. Consequently, institutes would need to seek alternative sources of funding and perhaps external funds from international organisations.

With respect to the selection criteria for participants to enter into training-of-trainers’ programmes, there is a concern that in some instances these might not be strictly followed or even consulted. For example, often training courses have entrance standards designed to maximise the training impact. These standards typically focus on technical capability, English language proficiency (if training is in English) and some technical skills (pre-requisites) necessary for understanding the training content. If participants with marginal abilities or without will to learn are enrolled in courses, they may impede efficient learning by others and thus reduce success rate of courses. Furthermore, in

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these cases the positive spillover effects of training programmes are minimised. Therefore, training will result in value added only if selection of participants follows set criteria (minimum is that the participant is willing to learn and currently lacks the skills which training aims to provide). In this case, if targeted participants accept the value-add of the training programme, they may be willing to pay course fees. Recommendations • Increase cost effectiveness of training, greater

reliance should be placed on sharing training material and resources of the “generic” (standardised) type amongst institutes in the region.

• Set selection criteria for participants and improve value-add of the training prog- ramme to maximise the spill-over effect.

• Charge a nominal fee to users of training with a level of fee increasing as the financial strength of those users improve. Aim for future (five to ten years down the track) should be to run most training courses on a cost-recovery basis.

• Seek financial and technical support by using triangular funding arrangements for TCDC activities.12

(C) Networking and Resource Sharing

Amongst Trade-Related Research and Training Institutes

The current level of cooperation, networking or resource sharing amongst the selected institutes, or between them and the centres of excellence in the region, is minimal. Apart from a few cases of satisfactory cooperation in the area of exchange of training materials and a joint organisation of training courses, there is either no experience or it is extremely minimal in the areas of sharing of training staff, external consultants or research staff. However, there is no disagreement with the claim that there are advantages from bringing different stakeholders together to learn about common issues and discuss solutions.

As major obstacles to more extensive and more effective collaboration, the institutes

singled out the lack of resources, which would enable them to equip appropriately for supporting regional networks. They all share the same belief that the burden to develop regional collaboration lies with their staff, which, they feel the training of whom needs to be supported by international organisations.

The main avenues that could be utilised to improve the current level of cooperation include: regional seminars, briefings, conferences, study tours of centres of excellence in the region and partnerships with those centres built on a mentorship system.

The expected outcome of building more effective cooperation and sharing of materials and staff (research and training) include for example: a wider resource pool of consultants and trainers with skills in trade policy and trade promotion training; better matches between training requirements and trainers competencies, a better coverage of research requirements and formation of common policy standings amongst stakeholders with similar developmental aims.

Recommendations • Develop a network among selected training

institutes in order to facilitate permanent exchange and sharing of information, training materials, course programmes, trainers and research programmes.

• Make use of the existing networks such as TRAINFORTRADE, or GTPNet to further collaboration amongst the selected institutes.

(D) Role of National Governments and

International Agencies in Research and Training As already indicated there is a large degree of

dependency on international agencies with respect to providing all or parts of training and necessary research in this area. In contrast, institutes did not express much need to involve national governments in this process, as they firmly believe governments do not have spare financial and human resources to be allocated in this area. At the same time, they all confirmed that there are no institutional or political barriers to regional cooperation imposed by national governments.

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In contrast to the role assigned to national governments, institutes surveyed have given international agencies and organisations a much more direct function – to provide finance and technical assistance towards developing modalities for regional networks and cooperation.

Recommendations • Engage national governments directly to

advance research and training in the area of trade by charging them with formulation of national export development strategies,

national policies for TCDC, and mobilisation of finances to support TCDC activities.

• Seek national governments’ commitment towards creating and maintaining transparent trade policies to reduce transaction costs of imports and exports.

• Seek national governments’ engagement in

creating export clusters and in working on enhancement of competitiveness of the SMEs.

NOTES

1. The meeting on Regional Networking of Trade-related Training Facilities was organised by the ESCAP with a purpose to facilitate access to training, to endorse the concept of TCDC as the modality to promote the networking and regional cooperation, and to encourage human resource development (Report of the Expert Group Meeting on Regional Networking of Trade-related Training Facilities, ESCAP, ITEC/TRAIN/REP 5 May 1998).

2 . The selection of the training facilities was made by the UNDP officers in target countries in consultation with the national governments and the ESCAP Economic Affairs Officer in charge of this project.

3. ESCAP and UNCTAD have been engaged in a number of research and training programmes, a considerable proportion of which are dealing with enhancing the LDCs capacity in this area.

4. For example, TRAINFORTRADE RAB/96/001 project by UNCTAD developed a series of training courses on trade efficiency using CD-ROMs, video cassettes and manuals as training media and an electronic link between an instructor and trainees to facilitate distance learning.

5. In fact, only two of the investigated facilities are “institutes” (although both being organisation- nally connected to the government ministries). The other three are made up of one private university, one trade

promotion agency and one ministerial department. They will be refereed to as “institutes” throughout this report.

6. Most participants at these courses come from the government sector (trade officials and public sector large enterprise managers).

7. International rules for the interpretation of trade terms.

8. This activity will take place at the ESCAP/UNCTAD/UNDP Regional Meeting on Research and Training Needs in International Trade in Asia-Pacific Countries, 13-15 November 2000, New Delhi.

9. Excluding the private university, which, of course, has been engaged in both education and research but with a different focus than is required for training.

10. One institute has just finished renovation and refurbishments of its training venue – an activity that was long overdue and finally was sponsored by an overseas technical aid programme.

11. In the case of the former one, venue is not the binding constraint as it could continue using the premises of the ministry until the buildings for the Human Resource Development are being built (financed by bilateral foreign aid). In fact, a comment was made that when training is taking place in the “home of policy-makers” then it is easier to work on establishing contacts between trade

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policy-makers and trade practitioners /entrepreneurs.

12. Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries (TCDC) modality was developed as a concept and in terms of agreed operational principles at the UN conference in Buenos Aires in 1978 (known as Buenos Aires Plan of Action – BAPA). Since then the TCDC has grown into an instrument of promotion of a new system of participation and exchange among developing countries to support their overall development objectives and to ensure their more effective

participation in the newly emerging structure of international relations in the global economy. Triangular funding arrangements are useful as they bring in resources for donor (developed) countries for TCDC activities implemented between developing countries. More about this in New Directions for Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries: (http://www.undp.org/tcdc/doc/newdir.htm).

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REGIONAL MEETING ON RESEARCH AND TRAINING NEEDS IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN ASIA-PACIFIC

COUNTRIES (13-15 November 2000)

PRESS RELEASE

NEW DELHI, 13 NOVEMBER 2000 — While delivering the Inaugural Address at Regional Meeting on Research and Training Needs in International Trade in Asia-Pacific Countries on 13 November 2000 organised by IIFT in collaboration with UNCTAD, UNDP and ESCAP at the Institute, New Delhi, Shri Prabir Sengupta, Commerce Secretary and Chairman, IIFT, said, Uruguay Round of the World Trade Organisation had mandated negotiations for the agriculture and services sector. It is imperative that the developing countries get themselves duly prepared, both with respect to the formulation of their country positions and in carrying out in-depth analysis of what the proposals of the major trading nations imply for their economies. Domestic capacity building for the required level of analytical expertise is, therefore, the need of the hour. It is, in this context, that this Meeting assumes enormous significance.

He further emphasised that the WTO mechanism cannot be looked into in isolation from the overall development strategies that the developing and the least developed countries have embarked upon. What is necessary is an appropriate strategy that promotes both trade and development. It is necessary in this context that the domestic capability in terms of formulating appropriate trade policies and export promotion strategies gets developed in these countries.

Speaking on the occasion. Shri Jagdish Saigal, Global Programme Manager, Inter- national Commercial Diplomacy Programme, UNCTAD, said developing countries have to play an active role in setting their own positive agenda for both trade liberalisation and shaping the rules that govern international trade and other economic relations.

To play such a role effectively, most developing countries need to strengthen their

capacities to formulate trade policies and effectively participate in multilateral discussions and negotiations on the evolution of the international trading system. It is also becoming increasingly evident that the formulation and implementation of appropriate trade policies and effective participation in multilateral discussions and negotiations requires many complementing inputs such as:

(i) analytical framework to provide a sound basis for trade policy which is consistent with the objectives of sustainable development;

(ii) institutional capacity to implement trade policies and to train policy-makers and negotiators; and

(iii) establishment of appropriate mechanism for a consensus building on trade policy among all development actors (government, the private sector and the civil society).

While addressing the participants, Shri Ravi Sawhney, Director, International Trade, ESCAP, said the prevailing international trade environ- ment warrants the strengthening of linkages between trade policy formulation and trade promotion, as this Regional Meeting attempts to do. While there is a growing acceptance and realisation that trade liberalisation and globalisation bring greater opportunities for countries to access world markets and attract foreign investment, there is also a real threat that widening inequities could jeopardise the stability of the multilateral trading system. For developing countries and LDCs to benefit, they need to participate more effectively in future multilateral trade negotiations. Addressing the participants Shri K. Dharmarajan, Director General, IIFT, said, the Institute has recently entered into a MOU with UNCTAD under which the Institute will serve as the

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regional training centre for Asia on multilateral investment treaties. It has also entered into a MOU with the Centre for International Development, Harvard University for conducting joint studies on export development strategy for India in September this year. The Institute is also set to launch a Centre of European Economic Studies with academic and financial support from the European Union.

The Institute has been extending its training facilities to many co-developing countries through collaborative programmes which it has been organising in association with the International Trade Centre, UNCTAD/WTO, Commonwealth Secretariat, Colombo Plan Secretariat, etc. It provides training facilities to developing country officials whose participation is funded under the ITEC programme of Government of India. The Institute also designs tailor-made programmes for Government officials from specific countries, mostly with funding from the UNDP.

Later on, addressing the participants, Prof. B.

Bhattacharyya, Dean, IIFT, said, this Regional Meeting has two distinct components: The first two days’ deliberations are devoted to an evaluation of the current status of the global trade and investment flows, developing a framework for mainstreaming the developing countries, especially in the context of the on-going negotiations in WTO in agriculture and services and exploring the scope and dimension of networking possibilities among regional institutions. The third day of the programme is fully devoted to the specific problems being faced by the least developed countries in the Region with respect to formulating trade policies and strategies, in the context of institutional capacity building in trade related training institutions.

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REGIONAL MEETING ON RESEARCH AND TRAINING NEEDS IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN ASIA-PACIFIC

COUNTRIES (13-15 November 2000)

AGENDA

13 NOVEMBER 2000 900 - 930 Opening Session 930 - 1200

Technical Session 1: Impact of trade liberalisation on export promotion and foreign direct investment in Asia-Pacific countries

Challenges and opportunities of globalisation and trade liberalisation: How can developing countries in the region take advantage of existing and emerging opportunities and respond more effectively to the challenges? Issues such as the following should be discussed: (A) The most used instrument to “measure” trade liberalisation is an evaluation of the removal or reduction of tariff and non-tariff barriers as well as changes in the volume of trade flows. Are these indicators sufficient to provide an exhaustive, qualitative and quantitative assessment of trade liberalisation in the region?

(B) Upgrading national trading capacity and capability: An assessment of domestic trade policy reform in the region and quantification of incentive bias against exports.

(C) Identification of linkages between trade, investment, export promotion policies and strategies—identify trade policies that effectively support trade promotion, export development/diversification and sustainable economic growth.

(D) Links between trade and foreign direct investment flows and other capital flows: How to analyse these links and how to determine their impact on development.

Roundtable discussion: Identification of research and training needs relevant to Technical Session 1.

1400 - 1700

Technical Session 2: Better positioning developing countries in the Asia-Pacific to increase their visibility, trading power and participation in the multilateral trading system

Improving technical advice provided to Asian trade policy-makers, negotiators and practitioners on formulating, negotiating and implementing policies to gain greater access to international markets. The following aspects may orient the debate: (A) Implication of WTO agreements on exports from the region with specific reference to key sectors such as textiles and garments and agriculture:

• What impact have the WTO agreements (tariff reductions, NTB, and bound tariffs) had on trade and investment policies?

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• Identify export opportunities and impediments to trade expansion such as lifting of quotas and loss of preferential treatment.

(B) Assessing the special and differential treatment as implemented by the Uruguay Round agreements: What methodological tools can be suggested to achieve an objective and comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of current and future trade negotiations?

(C) Enhancing cooperation amongst policy-makers, trade negotiators and the private sector in the formulation and negotiation of trade and investment strategies/agreements to ensure that policies are not an impediment to trade but help promote exports:

• ensure better utilisation of trade agreements by the government and private sector. • greater public-private sector dialogue in the formulation of negotiating strategies. • sharpen negotiating skills of trade negotiators.

Roundtable discussion: Identification of research and training needs relevant to Technical Session 2.

14 NOVEMBER 2000 900 - 1200

Technical Session 3: Research and training needs for the current negotiations at the WTO on the “built-in agenda”

Since the beginning of this year, the WTO negotiations on the “built-in agenda” (i.e. mainly trade in agriculture and services) as well as the review of the implementation of all the Uruguay Round agreements represent new challenges for developing countries from the point of view of their negotiating capacity. In the medium-term, the possibility of convening a new round of multilateral trade negotiations will be on the top of the WTO agenda. What should be the priorities of future training and research programmes on international trade of national, regional and international institutions to respond to this demand? The discussion should focus the following negotiating issues:

(A) Agriculture trade: what analytical work would be more relevant for the preparation of negotiating strategies?

(B) Trade in services: what kind of research is required to review the GATS rules and the sectoral schedules of commitments on services (financial services, telecommunications, transport, environmental and health services, “clustering approach”, etc.).

(C) The current on-going review of the implementation of the Uruguay Round Agreements: how to assess the implementation so far and how to prepare Asia-Pacific countries’ proposals and alliances?

(D) What is at stake for developing countries in the current WTO negotiations on the built-in agenda and in case a new comprehensive round would be launched ? What is the role of Asia-Pacific countries in the formulation of a “positive agenda” at the WTO?

Roundtable discussion: Identification of research and training needs relevant to Technical Session 3.

1400 - 1700

Technical Session 4: Developing institutional capability on international trade issues

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The evolving domestic and international trade agenda involves a wide range of ministries and governmental institutions, private sector institutions, civil society organisations, and academic centres. Based on the existing institutional capability in the region, what are — and how to identify — the institutional weaknesses that should be addressed by research, training and technical cooperation initiatives? The debate should be “action-oriented” and should include, particularly:

(A) The current institutional capability at the national level in Asia-Pacific countries.

(B) The scope and the nature of training requirements in the context of the evolving international trade agenda.

(C) The interface between national research and training institutions.

(D) Networking initiatives at the subregional/regional/global level.

Roundtable discussion: Identification of research and training needs relevant to Technical Session 4.

1700 - 1800

Concluding Roundtable: UNCTAD and other organisations’ contribution to developing training and research capability and final debate on future activities to be undertaken by institutions participating in the network.

15 NOVEMBER 2000 900 - 915 Opening statement by Ravi Sawhney, Director, International Trade and Industry

Division 915 – 930 Overview of the training workshop, topics to be covered and objectives to met by

ESCAP Resource Person, Mia Mikic, Senior Lecturer, Department of Economics, University of Auckland

930-940 Coffee break Research and training needs assessment in the integrated area of trade policy and trade

promotion. Inputs from experts of trade-related training institutes 940-950 Presentation by Dr Mohammad Musa, Pro-Vice Chancellor and Professor of Business

Administration, East West University, Bangladesh 950-1000 Presentation by Mr Tauch Sophann, Deputy Chief, Coordination and International

Organisations Office, ASEAN and International Organisations Division, Department of Trade Related Training under the Ministry of Commerce, Cambodia

1000-1010 Presentation by Mr Sirisamphanh Vorachith, Deputy Director General, Economic Research Institute for Trade and Tourism, Lao PDR

1010-1020 Presentation by Mr Naresh Lamichhane, Joint Director, Trade Promotion Centre, Nepal 1020-1030 Presentation by Ms Minh Hanh Do, Senior Researcher, Market Research Department,

Vietnam Institute of Trade, Vietnam

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Workshop sessions will be conducted by Mia Mikic, Senior Lecturer, Department of

Economics, University of Auckland and assisted by Nadia Mahmud, Economic Affairs Officer, International Trade and Industry Division, ESCAP

1030-1230 New frontiers in research and training—developing a framework for a pilot training

programme in the integrated area of trade policy and trade promotion

(1030-1130) Research and training methodology

(1130-1200) Beneficiaries of training—meeting their needs

(1200-1230) Assess existing training material and training deficits 1230-1330 Lunch 1330-1530 Continue session: New frontiers on research and training—developing a framework for

a pilot training programme in the integrated area of trade policy and trade promotion

(1330-1430) Problem-solving situations unique to Asia—curricula development with 80% universal application and 20% local application

(1430-1500) Explore modalities for enhanced networking amongst regional training institutes

(1500-1530) Training of trainers using the TCDC modality 1530-1615 Coffee break 1615-1645 Workshop review and recommendation

1645-1700 Participant workshop evaluation to be completed and handed to the ESCAP secretariat

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List of Participants

COUNTRY DELEGATES 1. Mustafizur Rahman, Research Director Centre for Policy Dialogue 6/A, Eskaton Garden, GPO. Box No. 2129 Ramna, Dhaka 1000, BANGLADESH Tel. 880 2 8322796 Fax. 880 2 8315701 2. Mr. Mohammad Musa Pro-Vice Chancellor and Professor of Business Administration East West University, 45-46 Mohkhali C/A, Dhaka 1212, BANGLADESH Tel.: 880 2 98882308

Fax: 880 2 8812336 3. Suresh Moktan Trade Officer Department of Trade Ministry of Trade & Industry Royal Government of Bhutan P.O. Box: 141 Thimphu, BHUTAN Tel.: 975 2 322407 (O) / 322707(R) Fax: 975 2 321338 E-mail: bepc@druknet.net.bt 4. Tauch Sophann

Director, ASEAN and International Organisations Division

Department of Trade Related Training under the Ministry of Commerce

20A, Norodom Blvd., Phnom Penh, CAMBODIA

Tel.: (855) 15 835 115 Fax: (855) 23 426 396 E-mail: wtooffice@camnet.com.kh 5. Chen Xiao Professor and Chairman Dept. of International Economics and Trade Beijing University N. 410, 43 Apt. ZhongGuan Yuan Complex Beijing, 100871, CHINA Tel./Fax: 86 1062753448 E-mail: Cxiao@pku.edu.cn

6. Agus Sudarmadi Chief of Information Dissemination Directorate General of Customs & Excise Komplek Bea dan Cukai Pondok Bambu Jl. Kanwil Palembang No.1 Jakarta Timur, Jakarta, INDONESIA Tel.: 6221 8610069/62 8129101025/

29101025 Fax: 6221 4750805 E-mail: mishi@cabi.net.id Asudarma@link.net.id 7. Hamid Rahimian Director

Programme on International Trade Negotiations

Institute for Trade Studies and Research 240, North Kargar Ave., 6th floor Tehran 14178, IRAN Tel.: 9821 6429341 Fax: 9821 934686 E-mail: Rahimian@irtp.com 8. B. Bhattacharyya Dean Indian Institute of Foreign Trade B-21 Qutab Institutional Area New Delhi-110016, INDIA Tel.: 91 116967558/6965124 Fax: 91 116853956 E-mail: bbhattacharyya@iift.ac.in (Coordinator of the Meeting) 9. Eui Tae Chang Dept. of Economics Kyung Hee University Hoegi-Dong, Dongdaemoon-Ku, 130-701 Seoul, KOREA Tel.: 82 29610496/22265957 E-mail: etchang@hanmail.net 10. Mr Sirisamphanh Vorachit, Deputy Director-General

Economic Research Institute for Trade and Tourism

P.O. Box 4107, Lanexang Avenue Vientiane, LAO PDR Tel.: 856-21 219 352 Fax: 856-21 212769, 412434

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11. K.V. Ramani Asian and Pacific Development Centre P.O. Box 12224 Pesiaran Duta Kuala Lumpur-507 70, MALAYSIA Tel.: 603 6512543/6511088 Fax: 603 6512541/6510316 E-mail: kramani@pc.jaring.my 12. Krishna Hari Baskota Director General Department of Commerce Babarmahal, Kathmandu, NEPAL Tel.: 977 1 247912 Fax: 977 1 249603 E-mail: doc@bij.enet.com.np 13. Mr Naresh Lamichhane Acting Director Trade Promotion Centre Pulchowk, Lalitpur P.O. Box 825 Kathmandu, NEPAL

Tel.: 9771-525642, 525348, 525362, 525716, 525898

Fax: 9771-525464 Email: tpcnep@mos.com.np 14. Manuel C. Difuntorum Assistant Director Acting Director Acting Rector, CPR School of Diplomacy Foreign Service Institute DFA Building, 2330 Roxas Boulevard Pasay City 1300 Metro Manila, PHILIPPINES Tel.: 632 8343781/834 3780 Fax: 632 8315983 E-mail:Doubledead69@yahoo.com

Salisi_mye@hotmail.com 15. Abdul Aziz Zia Director General Foreign Trade Institute of Pakistan State Life Building No. 7 Blue Area Islamabad, PAKISTAN Tel.: 92 51 9203279/9203011 Fax: 92 51 9202146 16. Saman Kelegama Executive Director Institute of Policy Studies

99, St. Michael’s Road Colombo-3, SRI LANKA Tel.: No. 941–

431368/431378/431383/431408 Fax: No. 941 431395 E-mail: ips@sri.lanka.net 17. Thanawan Sangsuwan Head, Dept. of Marketing Faculty of Commerce and Accountancy Chaulalongkorn University

International Institute for Trade and Development,

Wangmai, Pathumwan Bangkok 10330, THAILAND Tel.: 662 2185794 Fax: 662 2185795 E-mail: Thanawan@lycos.com 18. Somchanok Coompanthu (at her own cost) Lecturer Faculty of Commerce and Accountancy Chaulalongkorn University

International Institute for Trade and Development

Bangkok 10200, THAILAND Tel.: 21857945 19. Ms. Minh Hanh Do Senior Researcher, Market Research Department Vien Nghien cuu Thuong mai

(This is the Vietnamese version for Vietnam Institute of Trade, VIT), Floor 4, 46 Ngo Quyen Street, Hanoi, VIETNAM. Tel.: 844-8262720-22, 8260717 Fax: 844- 8248279 Email: vit@netnam.org.vn

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UN AGENCIES 20. Jagdish C. Saigal Senior Programme Manager

Global Project on Globalization, Liberalization and Sustainable Development

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UNCTAD

Palais des Nations CH-1211 Geneve-10 E-mail: jagdish.Saigal@Unctad.Org 21. Manuela Tortora Coordinator, Commercial Diplomacy Programme

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

22. Mr. Ravi Sawhney International Trade & Industry Division United Nations Building Rajadamnern Avenue Bangkok-10200 Tel.: 662 2881410 Fax: 662 2881026/27 E-mail: sawhney.unescap@un.org 23. Ms. Nadia Mahmud Economic Affairs Officer International Trade and Industry Division United Nations Building Rajadamnern Avenue, Bangkok-10200 Tel.: 662 2881410 Fax: 662 2881026/27 E-mail: mahmudn@un.org 24. Dr. Mia Mikic Senior Lecturer Department of Economics The University of Auckland Private Bag 92019 Auckland, NEW ZEALAND Tel.: 64-9 3737599/ext.8312 Fax: 64-9 3737427 E-mail: m.mikic@auckland.ac.nz

SPECIAL INVITEES 1. Shri K. Dharmarajan Director General Indian Institute of Foreign Trade New Delhi 2. Shri S.S. Kapur Joint Secretary Ministry of Commerce & Industry Udyog Bhawan, New Delhi 3. Shri S. Choudhury Director Ministry of Comemrce & Industry Udyog Bhawan, New Delhi 4. Ms. Alka Bhatia Dy. Secretary Ministry of Commerce & Industry Udyog Bhawan, New Delhi 5. Shri Paul Joseph Joint Secretary Ministry of Agriculture Deptt. of Agriculture and Cooperation Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi 6. Shri E.K. Majhi Deputy Secretary Ministry of Agriculture Deptt. of Agriculture and Cooperation Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi