CUTS International, Geneva and the University of Sussex’s CARIS in the UK are undertaking a series of interventions in East Africa member countries to improve institutional mechanisms, collection and use of services statistics, as well as understanding of issues in services competitiveness.
CUTS International, Geneva and the University of Sussex’s CARIS in the UK are undertaking a series of interventions in East Africa member countries to improve institutional mechanisms, collection and use of services statistics, as well as understanding of issues in services competitiveness.
Julien Grollier, Assistant Programme Officer at CUTS International speaking from Geneva said their centre will organise a workshop under the theme: “Support to Enhance Development of Trade in Services Negotiations” initiative. The workshop is expected to be held in the East African Community (EAC) this spring so as to improve institutional mechanisms of member states.
Grollier also said that the entry into force of such preferences, by itself, will however not be enough for poorest countries like EA member states to develop their service sectors and take advantage of trade in them.
“In fact, a number of domestic challenges continue to hamper effective policy-making in this area. This includes the lack of reliable data, weak capacity to analyse it and take appropriate policy decisions, limited understanding of the pathways through which services competitiveness can be enhanced,” he said.
He added: “Some existing initiatives are striving to help them build the necessary capacities to overcome these challenges, including a joint project by three international NGOs funded by the Trade Advocacy Fund of the UK.”
However, Grollier pointed out that at the high-level meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Council for Trade in Services held this month, over 25 members indicated concrete offers to grant preferential access to LDC service suppliers to their markets.
He underscored that their swift implementation will require members to complete their domestic processes and formally notify their offers to the Council by the deadline which is due on July 31.
“Back in 2011, Ministers at the Eighth WTO Ministerial Conference adopted a waiver to enable developing and developed-countries to provide preferential treatment to Least Developing Countries (LDCs) services and service suppliers for a period of 15 years, in order to promote their trade in those sectors and modes of supply that are of particular interest to them. Importantly, this is a unilateral extension of preferences to LDCs,” he added.
He went on to say that two years later at the Bali WTO Ministerial, no member had extended or made use of the services waiver since its adoption, ministers instructed the WTO Council for Trade in Services to initiate a process aimed at promoting the expeditious and effective operationalisation of the waiver.
“It was agreed that the process would entail the tabling of a collective request by the LDC group highlighting the sectors and modes of supply of export interest to them,” he said.