This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the trade regimes for Africa that on 1 January 2008 replaced the trade preferences under the Cotonou Partnership Agreement (CPA), the negotiations that remain to be completed and the challenges facing Africa in implementation, some of which require support from Europe . The first part of the paper gives an overview of the initialled agreements, comparing both the texts of the agreements and the liberalization schedules that give details on the com more...

The ACP-EU Trade non-partisan website provides access to publicly available information, from a variety of sources, in English and in French, on ACP-EU trade related matters. In particular:

* An extended and regularly updated searchable on-line library provides instant access to the most recent studies, reports, official communications, etc. on trade (-related) issues relevant for EPAs.
* A news section offers regular updates on the status of the EPA negotiations and related matters. more...

'The International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) was established in Geneva in September 1996 to contribute to a better understanding of development and environment concerns in the context of international trade.

As an independent non-profit and non-governmental organisation, ICTSD engages a broad range of actors in ongoing dialogue about trade and sustainable development. With a wide network of governmental, non-governmental and inter-governmental partners, ICTSD plays more...

The purpose of this article is to provide an update of the main elements and issues at stake for the 6 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) groupings negotiating an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU). The article offers an overview of the economic and regional integration dynamics influencing the structure, pace, and outcome of the EPA negotiation process for each region.
Authors: Melissa Julian, Nicolas Mombrial, Corinna Braun-Munzinger, ECDPM. Publisher: ICTSD

'The outlines of a potential agreement, emerging after seven years of negotiations, imply that Doha offers three key benefits: reduced uncertainty of market access in goods and services; improved market access in agriculture and manufacturing; and the mobilization of resources to deal with the trade problems of least developed countries. WTO Members have offered to make large reductions in legally bound levels of protection in goods and services. The reductions in currently applied levels of pro more...

'This study on harnessing international trade to support climate change objectives assesses the following: 1) What are the main policy prescriptions for reducing greenhouse gases that are employed by OECD countries and how do they impact the competitiveness of their energy-intensive industries? 2) On account of the impact on competitiveness, is there is leakage of energy intensive industries from OECD countries to developing countries? 3) Under what conditions can one justify trade measures unde more...

Desperate to clinch a new global trade deal, World Trade Organization chief Pascal Lamy is planning to convene a 'mini-ministerial' meeting in the third week of July. The aim of the meeting is to come up with agreements to liberalize trade in agriculture, industry, and services. These sectors have been the focus of the so-called Doha Round of WTO negotiations that have dragged on since 2001.

Developing country governments have been rightly concerned about agreeing to texts that promise illus more...

'We examine how theoretical and quantitative economic analysis has and can be used in this stage of the DSU process. First, we identify, characterize, and categorize the major classes of disputes — e.g., those affecting import protection versus export promotion — and use the Bagwell and Staiger interpretation of the WTO principle of reciprocity to provide a theoretical framework that arbitrators can use to identify the maximum level of retaliatory countermeasures. Second, we allocate each of more...

'There is a fundamental shift taking place in the world economy to which the multilateral trading system has failed to adapt. The Doha process focused on issues of limited significance while the burning issues of the day were not even on the negotiating agenda. This paper advances five propositions: (i) the traditional negotiating dynamic, driven by private sector interests largely in the rich countries, is running out of steam; (ii) the world economy is moving broadly from conditions of relativ more...

'The study profiles post-Uruguay Round market access conditions in three areas — industrial tariffs, agriculture and services — the latter two of which are already the subject of ongoing negotiations. The detailed study is intended as a comprehensive resource for negotiators and the interested public.'