This paper looks at the possibilities of a concluding “Bali package” on the issues that are currently engaging the WTO Members. It gives an account of the discussions currently taking place on each of the three areas and makes an assessment whether it is possible for the key countries to arrive at a consensus in time for the Ministers to give their endorsement in Bali.
This paper investigates whether trade facilitation measures benefit the poor and explores the role of microfinance in supporting the utilization of the trade facilitation initiatives. The focus of the study is on the Economic Corridors and Cross Border Transportation Agreement (CBTA), an Asian Development Bank programme to facilitate trade in the Greater Mekong Subregion.
Trade facilitation refers to all measures that can be taken to facilitate cross-border trade flows, but there is no standard formal definition of trade facilitation. This paper examines whether export-oriented MSMEs have access to trade facilitation and how helpful trade facilitation is in supporting exports by MSMEs.
Export Processing Zones (EPZs) have been among the primary factors of export-oriented growth in recent decades. EPZs first came about in 1959 with the establishment of the Shannon Zone in Ireland. Following that, the first few zones were envisaged primarily as industrial zones that were to attract foreign investors to set up facilities to process imported materials and subsequently export their products. With regard to trade facilitation, it is clear that EPZs offer some important advantages.
Trade facilitation has been a key part in the opening up process of China. This paper aims to investigate the linkage between trade facilitation and poverty reduction in China. It discusses the impact of the trade facilitation practises in China and the ChinaASEAN cooperation on trade between China and ASEAN countries. A provincial panel data set for China from 2000 to 2008 is employed to quantify the impact of agricultural imports, agricultural exports and trade facilitation on poverty.
Extensive research has demonstrated the existence of large potential welfare gains from trade facilitation—measures to reduce the overall costs of the international movement of goods. From an equity perspective an important question is how those benefits are distributed across and within nations. After discussing the possible impacts of trade facilitation, we use firm-level data for a wide variety of developing countries to investigate whether it is mostly large firms that benefit from trade facilitation.
Intra-ASEAN trade has increased six-fold since 1993 but greater integration challenge looms in addressing non-tariff measures. The paper discusses the various ASEAN work programs on NTMs and assesses the incidence of Members‘ NTMs on various products. Various ways of accelerating the reduction of non-tariff barriers are discussed, including dispute settlement mechanisms. The paper highlights the importance of a unilateral approach in addressing NTMs and the use of regulatory impact analysis to improve policy making
Relation between trade, inequality and poverty within countries is not beyond controversy. Under free trade and competitive conditions, trade promotes growth, and growth reduces poverty. In general, trade liberalisation has long been seen as an important element of an effective and sound economic policy and trade facilitation is a necessary step for achieving it. Trade facilitation is aimed at ensuring the movement and clearance of goods across borders within the shortest time at the minimum cost. Reducing trade costs can have a profound impact on trade and therefore on poverty.
Abstract: Several empirical studies have found that when exports are concentrated in natural resources countries experience slower rates of economic growth. Various potential channels for this relationship have been identified including Dutch disease, volatility in the terms of trade, and impacts on governance. This paper explores whether Papua New Guinea (PNG), a resource rich state in the South Pacific, displays signs of suffering from the natural resource curse. The paper finds some evidence of Dutch disease in the decline of local manufacturing.
Country insights vary according to analyses of their inclusive growth (IG) experiences. Looking at the trends in stylized facts of Nepal, a land-locked, least developing country in South Asia, is at first glance paradoxical. That is, Nepal experienced a costly domestic insurgency situation from the early 1990s. This, however, was accompanied by a sharply decreasing trend in poverty headcount rate from 41.8% in 1996 to 30.9% in 2004 and 25.2% in 2011.