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1.2 Trade - Development?
Negotiations on the “liberalization” of market access and trade of goods and
services seem to take place everywhere these days.
EU Trade Commissioner, Pascal Lamy, judges the comprehensive opening of
market access within the framework of WTO negotiations as follows:
“WTO-members must further liberalize access to markets for goods and services,
on the basis of predictable and non-discriminatory rules. Agriculture,
services and non-agriculture tariffs are all key-areas for improving market
access.” 5
Lamy views development as a consequence of this “liberalization” of trade:
“Trade and investment liberalization offer great opportunities for economic
growth and sustainable development.” 6
With regards to the Free Trade Area of the Americas that is to be created, the
U.S. Trade Representative, Robert B. Zoellick, has a similar view:
“A Tariff-Free World: Every corner store in America becomes a duty-free shop
for working families.” 7
The WTO ministerial declaration of Doha [WT/MIN(01)/DEC/1, 20 November
2001] defines the relationship between trade and development in a similar way:
“International trade can play a major role in the promotion of economic development
and the alleviation of poverty.” 8
The negotiations about opening up markets like the multilateral negotiations of
the WTO, the regional ones within the framework of FTAA as well as the bilateral
ones such as the MERCOSUR-EU negotiations, are driven by the strong belief that
free trade and development are closely linked. It can be gathered from interregional
press sources, that the agricultural sector is the key issue in all international negotiations.
One of the main reasons for this is that all parties involved regard the question
of agricultural subsidies for exported goods and internal production as one of the
most sensitive issues . Additionally, limited market access for agricultural products
from the “South”, due to tariffs or phytosanitary trade barriers of the “North”, consti-
5
http://trade-info.cec.eu.int/europa/2001newround/nr.pdf.
6
http://trade-info.cec.eu.int/europa/2001newround/nr.pdf.
7
http://www.ustr.gov/new/zero_tariff-presentation.ppt.
8
http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/minist_e/min01_e/mindecl_e.htm#organization.
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