Training Workshop on the WTO Negotiations on NAMA ... - TRTA i

Content of the discussions
ITC Executive Director Patricia Francis inaugurated the programme by pointing out at the
special relationship between ITC and the government of Pakistan, and the importance of such
specialised training sessions to strengthen the capacity of partner countries. Amb. Ahmad
remarked the importance of the NAMA negotiations, which are at the core of the DDR
negotiations, together with agricultural goods and services, and referred to the recent trade
policy workshop held in Pakistan and the training workshop on trade facilitation for senior
Pakistani officials held in Geneva in July 2006. Mr Eric Alvarez Gurza, Chief of ITC’s
Office for Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean and overall responsible for the
organization of the training workshop, explained the logistics of the meeting and the results
expected from it.
There were 15 topical interventions at the workshop, including (i) those directly related to
progress in the NAMA negotiations within the WTO framework, (ii) those related to
technical support tools, (iii) those related to NAMA as a development topic that reaches
beyond the negotiation agenda and touches upon diverse aspects of Pakistan’s domestic
policymaking, and (iv) those relating to the political aspects involved. Copies of the
presentations detailed in Annex 2 as well as other materials on NAMA were delivered to the
participants in CD-ROM format. Both hard and soft copies are further available for
distribution upon request to ITC team members (refer to Annex 4 below).
The representative of the WTO Market Access Division gave an overview of the issues under
discussion, the concepts applied and the stakes at play, which were reinforced in his later
presentation on the textile industry, of critical importance to Pakistan. The Counsellor of the
Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the WTO in turn made a comprehensive presentation on
NAMA as an issue under negotiation and answered numerous questions of the participants.
Some of the questions went to the core of the subject matter, like “Should Pakistan diversify
away from the textile industry?” or “Should Pakistan follow the pattern of other developing
countries of pursuing the multilateral path but at the same time conclude FTAs with the
United States and the European Union?”
The Chairman of the Negotiating Group on NAMA, Amb. Stephenson of Canada, introduced
the political perspective of the discussions. Indeed, this means understanding the difference
between satisfying political aims from commercial aims, those that address real economic
interests. For instance, the discussion on preferences involves three aspects, namely
preference erosion for some; the impact of preferences in favour of competitors (textiles and
clothing, fish and fish products) on the domestic economy of third countries; and the offers of
new preferences. Some sort of balance should be reached case by case to attain overall
results.
The participants were very interested in the operation of Market Access Map (MacMap,
http://www.macmap.org/), the facility designed by ITC to support exporters, importers, trade
promoters, policy analysts and trade negotiators to prepare for trade negotiations by
simulating the effects of tariff reductions. It includes the import duties and other measures
applied by 178 importing countries to products from 239 countries and territories, showing
MFN and preferential rates for products at the most detailed national tariff line level. Other
presentations by UNCTAD expert Marco Fugazza and Prof. Sam Laird, who specialize in
general equilibrium and trade policy analysis helped go deeper into the subject.