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

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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.
Finally, the participation of top experts on textiles and clothing, environmental goods and employment and the development dimension gave a broader reach to the programme, considering the significant investments developing countries have to make to keep up with ever-more-ambitious, generally-accepted performance standards. This is particularly important because some trade models do not capture the adjustment costs demanded by trade reform and their negative, sometimes permanent, impact on individuals, households, countries and regions.
Page 1 and 2: Training W
Page 3 and 4: EU Trade Related Technical Assistan
Page 5 and 6: Introduction A trade-related techni
Page 7 and 8: The Programme Training</str
Page 9 and 10: 15h30 - 16h30 16h30 - 17h00 17h00 -
Page 11: differences have been resolved bila
Page 15 and 16: Conclusions Numerous ideas came up
Page 17 and 18: Annex 2 Presentations Non-agricultu
Page 19 and 20: Mr Marco Fugazza Economic Affairs O
Page 21 and 22: Annex 5 Evaluation and feedback The
Page 23 and 24: INDIVIDUAL PRESENTATIONS 1---------
Page 25: NON-AGRICULTURAL MARKET ACCESS NEGO

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