Friday, July 01, 2005
Small Developing Economies After the Uruguay Round: Opportunities and Challenges
By: Sarath Rajapatirana
For The Enterprise Research Foundation, 1996
The successful completion of the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations is an important development in the world trading system, marking increased market liberalization in manufactures, agriculture and services. It also establishes the World Trade Organization, replacing the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs, and sets forth rules on dispute settlement, antidumping, subsidies, countervailing duties and safeguards to provide for a smoother, more efficient trading environment. The benefits of increased trade have been well-established. From the 1987 World Development Report to more recent work empirical studies confirm the importance of trade for growth. Removing the distortions in the world trading system changes the incentive mechanism facing all countries and forces domestic restructuring to accord with changing comparative advantage. This paper analyzes the opportunities and challenges facing small developing economies (SDEs) as a result of the UR, and how these countries may best address them. Section II discusses characteristics of SDEs. Section III looks at the opportunities opened by the UR, while section IV analyzes the challenges arising from UR. Section V addresses basic domestic policy responses and concludes the study.
For The Enterprise Research Foundation, 1996
The successful completion of the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations is an important development in the world trading system, marking increased market liberalization in manufactures, agriculture and services. It also establishes the World Trade Organization, replacing the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs, and sets forth rules on dispute settlement, antidumping, subsidies, countervailing duties and safeguards to provide for a smoother, more efficient trading environment. The benefits of increased trade have been well-established. From the 1987 World Development Report to more recent work empirical studies confirm the importance of trade for growth. Removing the distortions in the world trading system changes the incentive mechanism facing all countries and forces domestic restructuring to accord with changing comparative advantage. This paper analyzes the opportunities and challenges facing small developing economies (SDEs) as a result of the UR, and how these countries may best address them. Section II discusses characteristics of SDEs. Section III looks at the opportunities opened by the UR, while section IV analyzes the challenges arising from UR. Section V addresses basic domestic policy responses and concludes the study.