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The European Commission intends to issue a new Communication on Trade and Development later this year. The main policy orientations for the Commission’s work in the area of Trade and Development were set out in the September 2002 Communication on Assisting Developing Countries to Benefit from Trade. The Communication will also build on both the Green Paper “EU development policy in support of inclusive growth and sustainable development — Increasing the impact of EU development policy” released in November 2010, and the Communication “Trade, Growth and World Affairs”, also adopted in November 2010. The Communication is timely, given the continuing stagnation of the Doha trade talks, the review of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), increasing Aid for Trade (AfT), the EU’s duty to promote Policy Coherence for Development (PCD) and the significant changes in global economic architecture. The 2002 Communication’s overarching message was that trade can foster growth and poverty reduction and be an important catalyst for sustainable development. Moreover, the Communication argued greater incorporation into the world economy often worked for development efforts. At a meeting held in Brussels in March 2011, Liselotte Isaksson from DG DEVCO argued that the overall policy lines taken in the 2002 Communication were still valid, but the economic architecture within which they are set has changed considerably. In the same meeting, Andra Koke from DG TRADE highlighted the important aspects of the new communication, including ‘differentiation’ — a streamlining of beneficiaries so to target those ‘most in need’. The notion of differentiation has had increasing prominence as of late, largely due to ever increasing financial pressures within the member states and emerging economies which are themselves becoming donors. The recent proposals by the European Commission to reform the criteria of the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) so to reduce the number of beneficiary countries from 176 to around 80 are a good example of this policy approach. The proposals are expected to come into force from 2014. Commenting on the proposed reforms on 10 May, Commissioner for Trade Karel De Gucht declared “We want to adapt the current rules to the changing global landscape”. Further characteristics of the EU’s development and trade agenda were indicated when the Commission adopted the Trade, Growth and World Affairs Communication in November 2010, which intended to set the trade policy agenda for the next five years. The key actions proposed by the Commission were: pursue an active negotiating agenda; deepen strategic partnerships; increase trade related opportunities for jobs, development and business; and enforce EU rights. The Communication also stated that: “In 2011, the Commission will adopt a Communication on trade and development. This will reflect in a broad sense on how our trade policy can best serve development, such as for example the special and differential treatment granted to developing countries, the support to trade-related reforms, and the removal of structural impediments to their integration into global trade”. The Communication will be released in the context of continuing pressure for an end to the Doha trade talks. Last week, Pascal Lamy, Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) voiced frustration at the prevailing stagnation of the trade talks in discussions with the WTO Trade Negotiations Committee. WTO members have been trying to salvage a deal from a decade of fruitless talks on the Doha Development Agenda, which was billed as the next leap in global trade liberalization but which collapsed earlier this year due to differences between the major economic powers about what concessions should be given to Least Developed Countries (LDCs). “I would urge you to use the summer break to reflect and come prepared to fully engage in an ‘adult conversation’ over ‘what next’,” Lamy told the WTO delegates. “Moving, so to say, from the ‘negative list’ of what you cannot do to a ‘positive’ list of what you intend to do.” Sources:  |
