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Regional integration in the MENA region: Deepening the Greater Arab Free Trade Area through trade facilitation
This chapter assesses the trade facilitation performance of the countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and determines the welfare and sectoral effects of trade facilitation improvements within the context of regional trade integration. It shows that introducing a trade facilitation provision in the Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA) will lead to a significant welfare increase for all MENA sub-regions compared with a scenario of further trade liberalization without trade facilitation. Trade facilitation in the GAFTA would enhance export competitiveness and lead to a significant increase in overall and intra-trade export value for all countries, but particularly for the Mashreq and Maghreb countries. In the analysis, all sub-regions witnessed an export boost in agro-food product exports, particularly those products in which the Mashreq and Maghreb countries have a comparative advantage. The welfare-enhancing results of this analysis indicate that the MENA region has a high stake in implementing the WTO Agreement on Trade Facilitation (TFA), and should begin with areas that contribute the most to trade cost reduction, such as automation and streamlining of trade procedures.
Report by the WTO Secretariat
Jamaica’s economy, which is dependent on alumina, tourism, remittances, and its large informal sector, is highly tradeoriented. Exports and imports of goods and services have represented on average over 90% of GDP since 2005. During the review period, Jamaica has continued to struggle with a narrow production structure and vulnerability to external climatic and economic shocks. These shortcomings were exposed starkly during the recent global economic slowdown, which severely impacted the Jamaican economy, resulting in declines of real GDP of 1.7% in fiscal year 2008/09 and 2.5% during 2009/10 as well as marked decreases in earnings from the export of goods and services and from remittances.
Cooperation with other international organizations
In 2013, the WTO cooperated with a variety of intergovernmental organizations, including the United Nations, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. Together with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the OECD, the WTO published reports on trade and investment developments in the Group of 20 (G-20) countries.
Report by Zambia
Zambia has continued to maintain a trade policy aimed at enhancing productivity and competitiveness of Zambian products in both the domestic and international markets. This objective has been strengthened during the review period with the launch of the Fifth National Development Plan (FNDP) in 2006 for the period 2006-2010 and the Vision 2030, which articulates the country’s long term development objectives. The FNDP focus is to enhance rural development, especially agriculture; strengthen the linkages between the resource sectors with manufacturing; foster a competitive and outward-oriented economy; and improving infrastructure and social service delivery.
Trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPS)
During 2010 the TRIPS Council reviewed intellectual property legislation in individual countries and discussed the relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity, TRIPS and public health, technical cooperation and capacity building and a number of other matters, in addition to the issues reported in the section on negotiations.