Trade monitoring
Aid for Trade as a catalyst for trade facilitation: A Moroccan perspective
This chapter aims to highlight the potential role of Aid for Trade (AfT) in trade facilitation, reducing the cost of trade and improving the trade performance of Morocco. The chapter finds that AfT is a fundamental lever for facilitating commercial exchanges and a main vehicle for promoting regional integration and effective integration of developing countries into global value chains. AfT helps developing countries to increase exports of goods and services, integrate into the multilateral trading system and take advantage of the progressive liberalization and expansion of market access. If it is rationally oriented, AfT will enhance the competitiveness of exports and enable Moroccan companies to go upmarket; in addition, AfT would consolidate the reforms of trade policy in Morocco to streamline international transactions and increase the attractiveness of the Moroccan economy to investors.
Introduction
Subsidies are one of many policy instruments subject to rules in the multilateral trading system, but they present more complex issues for policy-makers than many other instruments subject to GATT /WTO rules. One reason for this is that subsidies can be defined in different ways. Another is that that they are used in pursuit of a wide array of objectives. Even where they are not aimed at trade, they can affect trade flows. The kinds of subsidies of primary concern to this Report are those that impart an advantage to some domestic producers and thereby affect trade. The challenging task of determining which sorts of subsidies are problematic from the perspective of the trading system, and what might be done about them, has occupied an important place on the agenda of the WTO /GATT system.
Contacts avec le monde des entreprises
Le nombre de représentants d’entreprises ayant participé au Forum public annuel de l’OMC a nettement augmenté en 2015, ce qui témoignait du vif intérêt des grands groupes et des entreprises pour le débat sur les activités de l’OMC. Le monde des entreprises a aussi été bien représenté à la dixième Conférence ministérielle, à Nairobi. Trente-trois des organisations non gouvernementales accréditées pour cet événement représentaient les milieux d’affaires.
Report by the WTO Secretariat
Since the last review of Paraguay in 2011, the country’s economy has performed robustly. Real gross domestic product (GDP) grew at an average annual rate of 4.7% between 2011 and 2016, underpinned by a stable macroeconomic environment which not only favoured growth and held down inflation expectations, but also made it easier for Paraguay to access international financing at a moderate cost. The most vigorous economic sectors during 2011-2016 were financial services, construction, general government and the agricultural sector, which is the main source of exports. The unemployment rate remained moderate during the review period, generally fluctuating between 5% and 6%.