INTERESTS AND OPTIONS OF DEVELOPING AND LEAST-DEVELOPED COUNTRIES IN A NEW ROUND OF MULTILATERAL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS

Negotiating interests and options have to be identified against the background of the possible agenda of a new round. Several important elements of this agenda are codified in what is referred to as the "built-in agenda", including: (i) an assessment of the implementation of Uruguay Round Agreements (RAS); (ii) specific reviews of particular agreements that were mandated by the Uruguay Round; and, as the core of a new round, (iii) new negotiations on agriculture, GATS, and Trips. Possible further components of the agenda could be negotiations on trade and investment, competition policy, trade facilitation, transparency in government procurement, environmental and labour standards, and further liberalization of industrial tariffs, and textiles and clothing. Many developing and least-developed countries are reluctant to support such a comprehensive agenda, because they are still pre-occupied with difficult administrative, institutional and financial problems arising from the implementation of various RAS. They also have difficulties in articulating the strategies that could underpin the identification of their negotiating interests and options. Their preparation for a new round is likely to be mostly inadequate owing to a lack of human knowledge and institutional capacity that an effective participation in the WTO process requires. They will thus have to take decisions on complex issues that they may not have adequately analyzed and understood. But a new trade round will also present an important opportunity for developing countries to press for enhanced market access and to undo some of the damages imposed by the RAS dealing with rules and standards. They have taken on many mandatory obligations in exchange for non-binding and "best endeavour" concessions from the developed countries. Rebalancing this situation should be a major concern for both the developing and the least-developed countries. The new round should also offer the low-income countries an opportunity to be more pro-active in terms of defining its agenda, for instance in proposing multilaterally negotiated decisions regarding the criteria for categorizing WTO member countries, as well as the form and context of "special and differential treatment" for the developing and least-developed countries. This paper discusses the trade-strategy options of low-income countries, the areas of greatest interest to developing countries, as well as those that are to pose the greatest difficulties, the question of how developing countries can enhance the effectiveness of their participation in the new Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations, and also makes some suggestions on how to change WTO governance and management structures in order to ensure that the concerns of flow-income members are given greater prominence in the organization´s activities.

The effects of trade and exchange rate policies on agriculture in Nigeria.:

Agricultural policy Nigeria., Nigeria Commercial policy., Foreign exchange administration Nigeria., Nigeria Economic policy.,

Food Policy and the Choice of Trade Regime

A consensus is emerging, especially among academics, policy analysts, and the more enlightened politicians on the need for urgent and sustained action to provide both short-term and long-term solutions to Africa's food producers. However, it is still debatable whether we fully understand the scope of the food problem and the factors responsible for it. It is important to make a clear distinction between long-term and shortterm aspects of food policy and food security relationships. It is obvious that the long term is not necessarily a series of short terms and that long-term considerations are influenced by short-term responses to food policy problems. Thus, the long-term orientation of the following discussion is not to be taken as implying that the short-term elements of food policy issues (for example, food supply instability and insecurity) are not closely related to the choice of trade regime (that is, to tariff, quota, and exchange rate policies). Rather, it is an attempt to obtain the sharpest possible focus by concentrating on a limited set of issues.PRIFPRI

The Effects of Trade and Exchange Rate Policies on Agriculture in Nigeria

The past decade has been one of major turbulence in the global economy, including rapid inflation, oil price shocks, extraordinary rise and decline in food prices, and low real interest rates encouraging borrowers that had later proven unsustainable. The process of managing that turbulence, along with industry-oriented development strategies, has led many developing countries to grossly overvalue their exchange rates. The extent to which overvaluation discriminates against exports and agriculture in general and agricultural exports in particular had received increasing emphasis in recent years. Thus, the International Food Trade and Food Security Program at IFPRI has undertaken a series of country studies on the foreign trade and exchange rate regimes as they relate to the structure of incentives for agriculture in developing countries…This study was partially funded by the Ford Foundation’s office in Lagos, Nigeria, and by the International Development Research Centre of Canada. IFPRI is particularly grateful to these two organizations for their encouragement and support of this work on Sub-Saharan Africa

World Trade Order and Agricultural Transformation in Africa-super- †

The poor production and trade performance of African agriculture is well documented in the literature but its transformation has received much less attention. The declining shares of African agriculture in GDP, total exports and employment constitute evidence of stagnation. Its growth and transformation are affected by key elements of the world trade order; such as agricultural domestic supports, export subsidies and non-tariff barriers of the OECD countries, emerging global system of intellectual property protection and the increasing corporate concentration of the international markets for agricultural products. Only the negotiations on the elimination of agricultural export subsidies have made relatively more progress at the Doha Development Round of multilateral trade negotiations, while African negotiators cannot significantly alter current world opinion regarding global intellectual property protection system. Therefore, the solution of the former issues lies in investing significant negotiating capital while adaptation and adjustment would resolve the latter. Hence, Africa must find innovative ways of enhancing its agricultural research and technology capacity by creating suitable linkages with the global system. Finally, though the problems related to non-competitive business practices can be resolved at the international level through appropriate forum, African countries should seek a deeper understanding of the issues as a basis for articulating the way forward. Copyright The author 2010. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Centre for the Study of African Economies. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: [email protected], Oxford University Press.

Enhancing linkages of oil and gas industry in the Nigerian economy

The dearth of linkages between the oil sector and the other sectors of the Nigerian economy is a critical developmental problem. Thus, the primary objective of this study is to examine the extent of the linkages that the oil sector has created with the rest of the Nigerian economy. Based on an earlier study which identified areas where local servicing firms in Nigeria have technological and employment potentials, this study covers three of such areas; Fabrication and construction; well-construction and completion, and Control system and ICT. We have used both primary and secondary data and the methods of analysis are both descriptive and inferential. Survey results revealed that the degree of local sourcing of inputs (by local suppliers or servicing firms) in the Control system and ICT sub-sector is less than what obtains in the other sub-sectors. It was also found that linkage between first-tier and second-tier suppliers is weak, though information exchange is relatively higher. In the opinion of the servicing firms, their linkage with the oil sector is weak, but fair in the opinion of the oil firms.. Most servicing firms are national, but the control system and ICT sub-sector has highest multinational presence. Multinational firms dominate the oil sector, followed by joint venture, and few are national. Only public power supply was rated grossly inadequate by the servicing firms, On the average, about half of the servicing firms have agreements with foreign companies and local research centres. Import tariff and taxes are found to be the most inconsistent. Firms are involved in some innovations to survive stiff competition. Control system and ICT sub-sector with higher multinational presence suffer less liquidity problems, but liquidity falls over time. High price of imported raw materials is the largest raw materials problem that affects servicing firms. Based on a regression analysis, it was discovered that the MMCP drivers, other drivers and their interactions affect linkages. In all, availability of skilled labour (skill), policies (tax) and NSI stand out as the major drivers. Based on the above findings, some recommendations are made to the various stakeholders to promote linkages

Enhancing linkages of oil and gas industry in the Nigerian economy

The dearth of linkages between the oil sector and the other sectors of the Nigerian economy is a critical developmental problem. Thus, the primary objective of this study is to examine the extent of the linkages that the oil sector has created with the rest of the Nigerian economy. Based on an earlier study which identified areas where local servicing firms in Nigeria have technological and employment potentials, this study covers three of such areas; Fabrication and construction; well-construction and completion, and Control system and ICT.? We have used both primary and secondary data and the methods of analysis are both descriptive and inferential. Survey results revealed that the degree of local sourcing of inputs (by local suppliers or servicing firms) in the Control system and ICT sub-sector is less than what obtains in the other sub-sectors. It was also found that linkage between first-tier and second-tier suppliers is weak, though information exchange is relatively higher. In the opinion of the servicing firms, their linkage with the oil sector is weak, but fair in the opinion of the oil firms.. Most servicing firms are national, but the control system and ICT sub-sector has highest multinational presence. Multinational firms dominate the oil sector, followed by joint venture, and few are national. Only public power supply was rated grossly inadequate by the servicing firms, On the average, about half of the servicing firms have agreements with foreign companies and local research centres. Import tariff and taxes are found to be the most inconsistent. Firms are involved in some innovations to survive stiff competition.? Control system and ICT sub-sector with higher multinational presence suffer less liquidity problems, but liquidity falls over time. High price of imported raw materials is the largest raw materials problem that affects servicing firms.? Based on a regression analysis, it was discovered that the MMCP drivers, other drivers and their interactions affect linkages. In all, availability of skilled labour (skill), policies (tax) and NSI stand out as the major drivers. Based on the above findings, some recommendations are made to the various stakeholders to promote linkages