The Global Trade Preference Reform Working Group was convened to examine how programs unilaterally providing preferential market access for developing countries could be improved, especially for the poorest countries. A final report outlining the Working Group’s policy recommendations to be launched in 2010 will suggest ways that developed countries and emerging powers with new programs can reform and coordinate their trade preference programs to better serve development objectives. The report will be widely disseminated to trade officials, key stakeholders and the policy advocacy community.
CGD senior fellow Kimberly Ann Elliott is the working group chair. Other members of the working group, who participate in their personal capacity and on a voluntary basis, are from academia and the public, private, and non-profit sectors in developed and developing economies.
Chair
Kimberly Ann Elliott, Center for Global Development
Members
Mehmet Arda, Galatasaray University, IIBF
Johanna Cowan, UK Department for Business, Innovation, and Skills
Reform/Department for International Development
Antoni Estevadeordal, Inter-American Development Bank
Eveline Herfkens, UN Millennium Development Goals Campaign
Bernard Hoekman, World Bank
Angela Hofmann, Wal-Mart
Behnaz Kibria, Unaffiliated
Peter Kleen, European Centre for International Political Economy
Gawain Kripke, Oxfam America
William C. Lane, Caterpillar, Inc.
Ricardo Melendez-Ortiz, International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD)
Pradeep S. Mehta, CUTS International
Andre Nassar, ICONE, Institute for International Trade Negotiations
Susan Prowse, Overseas Development Institute
Vijaya Ramachandran, Center for Global Development
Randall Soderquist, Unaffiliated
Shujiro Urata, Waseda University
Ann Weston, The North-South Institute
Working Group Objective and Approach
The primary focus will be on identifying priorities for reform of trade preference programs themselves. In addition, the Working Group will also consider the incentives, governance capabilities and actions, and financing mechanisms that could plausibly move the world towards greater market access for poor countries. Specifically, the Working Group will consider questions such as:
Can 100 percent Duty-Free, Quota-Free (DFQF) access for all low-income developing countries (LDCs) be achieved in the United States, Japan, and other rich countries that have not yet done so? How about with adjustments for quota-controlled agricultural products?
Should the group receiving DFQF be expanded beyond just LDCs?
How should quota-controlled agricultural products be treated? Is quota-free preferred? If so, is it possible? What would a sensible safeguard look like?
Can/should rules of origin be further improved and harmonized across major countries, including the emerging market programs?
How can concerns over preference erosion be prevented from impeding multilateral liberalization?
Is there a concrete proposal for aid-for-trade that makes sense in the context of a preferences reform proposal? Should it address compensation and adjustment assistance issues, supply-side capacity constraints, or both?
