This two-phase project aims to study major issues relevant to the Doha Round and future WTO negotiations and promote collaboration among researchers in developing member countries (DMCs).
Phase 1 of the project involved preparation of these general studies:
- Doha Round and Development: A View
from the Uruguay Round
J. Michael Finger assesses the negotiating agenda and identifies priority
areas and information required for the new round of negotiations launched
in Doha. A key message is that negotiations on the trade-related policy issues
are different from negotiations on border restriction. The paper draws on
the outcomes of the Uruguay Round of negotiations to identify such differences
and help initiate policy dialogue on how developing countries should deal
with the challenges in multilateral trade negotiations.
- Doha Round and Development Policy
Kenneth W. Abbott analyzes the nature of the "development round"
and the role of WTO in the context of the ongoing debates on trade and development
to help DMCs assess their own negotiating strategies for the Doha Round.
- Intellectual Property Rights and
Developing Countries
Phillip McCalman reviews the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual
Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement), and addresses the major issues arising
from its implementation. Flexibility is the key motivation for the Declaration
on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health by the trade ministers at Doha. But
to what extent could developing countries address their development concerns
without breaching the TRIPS Agreement? The Declaration identified a number
of concerns to developing countries, such as public health, traditional knowledge,
biological diversity, geographical indications, plant and animal variety protection,
and technology transfer. This paper reviews and analyzes the above issues
from the perspective of developing countries.
- Trade and Investment
Theodore H. Moran delves into the challenges for developing countries from
the proposal to link trade and investment issues in the next round of trade
negotiations. Drawing on the literature survey and evidence on the relationship
between foreign direct investment and development, this paper examines the
opportunities and challenges of making such linkage in the post-Doha agenda.
The paper presents an evaluation of alternative tactics and strategies on
trade and investment issues for DMCs in future WTO negotiations.
Phase 2 of the project involves
the preparation of country studies.
This stage will provide information and identify positions that will more effectively advance the interests of ADB's DMCs both in general and in the current round of negotiations to help ensure that WTO negotiations reflect DMCs' experiences and priorities. Two important issues are addressed in the country studies-foreign direct investment (FDI) and competition policy. The studies were done on a sample of six DMCs, i.e., People's Republic of China, India, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, and Viet Nam. Summaries of the country studies on FDI are available in Part 3 of ADO 2004, and on competition policy in Part 3 of ADO 2005.
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