EU trade and development strategy is launched

Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation

Authors

Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation

Date Issued

2002

Language

Type

News Item

Accessibility

Open Access

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Citation

CTA. 2002. EU trade and development strategy is launched. Agritrade, November 2002. CTA, Wageningen, The Netherlands.

Permanent link to cite or share this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10568/52586

External link to download this item: http://agritrade.cta.int/Back-issues/Agriculture-monthly-news-update/2002/November-2002

Abstract/Description

A Commission communication entitled 'Trade and Development:...

Notes

A Commission communication entitled 'Trade and Development: Assisting Developing Countries to Benefit from Trade' places considerable emphasis on 'improving the delivery of trade-related assistance', particularly in terms of helping countries to acquire 'institutional regulatory capacity, and the expertise to deal with the technicalities of trading in a global system'. The importance of developing countries improving their investment climate is also urged. Concrete proposals put forward for action in the communication and highlighted in the Commission's press release include: intensification of dialogue with partner countries involving a stronger emphasis on trade issues in the dialogue around PRSPs (Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers) and ensuring that funding for the priority of trade-related assistance is adjusted in the Country and Regional Strategy papers; enhancing the effectiveness of EU support through: reinforcing the trade component in programmable aid; focussing on the needs of least-developed and low-income countries; developing horizontal trade-related assistance programmes; increasing the EU's ability to design and deliver training programmes for trade negotiators; providing technical assistance for sustainability-impact assessments; reinforcing developing countries capacity in the SPS field; contributing to international effectiveness through: ensuring coherence in the provision of trade-related assistance; improving co-ordination and sharing best practices; promoting the integrated framework for least-developed countries; support to the DDA Global Trust Fund. Comment: The trade profile of developing countries outlined in the opening sections of the report is considerably at variance with the trade profile of the ACP. Finished product exports account for only 19% of the ACP's total exports to the EU, which remain concentrated in agricultural and mineral products. The profile of a developing country set out in the Trade and Development report has over two-thirds of exports being accounted for by manufactured goods ( the developing country group includes countries such as Slovenia and Malta). The very different trade profile of the ACP group suggests that the challenges facing the ACP are likely to be quite different from the 'developing countries' which are a focus of the EU's Trade and Development strategy.