This issue of Commonwealth Trade Hot Topics reports on a recent Commonwealth study on the impact of recent and further preference erosion, and the policies and measures that are required to increase the effectiveness of preferences.

This issue of Commonwealth Trade Hot Topics focuses on a specific group of developing countries — small and vulnerable economies (SVEs) — which has largely been neglected in the AfT debate, despite the special challenges these countries faced in...

Public procurement constitutes a major part of public expenditure in many African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states as it typically includes expenditure on, among other things, transport and communications infrastructure, and construction of public...

This issue of Trade Hot Topics closely examines the provisions of the CARIFORUM EPAs in services and looks at the ways in which they might be tailored to suit the interests and priorities of non-Caribbean ACP countries.

On 29 September 2008, the Council of the European Union adopted EC No. 1005/2008 ‘establishing a Community system to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing’. This new IUU Regulation, scheduled to enter into force on...

This issue of Trade Hot Topics examines the small economies initiative, a concerted effort by small economies to gain both the recognition of their concerns and special treatment in the WTO. It looks at the issue of defining small economies and gives...

In October 2006 a European Union–Indian High Level Trade Group agreed the parameters for an ambitious Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two. For Europe, this was part of the EU’s ‘Global Europe’ initiative which aimed at setting up trade...

Since the breakdown of the July 2008 Mini-Ministerial of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and due to the renewed apprehension regarding the rise of protectionism and possible proliferation of Free Trade Areas, concerns have been expressed about the...

Since 2003, international prices of a wide range of commodities have surged upwards in dramatic fashion, in many cases more than doubling in the space of a few years or even months. Unlike other commodities, surging food prices are of special concern...

No government ever has complete uniformity in its policies in the sense that each and every policy aims to achieve the same broad goals. Governments have multiple objectives and so complete policy coherence in any field is almost impossible. Even...

Aid for Trade (AfT) has moved up both the aid and trade agendas. Several studies have emerged describing the rationale of aid for trade, but it is now time to move beyond the descriptive stage and into analysing the needs and designing the...

The service sector has become increasingly important in national output and employment of developing and least developed countries (LDCs). For many of these economies, services constitute a fast growing and often-dominant sector in gross domestic...

The Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture made significant progress on establishing new rules governing the operation of the sector and international trade in agricultural goods. The initial reforms, however, did not bring about the expected...

This issue of Trade Hot Topics examines the relationship between Aid for Trade (AfT) and Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). The current AfT is taking place mainly under a WTO multilateral framework, although there is also a place for AfT in the...

There is a great deal of uncertainty among both developed and developing countries about the new Aid for Trade (AfT) initiative. Among developing countries in particular, there is unease about the timing of AfT and the fact that the development...

This issue of Trade Hot Topics examines the outcome of the sixth WTO Ministerial Meeting held in Hong Kong in December 2005 and assesses the challenges faced by members in concluding the Round within the set timeframe, including understanding the...

The EU’s Everything but Arms (EBA) initiative provides preferential access to the EU for least developed countries’ (LDCs) agricultural exports. This involves unrestricted duty-free access for most of these products, though in the case of a few...

There has been a worldwide resurgence of regional integration agreements (RIAs) in the last 20 years. It is estimated that between 40 and 60 per cent of world trade occurs within regional trading blocs. Africa’s appetite for RIAs is particularly...

Traceability is defined by Art 3(15) as ‘the ability to trace and to follow a food, feed, food producing animal or substance intended to be or expected to be incorporated into a food or feed, through all stages of production, processing and...

Trade facilitation has become a hot topic in the context of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Doha Development Round of multilateral trade negotiations. Humble, technical issues concerning goods in transit, fees and formalities for exports and...