PRESENTATION ON REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS, IMF, WORLD BANK AND UNCTAD

INTRODUCTION

MEANING

Objectives

1. To obtain economicbenefits.

2. To pursue non-economicobjectives

3. To ensure increasedsecurity of market access.

4.To improve membersbargaining strength.

5.To promote regionalinfant industries.

6. Trade Diversion.

ADVANTAGES

The Resources

are pooled

Rapid

Technological

Innovations

Elimination of

Tariffs

Types of Integration

Free Trade Area

Customs Union

Common Market

Economic Union

Economic Integration

NORTH AMERICAN

FREE TRADE

AGREEMENT (NAFTA)

THE ASSOCIATION OF

SOUTH-EAST ASIAN

NATIONS (ASEAN)

SOUTH ASIAN

ASSOCIATION FOR

REGIONAL

COOPERATION (SAARC)

MERCOSUR

GATT

The objectives of

GATT are:

» to raise

standard of living.

» to ensure full

employment

» to develop the

full use of the

resources of the

world, and

» to expand

production and

international

trade.

WTO Principle:

The WTO agreements have 3

main objectives:

1.To help trade flow

2.To achieve further

liberalisation

3.To set up an impartial means

of scaling disputesWTO has the following five specific functions;

1. The WTO shall facilitate the implementation,

administration and operation.

2. The WTO shall provide the forum for negotiations among

its members.

3. The WTO shall administer the ‘Understanding on Rules and

Procedures Governing the settlement of Disputes.’

4. The WTO shall administer the ‘Trade Review Mechanism’.

5. The WTO shall cooperate, as appropriate, with the IMF and

IBRD and its affiliated agencies.

NORTH AMERICAN

FREE TRADE

AGREEMENT

(NAFTA)

OBJECTIVES

The objectives of the NAFTA include:

To create new business opportunities.

To enhance the competitive advantage of the

companies.

To reduce the prices of the products and services.

To enhance industrial development.

To provide stable and predictable political environment.

To develop industries in Mexico.

To assist Mexico in earning additional foreign exchange.

To improve and consolidate political relationship.

MEASURES

THE ASSOCIATION OF SOUTH-EAST ASIAN

NATIONS (ASEAN)The emergence and

successful operation of EEC

and NAFTA gave impetus

for the forming ASEAN

member countries have

developed economically at

a fast rate in the lies is well

educated and skilled human

resources. The ASEAN

member countries are rich

in oil, agricultural goods

and modern industrial

products.

SOUTH ASIAN ASSOCIATION FOR REGIONAL

COOPERATION (SAARC)

to enhance the

mutual assistance

among member

countries.

to enhance the

cooperation with

other developing

economies.

to have unity

among the member

countries.

to extend

cooperation to

other trade blocks.

MERCOSUROBJECTIVES

Free transit of production goods and

service;

Fixing of a common external tariff

(TEC) and adopting of a common trade

policy;

Coordination of macro-economic and

sectorial policies between member

states.

IBRD & IDA : Working for a World Free of Poverty

Bretton Woods

In response to post-war reconstruction and to discuss the future of international economic cooperation.

The World Bank

The Bank’s initial goal was to assist in the reconstruction of post-war Europe

Now, the Bank makes development loans to developing countries.

The World Bank Group

1. International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)

2. International Development Association (IDA)

3. International Finance Corporation (IFC)

4. Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA)

5. International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID)

Structure of the World Bank

Headquartered in Washington D.C.

Over 100 offices all over the world

185 member countries

Membership of the IMF is required

5 Largest shareholders: France, Germany, Japan, UK, and US

Anti-Corruption

The World Bank believes that an effective

anticorruption strategy builds on five key

elements:

1. Increasing Political Accountability

2. Strengthening Civil Society Participation

3. Creating a Competitive Private Sector

4. Institutional Restraints on Power

5. Improving Public Sector Management

Millennium Development Goals

Targets and Goals set for 20151. Reducing Poverty and

Hunger

2. Educating All Children

3. Empowering Women

4. Saving Children

Millennium Development Goals

5. Caring for Mothers

6. Combating Diseases

7. Using Resources Wisely

8. Working Together

The IMF was established to regulate the exchange rates and enforces the rules of an international monetary system. At the time of its formation, the IMF had 29 members countries and today the figure has gone up by to 184. A public institution, established with money provided by taxpayers around the world. This is important to remember because it does not report directly to either the citizens who finance it or those whose lives it affects. Rather, it reports to the ministries of finance and the central banks of the governments of the world.IMF started in the year december 1946, its operations are started in the year march 1947.IMF is a International Economic Institution.

Promoting international monetary corperation.

Facilitating expansion and balance growth of international trade.

Promoting exchange stability, maintaining orderly exchange arrangement.

Making the resources of the fund temporarily available to members.

Shortening the duration and lessening the degree of disequilibrium in the balance of payment of member nations.

To promote exchange stability, to maintain orderly exchange arrangement among members and avoid competitive exchange depreciation.

IMF lends money to member countries on a short term basis to tide over their balance of payment crisis.

Stand by agreements

Extended fund facility

Poverty reduction and growth facility

Emergency Assistance

Emergency Financing Mechanism.

The IMF provides technical assistance in the following three broad areas.

Designing and implementing fiscal and monetary policies.

Drafting and reviewing economic and financial legislation, regulation, and procedure.

Institution and capacity building such as in central banks, treasuries, tax and customs department and statistical services.

It look as though IMF was created to promote cross border business. It focus on international monetary corporation. Its emphasis on facilitating expansion and balanced growth of international trade.

The IMF serves wealthy countries and Wall Street.

The IMF is imposing a fundamentally flawed development model.

IMF policies promote corporate welfare.

The IMF hurts workers.

The IMF's policies hurt women the most.

UNCTAD

(United Nations Conference On Trade

& Development)

About UNCTAD:

• Acronym for United Nations Conference on Trade & Development

• Established in 1964

• Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland

• Principle organ of United Nations General Assembly

• 193 members

• 400 staff members

• It deals with trade, investment and development issues

Why UNCTAD came into existence?

• To address problems of developing countries relating to economic development

• Integrate developing countries into world economy

• Promote development friendly integration

Brief History of UNCTAD

• First phase: 1964 to late 1970sRise and climax of UNCTAD’s negotiating role

• Second phase: 1980sStrengthening the analytical capacity with greater

focus on macroeconomic and financial issues (debt-crisis)

• Third phase: 1990s onwardsThe positive agenda and identification of the

shortcomings of the mainstream development strategy

Main functions of UNCTAD

• To promote international trade all over the world-between developed and developing countries with different socio-economic system.

• To formulate principles and policies on international trade and related problems of economic development.

• To make proposal for putting the said principles and policies into effect.

• To review and facilitate the co-ordination of activities of the other institutions within the U.N. system in the field of international trade.

• To be available as a centre for harmonious trade and related documents in the development policies of governments.

OBJECTIVES:

• To maximize trade, investments and development opportunities

• To eliminate trade gap between developed and developing countries

• To accelerate economic growth rate of developing countries

ACTIVITIES:

• Research and support of negotiations for commodity agreements

• Technical elaborations of new trade schemes

• Activities that help developing countries in trade and capital flow

HOW DOES UNCTAD WORK ?

Intergovernmental level

Commission meetings

Expert meetings

Monitoring of inter-governmental activities

A TWO-TRACKPROCESS

Consensus Building

Policy Analysis

Research and analytical studies

Human resources capacity-building

InstitutionalCapacity-building

UNCTAD’S WORK

Investment, enterprise

development, and technology

Trade (goods, services and commodities),

services infrastructure and

trade facilitation

Developmentstrategies & global

interdependence

Least developed & developing countriesDEVELOPMENT

MEETINGS

The inter-governmental work is done at 5 levels of meetings:

• The UNCTAD Conference – held every 4 years;• UNCTAD XIII will be held in Doha, Qatar in 2012• UNCTAD XII was held in Accra, Ghana in 21–25 April

2008• UNCTAD XI was held in São Paulo, Brazil in 13–18 June

2004• UNCTAD X was held in Bangkok, Thailand in 12–19

February 2000• UNCTAD IX was held in Midrand, South Africa in 27

April – 11 May 1996• UNCTAD VIII was held in Cartagena, Colombia in 8–25

February 1992

Overview of the main activities

•Trade and commodities

Commodity diversification and development:

Promotes the diversification of production and trade structures. Helps Governments to formulate and implement diversification policies and encourages enterprises to adapt their business strategies and become more competitive in the world market.

Competition and consumer policies: Provides analysis and capacity

building in competition and consumer protection laws and policies in developing countries.

Publishes regular updates of a Model Law on Competition.

Trade Negotiations and Commercial Diplomacy:Assists developing countries in all aspects of their

trade negotiations.

Trade Analysis and Information System (TRAINS): Comprehensive computer-based information system on trade control measures that uses UNCTAD’s database. The CD-ROM version includes 119 countries.

Trade and environment: Assesses the trade and development impact of environmental requirements and relevant multilateral agreements and provides capacity-building activities to help developing countries participate in and derive benefits from international negotiations on these matters.

•Investment, technology and enterprise development

International investment and technology arrangements: Helps developing countries to participate more actively in international investment rule making at the bilateral, regional and multilateral levels. These arrangements include the organization of capacity-building seminars and regional symposia and the preparation of a series of issues papers.

Investment Policy Reviews: Intended to familiarize Governments and the private sector with the investment environment and policies of a given country. Reviews have been carried out in a number of countries, including Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Mauritius, Peru, Uganda and Uzbekistan

•Africa, least developed countries, landlocked developing countries & small island developing States

Africa: Provides analytical work aimed at increasing the understanding of problems faced by African countries in their development efforts, and facilitating a better integration of Africa into the world economy. Particular emphasis is placed on supporting the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD).

Least developed countries (LDCs): Provides analytical work and technical assistance aimed at enabling relevant States to make the best possible use of LDC status in the framework of the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2001-2010, and to better understand the policy-related issues that are specially relevant to LDCs, notably with a view to developing productive capacities and reducing poverty in these countries.

A NIKHIL SOARES PRESENTATION