The Secretariat assists developing member states in handling multilateral trade negotiations, strengthening their economies, improving efficiency and competitiveness, and promoting gender equality and environmental sustainability in development efforts.

Negotiating trade for development

	A Commonwealth Trade Ministers Mission visited Washington DC and other capitals in February 2004: (left to right) Dame Billie Miller, Head, Caribbean Region Negotiations on Doha Round, and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Barbados; Mission Chair Alhaji Idris Waziri, Minister of Commerce, Nigeria; Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General Winston Cox; and Kaliopate Tavola, Pacific Region Representative and Minister of Foreign Affairs and External Trade, Fiji Islands

In negotiations on trade liberalisation, Commonwealth countries, particularly small states and least developed countries (LDCs), must balance commitments to international trade agreements with their own long-term economic goals. Limited negotiating capacity and resources present a significant challenge. The Secretariat helps to bridge these gaps and to ensure that development remains central to the global trade agenda.

At the Doha Ministerial Conference in November 2001, World Trade Organisation (WTO) members agreed to a new round of trade negotiations that would place the needs and interests of developing countries at the heart of the work programme. To make the Doha Development Agenda operational, the Secretariat works at the national, regional and multilateral levels to enhance the ability of member countries, particularly small states and LDCs, to formulate and implement beneficial trade policies.

Among the outcomes the Commonwealth seeks from the Doha Round are commitments by developed countries to increase market access for developing countries’ goods and services, and to reduce export subsidies and domestic support for products of export interest to developing countries. Other concerns include the need for harmonised rules of origin and sanitary and phytosanitary standards, for greater commitments on the part of developed countries to liberalisation in low-skilled labour-intensive services sectors, for special and differential treatment for developing countries on the issues under negotiation, and to address the special vulnerabilities of small states.

In January 2005, the Secretary-General launched a major initiative to generate sustained, high-level political engagement on WTO talks over the coming year. The Secretariat hosted a High Level Trade Seminar in February 2005, at which the European Union Trade Commissioner made a strong commitment to the Doha Development Agenda. This was followed by a dialogue with the European Commission.

Technical and analytical assistance has been provided to Commonwealth developing countries in a range of areas under the Doha Round negotiations. This has included the commissioning of a study to assess the impact of erosion of preferences, cost and benefit implications of global trade negotiations and practical avenues to address these issues.

The Secretariat has published economic papers, books, regular trade bulletins and specially commissioned reports, such as Joseph Stiglitz’s An Agenda for the Development Round of Trade Negotiations in the Aftermath of Cancun.

Technical assistance has also been provided to Commonwealth small states in the formulation of positions to be addressed under the Small Economies Work Programme of the Doha Declaration. The Secretariat hosted meetings in London in January and June 2005 to enable trade experts from intergovernmental organisations (IGOs) representing Commonwealth small economies to brainstorm draft WTO proposals for official endorsement and ultimately for discussion at the sixth WTO Ministerial in Hong Kong in December 2005.

The Commonwealth works in co-operation with the European Commission and the Secretariat of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) in the context of regional integration frameworks and the negotiation of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between the ACP and the EU.

The Commonwealth also encourages intra-ACP dialogue. For example, representatives of other ACP regions participated in WTO/EPA fisheries workshops organised by the Secretariat in collaboration with the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery in Barbados in March 2005, with the PIFS in Fiji Islands in May 2005, and with the SADC Secretariat in Mozambique in June 2005.

These regional partners collaborated with the Commonwealth on meetings of ACP-EU trade experts in May and June 2005 to discuss a legal framework for EPA negotiations in Fiji and Belize, and sanitary and phytosanitary measures and technical barriers to trade in Mozambique. The Commonwealth is also supporting an ACP-wide review of the Cotonou instruments.

The temporary movement of services sector workers across borders holds great potential for economic diversification and growth in developing countries, while meeting the labour demands of developed countries on a ‘win-win’ basis. The Secretariat has carried out studies on possible frameworks for managing the temporary migration of developing country professionals to developed countries, and on its fiscal implications.

The Secretariat’s ‘Hub and Spokes’ project seeks to improve the ability of ACP countries and regional economic integration organisations to manage their negotiations at the WTO and with the EU. The four-year project entails the placement of senior trade experts (‘Hubs’) in regional economic integration organisations to provide trade policy advice, and trade policy analysts (‘Spokes’) to enhance research and analytical capacity in individual countries.

By mid-2005, six regional trade policy advisers and 29 trade policy analysts were deployed in the Caribbean, Pacific, Southern and Eastern Africa regions and with the African Union. L’Agence Intergouvernementale de la Francophonie will be responsible for implementing this project in West and Central Africa.

The Secretariat also commissioned a feasibility study for the establishment of offices for WTO ‘non-residents’ – countries without their own diplomatic missions – in Geneva. From this initiative, a joint Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States/Pacific Islands Forum representative office was established in Geneva, funded by the EU.

Legal advice on trade regulation

To respond to the growing need of Commonwealth small states and LDCs for technical assistance in implementing WTO Agreements, the Secretariat has developed a model law on competition and undertaken consultative forums to provide a legal infrastructure for the regulation of competition practices. It has also designed trade-related institutional arrangements for investment policy, and advised on legislative and policy reforms necessary to sustain growth and development compatible with WTO rules.

Trade regulation assistance focuses on an assessment of domestic legislation as it relates to the multilateral framework. Policy instruments suited to the circumstances of WTO members with limited human resources and trade volumes can then be developed, enabling them to take advantage of special flexibility measures within the multilateral rules-based system. Belize, St Lucia and Samoa are among the beneficiaries of interventions in this area.

Building trade competitiveness

	Professor Joseph Stiglitz speaking at Marlborough House

The Secretariat seeks to improve the competitiveness of member states through capacity-building in strategy formulation and trade promotion and facilitation. It responds to country requests for assistance in the elaboration of export and sectoral strategies, market development, and compliance with international standards.

Many Commonwealth countries are seeking to diversify their export base. The Secretariat, in partnership with the International Trade Centre (ITC), organised an Executive Forum in Trinidad and Tobago in January 2004 on the theme ‘Small States in Transition: From Vulnerability to Competitiveness’. The Forum identified the development of national export strategies as a key tool for improving competitiveness.

The Secretariat has received requests for technical assistance in this area from 11 member countries (mainly small states) and one regional organisation. In January 2005, the Secretariat and the ITC agreed on a collaboration framework to deliver such assistance jointly. By mid-2005 the Secretariat was developing technical assistance in Belize, Grenada, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Swaziland. Assessment missions to Botswana and Namibia were undertaken in June 2005.

Another export diversification project was carried out in Nigeria, which received support from the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation (CFTC) to develop strategies to boost the growth of the non-oil export sector. The CFTC assisted St Vincent and the Grenadines in 2003 in establishing a national investment and trade promotion agency.

The Secretariat’s work in trade facilitation and customs provides member countries with analysis of the factors which inhibit competitiveness as well as practical and policy guidance to address bottlenecks to efficient trade and create a more business-friendly environment.

The Commonwealth/World Customs Organisation Fellowship Programme for mid-level customs managers develops effective problem-solving skills to deal with challenges in customs valuation, trade facilitation and customs modernisation. Recent graduates came from Botswana, The Gambia, Jamaica, Malawi, Maldives, Mozambique, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, Sierra Leone and Zambia.

Studies on administrative barriers to trade and the cost implications of trade facilitation helped the Kenyan Government introduce more business-friendly measures, such as rationalisation of the goods clearing process. Similar advice was provided to St Kitts and Nevis. An adviser assisted St Vincent and the Grenadines in reviewing customs administration and management structures and improving revenue collection. With CFTC assistance, Sierra Leone now has a newly established customs valuation unit, set up in line with the requirements of the WTO Customs Valuation Agreement.

Gender and economic opportunities

The Commonwealth recognises the need to enhance economic opportunities for women, as they constitute 70 per cent of the Commonwealth citizens who live on less than US$1 a day.

At the macro-level, the Secretariat addresses fiscal and trade policies. It pioneered the initial development of gender-responsive budgets, with a primary focus on the expenditure side of the national budget. Over the past two years, the focus has extended to the revenue side. A paper entitled Gender Impacts of Government Revenue Collection: The Case of Taxation was published in 2004. A Commonwealth-wide review of progress in implementing gender-responsive budgeting resulted in a report, Gender-Responsive Budgeting in the Commonwealth: Progress and Challenges, for presentation to the 2005 Finance Ministers Meeting.

The Secretariat has played a key role in developing the framework for analysing gender and trade. Its publications on gender and the multilateral trading system highlight the need for more effective participation of women in trade negotiations and the need to take gender into account in trade policy formulation and implementation.

In February 2005, a workshop in Uganda developed a needs-based gender and trade training module, field-tested in July 2005 in the United Republic of Tanzania.