Book Description

This annual publication analyses the global and national dimensions of the investment climate for developing countries, in terms of the policy and institutional environment. This edition examines the growth of regional trade agreements, which have risen eight-fold in two decades with currently, as much as 40 percent of global trade taking place among countries that have some form of reciprocal regional trade agreement. Issues discussed include: regional trading trends; effects of regional agreements on trade creation, trade facilitation and services, investment, intellectual property rights, and labour mobility; whether the proliferation of agreements poses risks for multilateral trading system, and if so, options for managing them. The report finds that agreements leading to open regionalism (that is, deeper integration of trade as a result of low external tariffs, increased services competition, and efforts to reduce cross-border and customs delays costs) are effective as part of a larger trade strategy to promote growth. Although regional agreements can prove beneficial to member countries, they can have adverse effects on excluded countries, and the lowering of border barriers around the world is crucial to minimising these effects. The completion of the Doha Development Agenda by all WTO countries will reduce the risk of trade diversion associated with regional agreements and will decrease trade losses of countries excluded from agreements.