PLURILATERAL TRADE AGREEMENTS AND THE IMPACT ON LDCs – TO PARTICIPATE OR NOT TO PARTICIPATE?

The report examines why developing countries and LDCs often avoid plurilateral trade agreements (PTAs), specifically the TiSA, GPA, EGA, and ITA-II. While quantitative modelling shows small positive aggregate gains in GDP, investment, and welfare for participants, qualitative findings reveal that these are often outweighed by a desire to maintain policy space, a lack of technical capacity, and distrust of agendas set by developed nations. The report argues that the stagnation of the WTO Doha Development Round (DDR), particularly regarding agriculture and non-agricultural market access, further discourages participation.

• Quantitative analysis using the GTAP model indicates that participation in the four studied PTAs generally yields small positive economic gains for developing countries and LDCs on aggregate, though these are not considered significant.
• The Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) shows the highest potential for aggregate GDP growth (between 0.21 and 1.75 percentage points) and welfare increases ($56 billion in Scenario B) among the analyzed agreements, primarily driven by a reduction in home bias.
• The Environmental Goods Agreement (EGA) is projected to increase aggregate GDP for participating developing countries and LDCs by 0.1 to 0.43 percentage points, with benefits linked to improved environmental quality through increased spending on environmental goods.
• Participation in the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) is projected to increase aggregate GDP by 0.01 to 0.02 percentage points, with benefits heavily concentrated in the maritime transport sector.
• The Information Technology Agreement II (ITA-II) offers the lowest projected aggregate GDP gains, ranging from 0.002 to 0.005 percentage points.
• Developing countries and LDCs are deterred from participating in PTAs due to a lack of technical capacity, insufficient human resources, financing gaps, and a fear of losing policy space to agendas tailored by developed countries.
• The impasse of the WTO Doha Development Round (DDR), specifically regarding agricultural goods and non-agricultural market access (NAMA), creates a sense of unfairness that discourages engagement in plurilaterals.
• Special and Differential Treatment (SDT) is deemed insufficient to encourage participation because it does not adequately address non-tariff barriers (NTBs), which are the primary concern for developing countries and LDCs.

APA

Bertelsmann-Scott, T., Van Rensburg, S. J. J., Parry, A., Parshotam, A., Nkhata, D. P., Rossouw, R., Grobbelaar, N., Viviers, W., Langalanga, A., Makong, T., Grater, S., & Nedumpara, J. (2018). PLURILATERAL TRADE AGREEMENTS AND THE IMPACT ON LDCs – TO PARTICIPATE OR NOT TO PARTICIPATE? South African Institute of International Affairs. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/saia_spr_plurilaterals_Summary_20180306.pdf

Chicago

Bertelsmann-Scott, Talitha, Susara J Jansen Van Rensburg, Ali Parry, Asmita Parshotam, Dorica Phiri Nkhata, Riaan Rossouw, Neuma Grobbelaar, et al. PLURILATERAL TRADE AGREEMENTS AND THE IMPACT ON LDCs – TO PARTICIPATE OR NOT TO PARTICIPATE? South African Institute of International Affairs, 2018. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/saia_spr_plurilaterals_Summary_20180306.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{bertelsmannscott2018plurilateral, author = {Bertelsmann-Scott, Talitha and Van Rensburg, Susara J Jansen and Parry, Ali and Parshotam, Asmita and Nkhata, Dorica Phiri and Rossouw, Riaan and Grobbelaar, Neuma and Viviers, Wilma and Langalanga, Azwimphelele and Makong, Tsotesi and Grater, Sonja and Nedumpara, James}, title = {{PLURILATERAL TRADE AGREEMENTS AND THE IMPACT ON LDCs – TO PARTICIPATE OR NOT TO PARTICIPATE?}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2018}, month = feb, url = {https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/saia_spr_plurilaterals_Summary_20180306.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }