Regulatory Cooperation, Aid for Trade and the General Agreement on Trade in Services

Hoekman, Bernard ; Mattoo, Aaditya

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: ACCESS TO SERVICE MARKETS;    ADVERSE EFFECT;    AGREEMENT ON TRADE;    AGRICULTURE;    ASYMMETRIC INFORMATION;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-4451
RP-ID  :  WPS4451

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This paper discusses what could be doneto expand services trade and investment through amultilateral agreement in the World Trade Organization. Adistinction is made between market access liberalization andthe regulatory preconditions for benefiting from marketopening. The authors argue that prospects for multilateralservices liberalization would be enhanced by making nationaltreatment the objective of World Trade Organization servicesnegotiations, thereby clarifying the scope of World TradeOrganization commitments for regulators. Moreover,liberalization by smaller and poorer members of the WorldTrade Organization would be facilitated by complementaryactions to strengthen regulatory capacity. If pursued aspart of the operationalization of the World TradeOrganization's 2006 Aid for Trade taskforce report, theWorld Trade Organization could become more relevant inpromoting not just services liberalization but, moreimportantly, domestic reforms of services policies.