African Regional Trade Agreements as Legal Regimes

African Regional Trade Agreements as Legal Regimes
Author: James Thuo Gathii
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 525
Release: 2011-07-21
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1139498592

African regional trade integration has grown exponentially in the last decade. This book is the first comprehensive analysis of the legal framework within which it is being pursued. It will fill a huge knowledge gap and serve as an invaluable teaching and research tool for policy makers in the public and private sectors, teachers, researchers and students of African trade and beyond. The author argues that African Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) are best understood as flexible legal regimes particularly given their commitment to variable geometry and multiple memberships. He analyzes the progress made toward trade liberalization in each region, how the RTAs are financed, their trade remedy and judicial regimes, and how well they measure up to Article XXIV of GATT. The book also covers monetary unions as well as intra-African regional integration, and examines free trade agreements with non-African regions including the Economic Partnership Agreements with the European Union.

Regional Trade Agreements and the Multilateral Trading System

Regional Trade Agreements and the Multilateral Trading System
Author: Rohini Acharya
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 753
Release: 2016-09-22
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1107161649

This volume contains a collection of studies examining trade-related issues negotiated in regional trade agreements (RTAs) and how RTAs are related to the WTO's rules. While previous work has focused on subsets of RTAs, these studies are based on what is probably the largest dataset used to date, and highlight key issues that have been negotiated in all RTAs notified to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). New rules within RTAs are compared to rules agreed upon by WTO members. The extent of their divergences and the potential implications for parties to RTAs, as well as for WTO members that are not parties to RTAs, are examined. This volume makes an important contribution to the current debate on the role of the WTO in regulating international trade and how WTO rules relate to new rules being developed by RTAs.

Handbook of Deep Trade Agreements

Handbook of Deep Trade Agreements
Author: Aaditya Mattoo
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 768
Release: 2020-09-23
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1464815542

Deep trade agreements (DTAs) cover not just trade but additional policy areas, such as international flows of investment and labor and the protection of intellectual property rights and the environment. Their goal is integration beyond trade or deep integration. These agreements matter for economic development. Their rules influence how countries (and hence, the people and firms that live and operate within them) transact, invest, work, and ultimately, develop. Trade and investment regimes determine the extent of economic integration, competition rules affect economic efficiency, intellectual property rights matter for innovation, and environmental and labor rules contribute to environmental and social outcomes. This Handbook provides the tools and data needed to analyze these new dimensions of integration and to assess the content and consequences of DTAs. The Handbook and the accompanying database are the result of collaboration between experts in different policy areas from academia and other international organizations, including the International Trade Centre (ITC), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and World Trade Organization (WTO).

Regional Economic Integration in the Middle East and North Africa

Regional Economic Integration in the Middle East and North Africa
Author: Mustapha Rouis
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2012-12-11
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 082139729X

This book summarizes the constraints to and opportunities for deepening economic integration within the MENA region and beyond. Trade and investment reform are discussed together with physical connectivity, cross-border trade facilitation, infrastructure networks, and the vital role of logistics.

Bilateral and Regional Trade Agreements

Bilateral and Regional Trade Agreements
Author: Simon Nicholas Lester
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2009
Genre: Commercial treaties
ISBN: 9781107613126

The history of the world trading system and international trade agreements is characterised by shifts between bilateralism, regionalism and multilateralism. Bilateralism has recently returned, having gained momentum following the failed WTO negotiations at the 1999 Seattle Ministerial Conference. The result is that today's international trade rules are now a complex web of instruments and agreements. This volume contains case studies of selected bilateral and regional free trade agreements (FTAs), covering a wide range of countries, regions and key issues such as intellectual property and agriculture. Authored by leading scholars, practitioners and governmental officials, each case study provides a comprehensive review of the negotiating history and result of the selected agreement. Each study can serve as an in-depth examination of a particular FTA, and the group of case studies can be used to compare and contrast the coverage of different FTAs or to examine the FTAs signed by a particular country.

North-South Regional Trade Agreements as Legal Regimes

North-South Regional Trade Agreements as Legal Regimes
Author: Clair Gammage
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 405
Release: 2017-05-26
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1784719625

This book offers a critical reflection of the North-South regional trade agreements (RTAs), known as the Economic Partnership Agreements, negotiated between the EU and the African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries. Conceiving of regions as legal regimes, Clair Gammage highlights the challenges facing developing countries when negotiating RTAs with developed countries and interrogates the assumption that these agreements will and can promote sustainable development through trade.

Developmental Regionalism and Economic Transformation in Southern Africa

Developmental Regionalism and Economic Transformation in Southern Africa
Author: Said Adejumobi
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 271
Release: 2020-09-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1351053566

Interrogating the notion of developmental regionalism as applies to Southern Africa, this volume explores the policy options and interventions necessary to ensure a peaceful and stable regional development process. With a focus on the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the contributions explore how regional institutions such as this can be drivers of developmental regionalism. Institutional architecture, along with key policy priorities, and implementation strategies in areas such as trade, industry, agriculture, private sector development and conflict management are analysed, and the ramifications of regional interventions for peace building and regional security in post-conflict Southern African countries are explored. Drawing on this analysis the book proffers key policy options and strategies for how developmental regionalism can be both consummated and sustained, ultimately driving economic transformation. Illustrating to policymakers, scholars and development practitioners how regional institutions can be engines or facilitators of regional development, the book will be of interest to researchers in a broad range of areas including development studies, public policy and African studies.

Informal cross-border trade in Africa: How much? Why? And what impact?

Informal cross-border trade in Africa: How much? Why? And what impact?
Author: Bouet, Antoine
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Total Pages: 56
Release: 2018-12-21
Genre: Political Science
ISBN:

Informal cross-border trade (ICBT) represents a prominent phenomenon in Africa. Several studies suggest that for certain products and countries, the value of informal trade may meet or even exceed the value of formal trade. This paper provides a review of existing efforts to measure informal trade. We list 18 initiatives aimed at measuring ICBT in Africa. The paper also summarizes discussions conducted with many stakeholders in Africa between December 2016 and May 2018 regarding the measurement, the determinants, and the implications of ICBT. The methodologies used to measure ICBT in Africa differ widely, but they do confirm that informal trade in Africa is both sizeable and volatile. Both evidence on the determinants of ICBT and discussions with stakeholders suggest that policies should aim to reduce the existing costs associated with formal trade and provide positive incentives for traders and producers to move into the formal economy in order to avoid the loss of economic potential stemming from informal trade.

African Perspectives on Trade and the WTO

African Perspectives on Trade and the WTO
Author: Patrick Low
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2016-09-29
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9781316626528

Twenty-first century Africa is in a process of economic transformation, but challenges remain in areas such as structural reform, governance, commodity pricing and geopolitics. This book looks into key questions facing the continent, such as how Africa can achieve deeper integration into the rules-based multilateral trading system and the global economy. It provides a range of perspectives on the future of the multilateral trading system and Africa's participation in global trade and underlines the supportive roles that can be played by multilateral and regional institutions during such a rapid and uncertain transition. This volume is based on contributions to the Fourth China Round Table on WTO Accessions and the Multilateral Trading System, which took place just before the World Trade Organization's Tenth Ministerial Conference in Nairobi in December 2015.

Costs and Benefits of Economic Integration in Asia

Costs and Benefits of Economic Integration in Asia
Author: Robert J. Barro
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2011-01-04
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0199780773

Costs and Benefits of Economic Integration in Asia brings together authoritative essays that identify and examine various initiatives to promote economic integration in Asia.