World Trade and Development Report 2003: Cancun and Beyond
Research Team: Dr. Nagesh Kumar, Dr. Rajesh Mehta, Dr. S.K. Mohanty Dr. Ram Upendra Das and Dr. Sachin Chaturvedi
This Report was prepared and launched as a part of a new series of biennial reports. The first report was prepared on the eve of the Fifth Ministerial Conference of WTO held in Cancun in September 2003 and was presented in New Delhi and Cancun on the sidelines of the Ministerial. The RIS Report was hailed as a pioneering publication presenting a developing country perspective on the agenda of multilateral trade negotiations. The Report discusses some emerging trends in protectionism in the developed countries and other asymmetries in the world trading system; examines their implications; and proposes an agenda for reform to improve the development friendliness, and hence the sustainability, of the system. It also reflects on the agenda for negotiation in specific areas such as Singapore Issues, agriculture, non-agriculture market access, IPRs, implementation-related concerns, special and differential treatment, and dispute settlement.

 

• Cancun Agenda: Trade and Investment – The Way Forward for Developing Countries (PB #4);
• Cancun Agenda: Environmental Requirements and Developing Countries Exports – Lessons for National, International and Regional Action (PB #5);
• Cancun Agenda: TRIPs and Development Implications and an Agenda for Action (PB #6); and
• Cancun Agenda: Geographical Indications and Developing Countries (PB #7).

Possible Multilateral Framework on Investment and Developing Countries: A Research and Advisory Project
Research Team: Dr. Nagesh Kumar
This project, sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce in May 2002, involved preparation of a number of analytical studies on issues concerning possible multilateral framework on investment and its implications for developing countries. As part of the project, RIS provided inputs for India’s submissions at the WGTI Meetings. Among the papers prepared include ‘Investors’ and Home Country Obligations’ (which formed the basis of India’s submission on the subject that has been co-sponsored by China, Cuba, Kenya, Pakistan and Zimbabwe, WT/WGTI/W/152, dated November 19, 2002), ‘Types of Foreign Investment and their Developmental Impact’, ‘Performance Requirements as Tools of Development Policy’, and ‘Investment on the WTO Agenda: A Developing Country Perspective and the Way Forward’ and were submitted to the Ministry. A paper on “Performance Requirements as Tools of Development Policy: Lessons from Experiences of Developed and Developing Countries” was presented at the Intergovernmental Conference on Trade, Investment and Development, organized by the Ministry of Commerce and UNCTAD in New Delhi on 8-10 April 2003. The material prepared under the framework of the project, among other on related issues, was also consolidated in a book Protecting Foreign Investment: Implications of a WTO Regime and Policy Options, and published in collaboration with the Zed Press, London and New York and Academic Foundation, New Delhi for worldwide reach. Consultations were also provided to the Ministry on the agenda of various meetings of the WTO’s WGTI, the Committee on TRIMs, and for preparations towards the Fifth Ministerial Conference at Cancun. The project was completed in December 2003.

Foreign Direct Investment, WTO and the Host Country Human Development
Research Team: Dr. Nagesh Kumar
RIS was invited by the Hanoi based Asia Trade Initiative of UNDP (UNDP/ATI) to contribute to their programme on trade and investment designed to provide guidance to the developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region for the WTO Ministerial conference. As a part of this, RIS participated in the Meeting on Trade and Investment organized by UNDP/ATI, and the Institute of International Economics, Nankai University, Tianjin, China on April 1-2, 2003. The study discusses the experience of India in mobilizing and employing FDI inflows (and outflows) in its process of development. It summarizes the evolution of India’s FDI policy. It also examines the role of government policy in determining the contribution of FDI to human development. Finally it summarizes the implications of the ongoing debate on the relevance of a multilateral framework on investment under WTO from a human development perspective. The project was completed with the submission of the final version of the paper to UNDP/ATI.

Environmental Standards Trade Agreements: Challenges for Developing Countries
Research Team: Dr. Sachin Chaturvedi et al.
RIS has initiated a major work programme on various dimensions of standards especially in context of global value chains. This would largely look into the broad debate on SPS/TBT in agriculture as well as in manufacturing and other sectors. The idea is to develop analytical framework for looking into the wider implications of standards on production, process and international trade specifically with perspective of developing countries. As part of this programme two major initiatives have been taken. One was the study of environmental issues in FTAs across Asia. At the various multilateral fora, including WTO, consideration of environmental issues in international trade, is no more a matter of choice and the linkage is widely being recognized at the normative level as well. There are several economic studies, which acknowledge the possibility of adverse impact of trade liberalization on environment. However, the emergence of the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and the various other variants of preferential trade agreements, in Asia, pose several challenges for environment management. The problem is that the FTAs are being perceived as quicker mechanism for bypassing the complicated multilateral negotiations. The US-Singapore FTA poses several challenges in this regard. This paper attempted to look into some of these issues. This paper has been issued as a RIS Discussion Paper # 67.

The other initiative as part of this work programme was to launch a network of research institutes and think tanks on standard related issues. This network is being called as Standards and Rules of Trade (START). RIS along with Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS), Copenhagen, Denmark and Institute of Development Studies (IDS), UK are the founder members of the network.

Reform of International Financial Architecture
Research Team: Dr. Nagesh Kumar, Dr. Ramkishen S. Rajan et al.
The economies of developing countries have become highly vulnerable to speculative capital movements in and out of the country with the growing integration of financial markets. The recent economic crises beginning with Mexico in 1994, East Asian crisis of 1997, the Russian crisis of 1998, the Brazilian crisis of 1999 and the Argentinian crisis of 2001 have highlighted the role played by speculative capital movements in triggering off the crisis situations. The frequency of crisis has sparked of a debate on the reform of international financial architecture. In this regard, RIS came out with Policy Brief on (#10) on International Financial Architecture: An Agenda for Reform. RIS also issued the Policy Brief #11 on Managing Global Macroeconomic Imbalances in the early part of 2004.

UNCTAD XI and the Development Dialogue for the 21st Century
The Eleventh Session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD XI) took place in Sao Paulo on 13-18 June 2004. RIS has a consultative status with UNCTAD. RIS participated in the preparatory process of UNCTAD XI and addressed the PrepCom in Geneva held in February 2004. RIS also took the initiative to prepare a study on the UNCTAD XI’s agenda to assist the developing country policy makers in their preparations.