The Hindu | March 25, 2004
Movement of persons across borders has become a key dimension of trade in services even as it is increasingly becoming of great importance to developing countries.
The freer flow of labour from one country to another is also expected to lead to substantial welfare gains on account of remittances.
Expressing these views, participants at a one-day workshop organised by the United Nations Conference of Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the London School of Economics (LSE) on the new global trade paradigm' pointed out that developed countries are increasingly becoming labour deficit owing to the rise in the average age of the population. As a result, migratory labour is now estimated to account for about 170 million people contributing to $ 94 billion in annual remittances.
The consensus was that movement of persons is a key dimension of trade in services though political and cultural sensitivities persist on the issue and these need to be addressed at the appropriate level.
The meeting was convened to take into account whether the present situation offered policy options to India and other developing countries, according to an official release.
Among the speakers were noted economist, Meghnad Desai, the Planning Commission Member, N. K. Singh, and the LSE Director, Howard Davies.
On the issues of poverty and development, it was felt that growth continued to remain a fundamental strategy towards poverty alleviation and that trade was increasingly becoming an important driver of growth. It was acknowledged that the need for higher productivity and technological efficiency produced challenges for assuring adequate human employment.
This dilemma that confronted even developed countries like the U.S. Developing countries could address this issue by trying to ensure that efforts are directed towards labour intensive sectors like services.
On Cancun and likely future of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), it was acknowledged that multilateral trade negotiations had ground to a halt.
It was felt that the progress at the Cancun ministerial conference was limited to a large extent on account of the excessive defensiveness of certain developed countries on agriculture and over-ambition in the case of Singapore issues.
The workshop participants felt that it was political will on the part of the U.S., the European Union and other developed countries as well as the four major developing countries - Brazil, China, India and South Africa - that would be critical to the effective re-propping of the WTO.
The increase in bilateralism and regionalism in trade arrangements was noted as also that such trends would increase if effective multilateralism was not put back on track. On the importance of South-South trade, it was noted that developing countries often limited welfare gains between themselves because of their market access restrictions.
Larger developing countries also needed to examine whether they were treating their poorer cousins n the same manner in which they wanted to be treated by developed countries, it was stated.The Hindu:
