The OAS and Trade

Pursuant to the “Strategic Plan for Partnership for Integral Development 2006-2007” adopted by the OAS member states in June 2006 (AG/RES. 2201 (XXXVI-O/06) (Strategic Plan), work in the area of trade and integration focuses on:

Trade Capacity-building

“Providing support to member states, particularly smaller economies, focusing on those trade capacity-building priorities identified by member states in their national strategy plans that fall within the areas of expertise of the OAS in order to build each member state’s capacity to benefit from trade and promote economic growth, job creation, and poverty reduction. (Strategic Plan)”

In order to identify and prioritize their trade-related capacity needs so as to better manage the assistance required from the donor community and guide their own efforts in addressing these needs, countries have prepared --with the assistance of the DTTC, the IDB and ECLAC-- National and/or Regional Trade Capacity Building Strategies (TCB strategies) covering three main areas:  preparing for negotiations, implementing trade commitments, and adjusting to integration in order to maximize the benefits of trade liberalization. Together with mandates from the Summits of the Americas, the OAS General Assembly and Trade Ministerials, these TCB Strategies have guided the DTTC as it works to assist member states, particularly smaller economies, while they strive to ensure that trade and integration serve their economic development objectives. 

 Negotiating Trade Agreements 

Trade-related capacity-building efforts of the DTTC have focused on providing support to the economic integration processes taking place in the Americas through, among others, the negotiation of bilateral, plurilateral and hemispheric trade agreements.  The Department has helped countries strengthen their institutional capacities to participate in these negotiations through technical assistance, training courses, workshops and seminars on the main issues of the trade agenda.  Likewise, through the Tripartite Committee (OAS, ECLAC, and IDB), the DTTC has provided both analytical and technical support to the FTAA negotiations. 

Implementing Trade Commitments

The implementation and administration of trade agreements, once finalized, is essential to ensure compliance with the obligations assumed under those agreements.  Countries face important challenges when they need to adapt their legislation, administrative procedures and institutional infrastructure to the requirements of increased integration with their trading partners.  The cooperation of other member states that have had ample experience in these matters is extremely valuable. The DTTC provides technical assistance and organizes seminars, regional workshops and experts’ visits where countries can share their experience in areas such the administration of rules of origin, customs procedures, trade statistics and information, sanitary and phytosanitary  measures, dispute settlement, among others.

Adjusting to and Benefiting from Trade Agreements

Negotiating and implementing trade agreements is not enough to make them a tool of economic development and growth. A critical component to their success are the efforts that countries need to undertake to carry out domestic reform programs targeted towards improving the competitive environment in order to make trade liberalization as effective and beneficial as possible.  Emphasis on this parallel “internal agenda” is now widespread among governments, due to the growing recognition of the importance of such auxiliary efforts to the success of greater market openness in terms of increased prosperity for their populations.

The DTTC has been supporting these efforts through activities as varied as assistance in streamlining investment procedures, definition of appropriate regulatory reform and areas of export promotion for key services sectors, improvement of the competitiveness of micro, small and medium-sized economies, assistance in creating networking opportunities for the private sector, assistance with understanding and putting into application intellectual property laws and in dealing with technical standards applied to imported products.

Examples of activities that the DTTC carries out under trade-related capacity building include the following:

Support for the Development of Trade-Related Capacity Building Strategies 

The OAS provided assistance to eleven countries --Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, El Salvador, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Uruguay-- in the development of their national and/or sub-regional trade capacity building strategies.  These strategies remain an ongoing exercise, as experts of the DTTC continue to work with government officials of these countries to refine, prioritize, and articulate their trade-related needs in three main areas:  preparing for negotiations; implementing trade commitments; and adjusting to integration in order to maximize the benefits of trade liberalization.

Training Courses on Trade Policy Issues 

Examples include:

• The OAS-WTO annual two-week “Advanced Training Course for Government Officials on Multilateral and Regional Trade Issues for the Americas.” The Course, organized during nine years with Georgetown University and, most recently, with George Washington University in Washington, D.C., has trained more than 400 government officials. It has benefited in the past from the financial support of the Inter-American Agency for Cooperation and Development, the Government of the United States, the OAS Division of Fellowships, and the WTO.
  
  

• The Professional Masters Program in International Trade Policy (MITP) for the Caribbean, carried out in collaboration with the University of the West Indies at Cave Hill (Barbados), with funding from the Canadian International Development Agency and USAID.
  
  

• Three-week course on Trade Policy, Lima, Peru, February-March 2004 for the Peruvian trade negotiating team. Organized at the request of--and financed by--the Government of Peru.

Cycle of Conferences, Workshops and Trade Policy Dialogues

Under this cost-effective and flexible modality, one (or two) experts on a particular trade issue visit a country for a two-to-four day mission and participate in a variety of activities tailored to promote understanding on specific trade issues among government officials, the private sector, academics, journalists and civil society.

Horizontal Cooperation on Implementation

Several countries have volunteered to share their experiences in both negotiating and implementing trade agreements through three types of modalities: regional workshops, experts’ visits to individual countries or internships.  Examples of this type of activity are the series of workshops facilitated by the Government of Mexico on the implementation and administration of trade agreements on areas such as rules of origin, customs procedures, trade statistics and information, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, dispute settlement, among others.  Additionally, this program has benefited from the experience of other countries such as: Barbados, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Peru, Trinidad & Tobago, and United States. The DTTC offers financial and logistical support to this very effective form of cooperation.

Adjusting to Integration with One-Stop Shops for Investment Facilitation

There has been an increasing recognition in several countries of the region that investment-related legal and administrative procedures –and the costs and delays associated with them– can significantly influence the location of firms and their resulting productivity. As time matters for investors –both foreign and local– a country where it takes excessive time and costs to accomplish all the procedures necessary to establish and operate a business will see its potential investors lose money and decide to locate elsewhere or cancel their investment projects. In view of the establishment of the Caribbean Single Market, and at the request of members of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, the DTTC is providing assistance to these countries in creating a more streamlined and investor-friendly policy environment, using the “One-Stop Shop” (OSS) concept as a way to fashion a vehicle dealing with administrative procedures.

Support to Economic Integration and Trade Processes

“Providing support to the economic integration and trade processes at the hemispheric, regional, subregional and/or bilateral levels, as agreed upon among [member states’] respective authorities responsible for trade in the Hemisphere; and strengthening horizontal and inter-institutional cooperation, including through the OAS-IDB-ECLAC Tripartite Committee. (Strategic Plan)”

Integration among member states has advanced at an unprecedented pace in recent years.  Numerous trade agreements have deepened the interconnectedness among countries and helped foster regional integration processes throughout the Hemisphere. Countries have also embarked in parallel efforts needed to take advantage of enhanced market access and investment opportunities, in many cases as part of programs in the context of those integration processes.           

To provide support to member states in their efforts to promote economic integration, the DTTC partners with regional integration secretariats such as the CARICOM Secretariat, the OECS (Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States) Secretariat, the Andean Community Secretariat and the Central Amercian Economic Integration Secretariat (SIECA), as well as with other international organizations including the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the World Bank, and the U.N. Conferences on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Outreach to Civil Society/ Enhanced Transparency

“Providing support to member states aimed at promoting a dialogue with civil society on trade and economic integration. (Strategic Plan)”

The Trade Section contributes to an enhanced understanding of trade issues by various components of civil society, through seminars, awareness-building activities and policy discussions with journalists, the private sector, academics and members of non-governmental organizations.

Additionally, the OAS has expanded its outreach to the general public through its web site, SICE, or the Foreign Trade Information System (www.sice.org), which now receives more than 6,000 visitors daily and is a foremost tool for trade negotiators, policy analysts, government officials and researchers working in the trade area around the Hemisphere. SICE has continued to improve and expand the information it offers and has undertaken several technical assistance projects to assist governments in communicating with their civil society about trade issues.

Support to Increase Participation of SMEs in International Trade

“Promoting and supporting actions to facilitate the participation of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises in domestic markets and international trade, and coordinating efforts in this direction, when pertinent, with the World Bank, the IDB, and other regional development banks; and supporting the SME Congress of the Americas and encouraging wider participation in this initiative, stressing the importance of opening new markets for the goods and services of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME).(Strategic Plan)”

As integration among countries deepens, emphasis is being placed on assisting the economic actors to take advantage of the new market opportunities being opened by trade agreements.  In Latin American and Caribbean countries, the great majority of enterprises are micro, small and medium operations that require assistance to benefit from these opportunities so as to be an effective source of quality employment.  Additionally, the participation of the private sector has become indispensable not only during the negotiation of trade agreements but, primarily, as important partners in public-private partnerships to promote competitiveness and productivity required for a successful integration into the world economy.  Thus the work of the DTTC has evolved to place a higher emphasis on the activities with the private sector and, in particular, with MSMEs.

Support to the OAS Private Sector Forum

With the support of the Trade Section of the OAS Department of Trade, Tourism and Competitiveness and the United States Departments of State and Commerce, the First OAS Private Sector Forum entitled “Delivering the Benefits of Democracy Through Increased Competitiveness,” was organized on June 5, 2005, in the context of the XXXV General Assembly in Ft. Lauderdale.

As a follow-up to this event, the OAS Private Sector Forum was created with the objective of giving the business sector an opportunity to contribute ideas and initiatives that will assist in achieving the goals of prosperity and economic development in the Hemisphere.

At the XXXVI OAS General Assembly, Member States agreed to “continue supporting the dialogue with the Ministers of Foreign Affairs before the inaugural sessions of the OAS General Assembly and the Summits of the Americas, so that the private sector may make recommendations, including proposed initiatives related to the topic of the Assembly or Summit and directed at the member states and the OAS.” In addition, they instructed the General Secretariat to, as appropriate, “provide technical support on the activities related to private-sector participation in activities and projects conducted within the framework of the OAS” (Resolution 2244 (XXXVI-O/06) “Promotion of Private Sector Participation in OAS Activities”).

The Second OAS Private Sector Forum “Delivering the Benefits of Democracy Through Job Creation: The Role of the Private Sector” was organized in Buenos Aires by Argentine business leaders and private sector representatives from the Western Hemisphere, with the support of the Government of the Republic of Argentina and the OAS General Secretariat, on November 2, 2005, on the occasion of the IV Summit of the Americas. The Forum explored and assessed public-private sector initiatives and strategies to promote job creation. The conclusions and recommendations of the Forum were communicated to the IV Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Americas that met in Mar del Plata, on November 4-6, 2005.

The Third OAS Private Sector Forum “Inter-American Proposal for a Public-Private Sector Alliance on Competitiveness and Job Creation” was organized in conjunction with the Government of the Dominican Republic, Private Sector of the Americas, CONEP-Dominican Republic and business leaders from the Western Hemisphere in the Dominican Republic on June 2-3, 2006, in the context of the XXXVI OAS General Assembly. The conclusions and recommendations of the Forum were communicated to the Government of the Hemisphere in the context of the Dialogue with the Private Sector before the OAS General Assembly, on June 4^th, 2005.

The OAS General Secretariat supported Private Sector of the Americas and the Caribbean-Central American Action (C-CAA) in the organization the Conference “Competitiveness Agenda for the Americas: Contributions of the Private Sector to the Development of the Hemisphere”, held on December 4th, 2006, within the framework of the 30th C-CAA Annual Conference in Miami, Florida.

Publications on Trade and Trade-related Issues

Since its inception, the OAS Trade Section has published a number of studies. Four books were authored and edited by trade experts in the OAS, along with 15 trade policy studies that are available on the Publications section on this website and on the SICE website. These publications and studies serve to support the various capacity-building activities and projects contributing to a better understanding of complex trade issues and to the formulation of sound public policies in the area of trade and integration.