ITC helps Pakistan prepare for agriculture and services talks: Pakistani officials took part in training and networking events, organized by ITC, to help them in the ongoing Doha round of trade negotiations.

• Author: Nunez, Eugenia

ITC organized two seminars in June 2005 to prepare Pakistani trade officials to take part in the talks on agriculture and services at the World Trade Organization (WTO). These events are part of a larger "Trade-Related Technical Assistance Programme" to build trade capacity and make Pakistan more competitive in the global marketplace. The European Community, ITC, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Government of Pakistan fund the programme.

Access to inside information

Trade officials from Pakistan attended a five-day seminar at ITC (Geneva, June 2005) to supplement their information resources on agriculture talks. The seminar set out to resume the negotiating positions of developing countries' and other trade groupings, and major players from among industrialized countries. Advisers were also on hand to provide in-depth analysis of trade agenda options for developing countries.

"We all know what the Agreement on Agriculture is about--but this seminar gives us the inside information," said one participant.

Discussions covered the efforts under way to eliminate trade-distorting measures such as domestic support and export subsidies. They also focused attention on market access, the third pillar of current trade talks.

Participants had the opportunity to take stock of current mechanisms, instruments and provisions covering intellectual property, biodiversity and the protection of plant species. A special session was dedicated to the complexities of technical barriers to trade (TBT) and sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures, which can restrict trade when countries apply them unilaterally.

Speakers included Geneva-based permanent representatives to WTO and other national and regional trade officials, executives from developing country advisory and lobby groups, as well as experts from the Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Centre for...