• TRADE AND INVESTMENT PUBLICATIONS
• SELECTED WORLDWIDE WEBSITES

Central Asia: Increasing Gains from Trade Through Regional Cooperation in Trade Policy, Transport, and Customs Transit. 2006. Available online (PDF-Format, 161 pages, 9.26 MB). ADB.
The report seeks to show how Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan can increase the gains from participation in international trade through regional cooperation in trade policy, transport, and customs transit. Taking into account the importance of and the synergy between regional cooperation in trade policy, transport and customs transit for the Central Asian republics, the report treats regional cooperation in Central Asia in these areas in a holistic manner. It further attempts to quantify costs of the lack of cooperation and potential benefits of improved regional cooperation in the three areas.
Accessed on 8 May 2006 from:
< http://www.adb.org/Documents/Reports/CA-Trade-Policy/ca-trade-policy.pdf >

Do standards matter for export success? January 2006. Available online (PDF-Format, 26 pages, 394 KB). Worldbank Policy Research working paper No. WPS 3809.
Standards and technical regulations are an increasingly prominent part of the international trade policy debate. In particular, there has been considerable discussion of whether standards and regulations affect trade costs and export prospects for developing countries. In this paper the authors examine how meeting foreign standards affects firms’ export performance, reflected in export propensity and market diversification. The results indicate that technical regulations in industrial countries adversely affect firms’ propensity to export in developing countries. In particular, testing procedures and lengthy inspection procedures reduce exports by 9 per cent and 3 per cent, respectively. Furthermore, in the model, the difference in standards across foreign countries causes diseconomy of scale for firms and affects decisions about whether to enter export markets. The empirical analysis presented here implies that standards impede exporters’ market entry, reducing the likelihood of exporting to more than three markets by 7 per cent.
Accessed on 29 May from:
< http://wdsbeta.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/ >

Growth and Productivity in Papua New Guinea. May 2006. Available online (PDF-Format, 30 pages, 473 KB). IMF Working Paper.
This paper examines Papua New Guinea’s historical economic growth patterns through a simple growth accounting framework. It shows that swings in growth are mostly accounted for by a significant slowdown in capital input and lower Total Factor Productivity growth. It also suggests that raising real GDP growth will require increases in both investment levels and productivity. With a ratio of investment to GDP of 13 per cent during the last decade, significantly higher productivity growth and investment will be needed to sustain GDP growth rates at 5 per cent or higher. The historical performance also indicates that, in the absence of structural reforms and strong institutions, higher rates of productivity growth will be hard to achieve.
Accessed on 29 May from: < http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2006/wp06113.pdf >

India Energy Outlook 2006. 2006. Available online (PDF-Format, 36 Pages, 1.68 Mb). KMPG International.
This paper presents an overview of the energy sector in India, arguing that as India continues to grow at the rate of 7-8 per cent, energy security has become a core focus. It describes multiple steps undertaken by the Government in recent years to achieve energy security, including encouraging private sector participation; a more holistic approach towards broadening its supply base as well as improving efficiency in the sector as a whole. The authors conclude that although India has made a start in the right direction, the Government needs to strengthen its initiatives in three areas, namely that it needs to increasingly enter into alliances and partnerships with key nations in Asia, Africa, Latin America to diversify the energy supply base and improve long term supply security; that it has to focus on cross linkages between different energy segments and the importance of developing an integrated energy policy; and that, at an operational level, commensurate investment is required in developing infrastructure such as rail, road, port, and power transmission which are critical for efficiency in the energy value chain.
Accessed on 16 May from: < http://www.in.kpmg.com/pdf/India_Energy_Outlook_2006.pdf >

OECD Initiative on Investment for Development: Policy Framework for Investment. May 2006. Available online (PDF-Format, 68 pages, 202 KB). OECD.
The Policy Framework for Investment was developed by OECD and non-member participants in a task force established under the aegis of the OECD Investment Committee as part of the OECD Initiative on Investment for Development. The objective of the Policy Framework for Investment is to mobilize private investment that supports steady economic growth and sustainable development, and thus contribute to the prosperity of countries and their citizens and the fight against poverty. It is a tool, providing a checklist of important policy issues for consideration by any Government interested in creating an environment that is attractive to all investors and in enhancing the development benefits of investment to society, especially the poor. In this way, the framework aims to advance the implementation of the United Nations Monterrey Consensus, which emphasized the vital role of private investment in effective development strategies. In common with other related initiatives, it promotes transparency and appropriate roles and responsibilities for Governments, business and others with a stake in promoting development and poverty reduction, and builds on universally shared values of democratic society and respect for human rights, including property rights.
Accessed on 29 May from: < http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/1/31/36671400.pdf >

People Flows in Globalization. June 2006. Available online (PDF-Format, 49 pages, 192 KB). NBER Working Paper No. 12315.
This paper analyses people flows in globalization, defining them as the movement of people across international borders in the form of immigration, international student flows, business travel and tourism. It argues that despite its peripheral status in debates over globalization, the movement of people from low income to high income countries is fundamental in global economic development, with consequences for factor endowments, trade patterns and transfer of technology. In part because people flows are smaller than trade and capital flows, the dispersion of pay for similarly skilled workers around the world exceeds the dispersion of the prices of goods and cost of capital. This suggests that policies that give workers in developing countries greater access to advanced country labor markets could raise global economic well-being considerably. The economic problem is that immigrants rather than citizens of immigrant-receiving countries benefit most from immigration. The paper considers "radically economic policies" such as auctioning immigration visas or charging sizeable fees and spending the funds on current residents to increase the economic incentive for advanced countries to accept greater immigration.
Accessed on 23 June from: < http://papers.nber.org/papers/w12315 >

The Role of Public Investment in Poverty Reduction: Theories, Evidence and Methods. March 2006. Available online (PDF-Format, 40 pages, 341 KB). Overseas Development Institute Working Paper.
This paper explores the linkages between public investment, growth and poverty reduction, with the aim of providing an overall view of existing theories, evidence and methods, and of examining ways to provide better guidance to policy-makers in the use of available techniques and information to set priorities for public investment. The authors explain that there are several channels through which public investment might affect the economy. They review the theory behind these channels, distinguishing the macro from the micro effects. At a macro level, they discuss the potential impact of public investment on growth, investment and aggregate productivity. They then explore the possible micro-economic effects of public investment, which include a more sectoral approach, at the level of the firm, but also an analysis of household income, poverty and income distribution.
Accessed on 5 June from: < http://www.odi.org.uk/publications/working_papers/wp263.pdf >

Tracking the Trend towards Market Concentration: The Case of the Agricultural Input Industry. April 2006. Available online (PDF-Format, 60 pages, 776 KB). United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
This publication argues that there is clear evidence suggesting a trend towards greater concentration at several stages in various commodity sectors. Focusing the analysis on the agricultural input segment, it concludes that there has been a process of consolidation in the global agribusiness in recent years, the outcome of which is a few major integrated companies, each controlling proprietary lines of agricultural chemicals, seeds and biotech traits.
Accessed on 23 June from: < http://www.unctad.org/en/docs/ditccom200516_en.pdf >

http://www.fta.org.au/
Fair Trade Association of Australia and New Zealand (FTAANZ)
E-mail: aust@fta.org.au
The Fair Trade Association of Australia and New Zealand is an incorporated, not-for-profit, member-based body for all individuals and organizations interested in and supportive of fair trade. FTAANZ seeks to increase awareness of fair trade; help facilitate and coordinate fair trade activities; assist producers from developing countries, especially in the Asia-Pacific region, to access Australian and New Zealand markets; and establish a regional organization to manage fair trade certification and labeling.
Accessed on 2 June

http://www.guamchamber.com.gu/
Guam Chamber of Commerce
The Guam Chamber of Commerce aims to advance the general welfare of its members by promoting the economic, social and environmental well-being of Guam. It seeks to develop, encourage, promote and protect the commercial, professional, financial, and general business interest of Guam; to extend and promote the trade and commerce; to foster, develop and protect the industry; to procure laws and regulations desirable for the benefit of business in general; and to provide a forum for the reflection of sentiments of business regarding matters affecting its interests.
Accessed on 5 June

http://www.un-gaid.org/
Global Alliance for ICT and Development (GAID)
E-mail: icttaskforce@un.org
The Global Alliance for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Development was launched in June 2006 to provide a multi-stakeholder cross-sectoral platform and forum to bring together all relevant stakeholders. The mission of the Global Alliance for ICT and Development will be to facilitate and promote the integration of ICT into development activities. It will provide a platform for an open and inclusive multi-stakeholder cross-sectoral policy dialogue on the role of information and communication technology in development. It will so contribute to linking the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society with the broader United Nations development agenda. The Alliance will organize thematic events addressing core issues related to the role of ICT in economic development and eradication of poverty, employment and enterprise in pro-poor growth scenarios, with particular focus on health, education, gender, youth, disabled and disadvantaged segments of society.
Accessed on 23 June

http://people.brandeis.edu/~cbown/global_ad/
Global Anti-Dumping Database
E-mail: cbown@brandeis.edu
This website hosts detailed database on nineteen different national Governments’ use of the anti-dumping (AD) trade policy instrument. The data collection project was funded by the Development Research Group of the World Bank and Brandeis University. While still preliminary, it goes beyond existing, publicly-used sets of antidumping data in a number of fundamental ways. It is a first attempt to use original source national Government documentation to organize information on products, firms, the investigative procedure and outcomes of the historical use (since the 1980s) of the anti-dumping policy instrument across large importing country users. The authors report more and recent data on a number of smaller users of AD, as well as some limited information on the use of countervailing measures from national governments that are users of countervailing duty (CVD) laws.
Accessed on 29 May

http://www.gfptt.org/
Global Facilitation Partnership for Transportation and Trade (GFP)
E-mail: admin@gfptt.org
The Global Facilitation Partnership for Transportation and Trade aims to pull together all interested parties, public and private, who want to contribute to the achievement of significant improvements in transport and trade facilitation, in particular, in developing and transition countries. Partners design and undertake specific programmes towards meeting this objective, making use of their respective comparative advantage in the subject matter in a coordinated fashion. Areas of collaboration include sharing agendas of common interest; pooling resources and expertise, where appropriate, to carry out research work or design and implement pilot projects; and sharing knowledge and ideas. The website GFPTT.org is designed as a single window for worldwide trade facilitation information and resources. It is maintained by the GFP core partners and informs both on GFP partner activities and other important trade facilitation events worldwide.
Accesed on 2 June

http://www.greencustoms.org/
Green Customs
E-mail: egonin@unep.fr
Green Customs offers information and training materials for customs officials to combat illegal trade in commodities of environmental concern. It is an initiative is that combines training programmes of various international organizations such as the World Customs Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme, with programmes of Secretariats of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) that have trade provisions, such as the Basel Convention on the Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES), and the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.

http://www.integratedframework.org/
Integrated Framework (IF)
E-mail: if.secretariat@wto.org
The Integrated Framework for trade-related technical assistance to least-developed countries (LDCs) is a multi-agency, multi-donor programme that assists LDCs to expand their participation in the global economy whereby enhancing their economic growth and poverty reduction strategies. Participating agencies of IF are the International Monetary Fund (IMF), International Trade Centre (ITC), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), World Bank and the World Trade Organization (WTO). The IF has two objectives, namely to mainstream and integrate trade into the national development plans such as the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) of least-developed countries; and to assist in the coordinated delivery of trade-related technical assistance in response to needs identified by the LDC. The IF is built on the principles of country ownership and partnership. By the beginning of 2006, 40 LDCs were at different stages of the IF process.
Accessed on 29 May

http://www.iso.org
International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
E-mail: central@iso.org
The International Organization for Standardization is a non-governmental federation of the national standards bodies from all regions of the world. ISO has a current portfolio of over 15,000 standards that provide practical solutions and achieve benefits for almost every sector of business, industry and technology. They make up a complete offering for all three dimensions of sustainable development – economic, environmental and social. ISO is the world’s leading developer of international standards that specify the requirements for state-of-the-art products, services, processes, materials and systems, and for good conformity assessment, managerial and organizational practice. They are designed to be implemented worldwide.
Accessed on 29 May

http://www.jetro.go.jp
Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO)
The Japan External Trade Organization is a Government-related organization that works to promote mutual trade and investment between Japan and the rest of the world. JETRO is active in the following areas: helping foreign firms enter the Japanese market; facilitating economic growth in developing countries; cooperating in economic partnership agreement; assisting Japan's smaller firms; supporting the economic revitalization of Japan's regions; supplying Japan with foreign economic information; and supporting Japanese business overseas and researching developing economies for which it has formed the Institute of Developing Economies (IDE) that aims at the expansion of trade relations and promotes economic cooperation with developing countries and regions that conduct research work to meet the social needs.
Accessed on 5 June

http://www.jedh.org/
Joint External Debt Hub (JEDH)
E-mail: JEDH@worldbank.org
The Joint External Debt Hub - jointly developed by the Bank for International Settlements, the International Monetary Fund, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank - brings together external debt data and selected foreign assets from international creditor/market and national debtor sources. JEDH provides international data, mainly from creditor sources, on the external debt of developing and transition countries and territories.
Accessed on 29 May

www.uncitral.org
United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL)
E-mail: uncitral@uncitral.org
The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law works towards modernization and harmonization of rules on international business. In order to increase trade opportunities worldwide, UNCITRAL formulates modern, fair, and harmonized rules on commercial transactions, including conventions, model laws and rules which are acceptable worldwide; legal and legislative guides and recommendations of practical value; updated information on case law and enactments of uniform commercial law; technical assistance in law reform projects; and regional and national seminars on uniform commercial law.
Accessed on 1 June

Information is taken mainly from secondary sources and UNESCAP accepts no responsibility for its accuracy. Mention of any companies and their products does not imply endorsement by the United Nations.

The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.