General Agreement on Trade in Services

HC Deb 15 July 2003 vol 409 c176W

Mr. Brady

To ask the Minister of State, Department for International Development what estimate he has made of the economic effect on developing countries which will arise from liberalisation of trade in services. [125180]

Hilary Benn

All countries involved in the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) are responsible for conducting their own impact assessments as a part of the process of deciding which sectors to open to foreign competition. It would be neither desirable nor practical for either the WTO or developed country Governments to make an assessment of service-sector liberalisation on behalf of developing countries.

However, we recognise that developing countries require support in this area. To this end, DFID is cooperating with UNCTAD and the World bank on a programme of work which will help inform developing country assessments.