§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Minister of State Department for International Development if he will make a statement regarding the GATS negotiations; and what assessment he has made of the benefits of full trade liberalisation as a means to achieving development goals. [118912]
§ Hilary BennThe GATS negotiations are still in their request-offer stage. The EU has agreed an initial market-access offer and has received market access requests from a number of developing countries.
DFID is co-operating with the World Bank and UNCTAD to carry out a comprehensive programme of work aimed at understanding the impact of service liberalisation across countries and sectors. We hope this will help developing countries to understand the potential impact of liberalising their own service sectors during the GATS negotiations.
§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Minister of State Department for International Development what assessment the Department has made of the impact of service liberalisation. [118913]
§ Hilary BennDFID is co-operating with the World Bank and UNCTAD to carry out a comprehensive programme of work aimed at understanding the impact of service liberalisation across countries and sectors. We hope this will help developing countries to understand the potential impact of liberalising their own service sectors during the GATS negotiations.