General Agreement on Trade in Services

HC Deb 20 October 2003 vol 411 cc364-5W

Mr. Lazarowicz

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether his Department has conducted an assessment of the development impact of the General Agreement on Trade in Services. [132430]

Hilary Benn

The ability to assess the domestic economic and social impact of commitments taken under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) is of vital importance to developing countries. Meaningful assessments will help ensure that the commitments they take on are in line with, and contribute to, wider economic growth and poverty reduction policies.

It is important that such assessments are conducted by developing countries themselves in the process on making their own decisions during the GATS negotiations. We do however recognise the serious capacity constraints faced by many developing countries. We are therefore working closely with the World bank and UNCTAD to build a framework for supporting developing country efforts to carry out their own impact assessment work.