FUTURE TRADE RESEARCH AREAS THAT MATTER TO DEVELOPING COUNTRY POLICYMAKERS

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Chapter VII

RESEARCH AGENDA THAT MATTERS TO DEVELOPING
COUNTRY POLICYMAKERS: REPORT FROM

THE POST-DOHA RESEARCH AGENDA

FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES WORKSHOP

The Macao Regional Knowledge Hub (MARKHUB) in Support of Sustainable Trade
and Development held its first workshop, entitled “Post-Doha Research Agenda for Developing
Countries”, on 30 and 31 October 2006. The objective of the workshop was to discuss
current and upcoming research questions on trade policy reforms of importance to developing
countries in the Asia-Pacific region. The workshop included a presentation of papers and
discussions on the following topics:

• Multilateral governance of global trade;

• Regionalism as a challenge to multilateralism;

• Services liberalization as a development opportunity;

•     Non-tariff barriers and the role of WTO in taming them;

•     Behind the border measures and their impact on further liberalization; and

• Trade liberalization and poverty reduction.

The workshop concluded with a panel discussion involving Patrick Low, Christopher
Findlay and Evan Due, and a floor discussion involving Simon Evenett, Biswajit Dhar,
Ramesh Sharma, Gloria O. Pasadilla, Mustafizur Rahman, Rajesh Sharma, Andrew Stoler,
Myrna Austria and Florian Alburo. The discussions dealt with the importance of selecting
research topics and devising analytical frameworks that would produce research relevant
to decision-making by policymakers, and which would contribute to their work on sustainable
trade reforms in developing countries of Asia and the Pacific.

The underlying premise of research under the MARKHUB project is the regional
relevance of trade policy and its applicability to current and emerging issues in trade
policymaking in developing countries. The identification of topics was driven by the
fundamental question of “what information would a contemporary policymaker need when
making decisions and designing policies in the area of international trade”. The ensuing
discussion resulted in a number of research topics being proposed that would strengthen
policy responses and measures over the short, medium and long term.

In summary, a process of more research-based and informed policymaking would
require, inter alia:

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