Mr. Osvaldo Rosales  Director International Trade and Integration Division   UN ECLAC 

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 Mr. Osvaldo Rosales Director International Trade and Integration Division UN ECLAC Infrastructure services in LAC trade
agreements
(Session 3)
Osvaldo Rosales
Director, International Trade and Integration Division
UN ECLAC
Geneva, April 16, 2014
LAC is among the world’s most open regions in
infrastructure services
60.0
30.0
10.5
30.0
14.0
24.9
50.4
51.8
29.9
10.0
40.0
26.7
30.0
15.0
31.1
36.8
38.1
40.0
20.0
East Asia and Pacific
Infrastructure services (simple average)
31.7
30.0
19.6
6.8
13.3
18.0
36.3
40.5
44.5
21.3
10.0
Source: ECLAC, based on Borchet, Gootiiz and Mattoo (2012), Service Trade Restrictions Database, 2012
http://iresearch.worldbank.org/servicestrade/aboutData.htm
Este de Asia y
Pacífico
Africa Sub
Sahariana
0.0
América Latina
South Asia
Middle East and
North Africa
East Asia and Pacific
Sub-Saharan Africa
Latin America
Eastern Europe and
Central Asia
0.0
OECD Hing Income
50.0
Asia del Sur
60.0
Oriente Medio y
Norte de Africa
Financial
50.0
0.0
Sub-Saharan Africa
South Asia
Sub-Saharan Africa
East Asia and Pacific
Middle East and
North Africa
Latin America
Eastern Europe and
Central Asia
OECD Hing Income
60.0
10.0
22.4
43.5
20.0
0.0
20.0
22.2
Europa del Este y
Asia Central
10.0
40.0
22.1
OECD Altos Ingresos
20.0
34.4
Eastern Europe and
Central Asia
32.8
Transport
50.0
OECD Hing Income
40.0
38.6
45.0
Middle East and
North Africa
Telecom
50.0
Latin America
60.0
South Asia
Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (STRI), around 2010
Source: ECLAC, based on Borchet, Gootiiz and Mattoo (2012), Service Trade Restrictions Database, 2012
http://iresearch.worldbank.org/servicestrade/aboutData.htm
15 15
Panama
Chile
21 22
18 20
26 27
50.0
Uruguay
Honduras
Colombia
Paraguay
Mexico
Costa Rica
Telecom
Uruguay
40.0
Mexico
Peru
50
Costa Rica
12 12
8 11
Venezuela, B.Rep.
70.0
Honduras
30.0
Bolivia, P.S.
0
Venezuela
10.0
0
Nicaragua
40
Colombia
0
0
Chile
20.0
0
Paraguay
60.0
0
Panama
35
30 32 33
0
Guatemala
30
Bolivia, P.S.
41
0
Brazil
62
0
Ecuador
60
Peru
0
Dominican Rep.
70
Nicaragua
10
Guatemala
10 15
7 10
Argentina
29
Brazil
36
Dominican Rep.
45
Argentina
Financial
Ecuador
Transport
Uruguay
42
Mexico
50
Peru
50
Uruguay
Brazil
Costa Rica
Colombia
Venezuela, B.Rep.
40
Honduras
22 22
Paraguay
Chile
Bolivia, P.S.
25
22 22 23
Panama
19
27
Venezuela
40
Costa Rica
10 10
Guatemala
18 19
Nicaragua
6
Mexico
30
Dominican Rep.
30
Argentina
5
17
Chile
20
Nicaragua
60
Guatemala
60
Brazil
70
Argentina
4
Honduras
70
Venezuela, B.Rep.
4
Ecuador
20
Ecuador
3
3
Paraguay
10
3
Dominican Rep.
Panama
10
Colombia
Peru
But with a great heterogeneity among countries
Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (STRI), around 2010
63
50 50
38 38 38
25 25 25 25
20
Infrastructure services (simple average)
50
31 32
38
3
0.0
How are trade agreements dealing with
infrastructure services in Latin America? (1)

Trade agreements among LAC countries vary a lot in terms
of their coverage of services:




Andean Community, CARICOM, Central America-Mexico FTA and
Pacific Alliance have liberalized trade in services among their
members
Pacific Alliance Trade Protocol also includes chapters on financial
services, international maritime transport and telecoms
Less progress has been made within MERCOSUR
Therefore, convergence within the region will not be easy
How are trade agreements dealing with
infrastructure services in Latin America? (2)




FTAs with developed countries include chapters on crossborder services and investment, plus (in many cases) specific
chapters on telecoms, e-commerce, financial services and
trade facilitation
These chapters provide increased transparency and some
liberalization (national treatment, access to networks, etc)
Air, land and maritime transport are often excluded and are
addressed through specific bilateral agreements
Effect of FTAs on quality & cost of infrastructure services in
LAC countries is not always clear, but there are examples:

In Costa Rica, liberalization of mobile telecoms and insurance
following CAFTA-DR has enhanced its overall competitiveness
How are trade agreements dealing with
infrastructure services in Latin America? (3)



The most recent “mega regional” FTA negotiations place great emphasis
on removing barriers to global value chains
This often means liberalizing infrastructure services
For example, many TPP chapters relate to IS:











Cross-border trade in services
Investment
Trade facilitation
E-commerce
Telecoms
Intellectual property (ex. management of data flows, location of data servers)
Regulatory convergence
Competition
State-owned enterprises
There is little information available on what is being negotiated, but there
are several concerns among developing countries
Need to balance possible benefits of reduced prices/better quality of
infrastructure services with possible losses of policy space
Some conclusions

LAC is relatively open in IS, compared to other developing regions


There’s also great diversity among LAC countries in terms of
willingness to open up IS in trade negotiations:




But LAC countries show large differences in terms of openness
Some progress has been made to liberalize trade in IS in most integration
schemes; MERCOSUR is the main relative exception
Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama & Peru are active participants
in FTAs including services and in the TISA negotiations
Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador and the MERCOSUR countries have taken a more
defensive stance, for different reasons (ex. possible impact of trade
liberalization on universal access to basic services)
But trade negotiations are not the only (or the best) way to improve
the region’s infrastructure services:

A lot can be done through regional cooperation in transport, energy, telecoms
and finance
Thank you
Geneva, April 16, 2014
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