The Current Trade Context

Since the collapse of the August 2003 Cancun meeting, it has become clear that a significant group of developing countries have suffered a sea change in their trade negotiation strategy and in the execution of trade agreements. The formation, coherence and persistence of coalitions such as the G-20 and its unwavering refusal to cede on agricultural issues or the inclusion of Singapore agenda items reveals a growing recognition by trade policymakers that developing countries should be alert, flexible, agile and prepared to adjust trade policy directions. This signalling shows that developing countries are juggling in all arenas to offset the mushrooming of Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs). Trade relations have ceased to be one-dimensional; they have now become an open-ended series of choices which demand agile non-scripted reactions.