PTAs are voluntary, sector-based agreements concluded between two or more WTO member countries. Although these agreements are negotiated outside of the WTO system they have the potential to ultimately be ‘multilateralised’ and applied to the full WTO membership. To date, PTAs have appealed to developed countries, with the uptake among developing countries (including LDCs) being limited. This paper investigates the factors contributing to this phenomenon and proposes ways in which developing countries could be encouraged to actively participate in plurilateral initiatives. Specific attention is given to four PTAs: Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA), Government Procurement Agreement (GPA), Environmental Goods Agreement (EGA) and Information Technology Agreement II (ITA-II).
Plurilateral Trade Agreements Country Case Studies
SAIIA worked on this study with the North-West University and with the support of The UK Department for International Development (DfID).
