Tariff Negotiations in NAMA and South Asia: July Agreement and Beyond

As developing countries including those from South Asia, rally forces and evaluate options ahead of the Hong Kong Ministerial meeting in December 2005, Non Agricultural Market Access (NAMA) assumes importance as one of the most critical issues that will be up for negotiations. A longer transition period to rationalise tariffs combined with increased access into the markets of developed countries, is the elusive formula that developing and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) would like to secure. However, gaining this would not be easy and developing countries would have to be pragmatic in approach, as this paper argues. This paper moots a bold approach to tackle tariff reductions, sectoral elimination, tariff binding and preference erosion with the interests of fi ve South Asian countries - Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka in mind. explores ways to realise the Doha Ministerial Declaration so that tariffs in sectors of export interest to developing countries are reduced.