Third international Conference on International Trade and Investment: Non-tariff measures, the new frontier of trade policy?

Mauritius - 9 June 2013

Third international Conference on International Trade and Investment: Non-tariff measures, the new frontier of trade policy? 2-6 September 2013 Even though import tariffs have declined globally owing to the demands from the multilateral rounds negotiations and the proliferating preferential agreements, Non-Tariff Measures (NTMs) have risen significantly in recent years and have become a concern for competitiveness. While many of the NTMs have been designed to achieve legitimate goals such as protecting public health and the environment, they can impede trade via impaired competitiveness because they constrain the ability of firms to outsource key inputs, complicate day-to-day business and distract managerial attention. Firm surveys highlight private-sector demands for more transparency in the adoption and application of NTMs across countries. Furthermore, most studies on the impact of African and other regional initiatives have highlighted the negative dimensions of NTMs adopted by individual members to the various RTAs and which are significantly hampering any trade creating potential. As such, the third international Conference on International Trade and Investment with the theme ’Non-tariff measures, the new frontier of trade policy?’’ aims at providing a forum not only to academics working on issues related to Africa and developing countries but also to policy makers from the region where they could discuss and deliberate on the impact that NTMS have on national trade and on regional initiatives progress and as such propose measures and remedial actions to try curb and mitigate their negative contribution, if any.

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