![]() The purpose of the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) is to facilitate access for developing countries and territories to the EU market by reducing tariffs on their goods. This represents about 38% of the global Aid for Trade funds and a 12% increase compared to 2018. The 2021 EU Aid for Trade progress report confirms the EU and its Member States as the world’s leading Aid for Trade providers, having contributed EUR 17.9 billion in 2019, benefiting about 140 countries and territories eligible for official development assistance. On 11 December 2017, the Council adopted conclusions on the communication, and Parliament organised a hearing in August 2017. In July 2017, the Commission issued a report, which was followed by a new communication in November 2017. In 2007, the EU adopted a dedicated strategy on aid for trade, which has been updated to comply with the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the European Consensus on Development and the EU Global Strategy. The Aid for Trade initiative, launched at the December 2005 WTO Ministerial Conference, acts as a complement to the Doha Development Agenda and provides assistance for the building of trade capacities in order to create growth and fight poverty. However, the results from the 11th WTO Ministerial Conference in Buenos Aires (2017) and the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference in Geneva (2022) did not strengthen existing special and differential treatment provisions by making them more precise, effective or operational or by creating a more balanced rules-based system. At the 10th WTO Ministerial Conference in Nairobi, the EU – together with a few other WTO members – was active in promoting other issues of interest for developing countries. In October 2015, it ratified the Trade Facilitation Agreement concluded at the Ninth WTO Ministerial Conference in Bali, which is particularly important for developing and landlocked countries. ![]() ![]() It set out to enhance synergies between trade and development policies, such as the EU principle of policy coherence for development and the 2011 Agenda for Change communication, in addition to restating the importance of respecting EU core values such as human rights.Īt the multilateral level, the EU supports the World Trade Organization (WTO) Development Agenda launched in Doha in 2001. Although it still put trade at the centre of development strategies, it stressed the growing need to differentiate between developing countries in order to focus on those most in need. The 2012 Commission communication entitled ‘Trade, growth and development: Tailoring trade and investment policy for those countries most in need’ marked a significant change in the EU’s ‘trade and development’ paradigm. ![]() Under Article 218 of the TFEU, Parliament’s consent is required for the conclusion of international trade agreements such as Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). Article 188(2) of the TFEU stipulates that the ordinary legislative procedure, requiring Parliament’s approval, applies to the implementation of the CCP. The legal basis for the common commercial policy (CCP) is Article 207 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). These schemes are in line with World Trade Organization rules. Economic Partnership Agreements ensure preferential commercial treatment for African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, while the Everything But Arms scheme applies to least developed countries. The Generalised Scheme of Preferences gives some goods from developing countries preferential access to the EU market. The EU’s development policy stresses the importance of trade, and focuses on the countries most in need.
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