Doha Agreement

and
Customs Union
Lorraine Scott
Emma Abernethy
Fiona Jackson
Michelle Ingram
Deborah Hunter
 What this presentation covers
 This presentation covers two areas in
economics:

• Doha Agreement

• Customs Unions
Doha Agreement
 Doha Agreement
 The Doha Agreement was named after the city it
was set up in.
 It was set up in Doha, Qatar in middle east in
November 2001.
 It started with 30 countries and ended with 4
countries.
 The remaining countries were United States of
America, the European Union, India and Brazil.
 Its objective was to lower trade barriers around
the world permitting free trade between
countries.
 These countries had a variety of wealth.
 Main Areas
 The main areas covered by The Doha
Agreement were:
• Agriculture
• Services
• Intellectual Property Rights
• Environment
• Anti-dumping
• Investment Policy
 Agriculture
 It was set up to
enable poor countries
to trade farming
products with other
countries
 The agriculture section
of the Doha
Agreement was said to
have played a large
part in the demise of
the Doha Agreement
Services
 Services include –
banking, tourism,
insurance and
travel.
 It was introduced
to benefit the
poorer populations
by lowering prices
for use of the
services
 Intellectual Property Rights
 These included
patents and copyrights
 An example of the
introduction of the
new regulations set
out by the agreement
would be that poorer
countries argue that it
prevented them from
producing and
importing cheaper
versions of generic
drugs
Environment
 An example of how
the Doha Agreement
would have affected
the environment
would be if the new
standards were
enforced, for example
protecting the
dolphins from being
caught in the tuna
nets, the fishing
industry could then be
priced out of the
market.
 Anti-dumping
 Anti-dumping allows
US to increase tariff
barriers, should it
believe another
country is selling
goods at below the
price of production for
example domestic
industries especially
the steel industries.
 Investment Policy
 An investment policy is any
Government Regulation or Law that
encourages or discourages foreign
investment in the local economy,
e.g. currency exchange limits.
 The international trade rules would
allow companies to establish their
operation overseas without fear of
interference.
 Demise of Doha Agreement
 The Doha Agreement collapsed in
June 2007.
 It seems the Doha Agreement
collapsed due to the countries
involved not being able to agree on
all the policies originally included in
the agreement.
Customs Union
 What Is It?
 A group of country’s
 Adoption of Free Trade
• Zero Tariff
• No other restriction on trade
 Established through Trade Pact
• Wide ranging tax, tariff and trade pact, often
includes investment guarantees
 Will be represented at trade negotiations
with Organisations
• WTO
 What Does It Do?
 Trades with free trade on goods and
services between each other
 Agrees on common external tariff on
good and services between country’s
out with the Customs Union
 Makes this higher than their trade
 In some cases they use different
import quotas
 What Does It Do?
 Allows free movement of labour and
capital between members
 Could be a slight extension of a
common market
 Well Known Unions
 South African Customs Unions
 Zollverein
• A 19th-century organization formed by
several German states under Prussian
leadership
 The European Union
 South African Customs Union
 Oldest customs union
 Established in 1910
 Between the then Union of South
Africa and the High Commission
Territories of Bechuanaland,
Basutoland and Swaziland
Reasons For Establishing Customs
Unions
 Increasing Economic Efficiency
 To encourage trade between desired
countries
 To avoid trade with specific countries
 Establishing closer political ties
between the other members of the
Union
 References
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/164

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doha_R
ound