Simulating the impact on developing countries of market access reform

The interests of developing countries in multilateral trade negotiations will need to be given greater consideration than previously if progress is to be made in the current round of multilateral trade negotiations. Modelling the impacts of policy changes on individual developing countries requires a detailed coverage of tropical products, a high level of regional disaggregation, and information on bound and applied tariffs and the distribution of quota rents. Modelling with ATPSM suggests that many developing countries appear to gain relatively little from improved market access to developed country agricultural markets. More needs to be done to encourage such countries to play an active part in the negotiations.