“We would have to do so in an exercise known as ‘binding tariffs and their level of openness in various services sectors’,” he said on Monday as he launched a series of education forums about the WTO.

He said this would highlight the predictability and transparency of Seychelles’ trade regime to both local and foreign enterprises.

He said the WTO – like the other Bretton Woods institutions the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank – has its specific role in the global system and, despite being the youngest institution, its trade rules have existed for the last 60 years under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).
 
“The GATT dealt only with goods, but today the WTO trade rules also cover trade in services, agriculture, intellectual property and government procurement,” said Mr Afif.

He said the WTO is the only multilateral organisation dealing directly with international trade and is the guardian of the other multilateral trade-related agreements.

“Though international trade contracted by an estimated 12% in 2009, the effects of increased protectionism were significantly reduced as a result of the commitments made by countries within the WTO legal framework,” he added.

“On a positive note, this year the outlook is more promising, as the WTO predicts that world trade is expected to expand by 9.5% in 2010.”

He said in the light of IMF-led reforms and support from the World Bank programmes, Seychelles is carrying out fundamental structural reforms of its economy.

 “Creating a transparent and predictable trading environment is part of the series of reforms being undertaken, and they have been specified in the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP),” said Mr Afif.

“To achieve this, the government is continuously looking at simplifying the tax regime and improving the investment climate by removing the numerous tiers of approval before businesses can start their operations.”

Mr Afif said trends show that countries reduce their respective legally binding tariff levels, but switch to non-trade measures such as health and environment standards as forms of protectionism.

“The WTO system is not perfect but has proven to be an effective mechanism to safeguard against these unfair and discriminatory practices,” he said.

“The fact that the WTO agreements require scientific proof or credible evidence has reduced the chances of WTO member states unfairly protecting their economies.

“This serves also to protect small economies like Seychelles, which depend heavily on the export revenue from just a small number of products.”