PHL can be more competitive with infrastructure revamp — ITC
Developing countries, including the Philippines, should consider restructuring and applying appropriate competition rules to their infrastructure sectors in order to benefit from trade liberalization and to boost their competitiveness.
This is the recommendation of a trio of trade experts in the book "National Trade Policy for Export Success," recently published by the International Trade Centre (ITC).
The ITC is an agency jointly operated by the WTO and the United Nations, its work being on trade-related technical assistance to developing countries.
The book addresses five objectives, each taking up a chapter. The chapter referring to developing countries' infrastructure improvement is titled "Create competitive infrastructure services" and is co-authored by French economist and Supreme Court judge Frederic Jenny and two members of the WTO's Intellectual Property Division: Counselor Robert Anderson and legal affairs officer Anna Muller.
The report quotes the Oxford dictionary in defining "infrastructure" as being "the basic physical and organizational structures and facilities (e.g. buildings, roads, power supplies) needed for the operation of a society or enterprise," while adding that this includes transportation, energy and telecommunications.
The authors said that restructuring infrastructure entails actions such as enforcing competition laws and policies to prevent wrongdoing such as price-fixing, establishing cartels and the abuse of one's dominant position in the industry; and improving public services.
These, they said, will serve to complement and enhance the competitiveness of developing businesses.
"Countries, and their businesses, will not be well-poised to take advantage of the benefits of trade liberalization unless steps are also taken to: reduce costs and enhance the efficiency of infrastructure sectors; promote flexibility by eliminating artificial restrictions on entry, exit and pricing in manufacturing and other industries," said the chapter.
A failure of trade liberalization to generate sustained development and growth, they said, can often be traced to a failure to introduce complementary domestic policy reforms.
The authors said measures to strengthen competition are an important complement to other reforms, such as privatization, that are aimed at improving performance in public infrastructure services in the transportation, energy and telecommunication sectors.
"Successfully implemented, such measures offer substantial potential benefits to users, especially export-oriented businesses. The gains from export-oriented businesses are equally applicable to importing businesses," it said.
The paper also cited the need for countries to implement technological changes as well as improve their understand of them. - BM, GMA News
This is the recommendation of a trio of trade experts in the book "National Trade Policy for Export Success," recently published by the International Trade Centre (ITC).
The ITC is an agency jointly operated by the WTO and the United Nations, its work being on trade-related technical assistance to developing countries.
The book addresses five objectives, each taking up a chapter. The chapter referring to developing countries' infrastructure improvement is titled "Create competitive infrastructure services" and is co-authored by French economist and Supreme Court judge Frederic Jenny and two members of the WTO's Intellectual Property Division: Counselor Robert Anderson and legal affairs officer Anna Muller.
The report quotes the Oxford dictionary in defining "infrastructure" as being "the basic physical and organizational structures and facilities (e.g. buildings, roads, power supplies) needed for the operation of a society or enterprise," while adding that this includes transportation, energy and telecommunications.
The authors said that restructuring infrastructure entails actions such as enforcing competition laws and policies to prevent wrongdoing such as price-fixing, establishing cartels and the abuse of one's dominant position in the industry; and improving public services.
These, they said, will serve to complement and enhance the competitiveness of developing businesses.
"Countries, and their businesses, will not be well-poised to take advantage of the benefits of trade liberalization unless steps are also taken to: reduce costs and enhance the efficiency of infrastructure sectors; promote flexibility by eliminating artificial restrictions on entry, exit and pricing in manufacturing and other industries," said the chapter.
A failure of trade liberalization to generate sustained development and growth, they said, can often be traced to a failure to introduce complementary domestic policy reforms.
The authors said measures to strengthen competition are an important complement to other reforms, such as privatization, that are aimed at improving performance in public infrastructure services in the transportation, energy and telecommunication sectors.
"Successfully implemented, such measures offer substantial potential benefits to users, especially export-oriented businesses. The gains from export-oriented businesses are equally applicable to importing businesses," it said.
The paper also cited the need for countries to implement technological changes as well as improve their understand of them. - BM, GMA News
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