This chapter takes stock of the most recent wave of PTAs with a view to informing some of the policy choices developing countries face in negotiating preferential agreements in services. The chapter first considers the economics of preferences in services and asks whether services trade differs sufficiently from trade in goods as to require different policy instruments and approaches in the context of preferential liberalization. The chapter discusses whether and how PTAs in services allow deeper forms of regulatory cooperation to occur and highlights the importance for third countries of multilateral disciplines on PTAs and the criteria suggested by economic theory to minimize adverse effects on non-members.

This chapter takes stock of the state of play of preferential trade negotiations in services in Africa. It explores the factors that lie behind the reluctance of African governments to bind service sector policy under international treaties. The chapter chronicles several ongoing initiatives aimed at deepening intra-regional trade and investment among the eight regional economic cooperation areas found on the continent. It also describes external liberalization efforts engaging Africa with the rest of the world in services trade, devoting particular attention to negotiations under way with the European Community (EC) with a view to concluding WTO-compatible Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). The chapter draws attention to several novel features of the EC-CARIFORUM EPA in the services field and discusses its possible implications for Africa's ongoing processes of integration in services markets at both the intra- and extra-regional levels. The chapter concludes with a broader discussion of a range of policy challenges confronting African governments in designing development-enhancing strategies of engagement in services trade negotiations.

This chapter takes stock of the forces that lie behind the recent rise of preferentialism in services trade. Its initial focus is on a number of distinguishing features of services trade that sets it apart from trade in goods and shapes trade liberalization and rule_making approaches in the services field. The chapter then documents the nature, modal and sectoral incidence of the trade and investment preferences spawned by PTAs in services. It does so with a view to addressing the questions of whether and how the preferential treatment of services trade is truly preferential in character and effect. Finally, the chapter addresses a number of considerations arising from attempts to multilateralize preferential access and rule_making in services trade.