Trade and Sustainable Development Symposium

Services and service providers in the least-developed countries (LDC) face barriers in accessing developing and developed countries’ markets. These restrictions—mostly related to commercial presence and the movement of natural persons to provide services—notably come in the form of visa policies and non-recognition of qualifications. Movement of a person from an LDC to developed countries, which is one of the modes of services trade under the World Trade Organization (WTO), is the most restricted of all. To develop LDCs’ services sector, the 9th WTO Ministerial Conference granted a Services Waiver. In response to the collective waiver request submitted by the LDC Group on 21 July 2014, so far 23 developing and developed country members have offered concessions and preferences to the LDC members. The Waiver brings in challenges along with opportunities to the LDCs. There are ambiguities in the modality of implementation of the Waiver itself, and developed countries have not responded well to the LDC request.