The European Union has concluded free trade agreements (FTAs) with many countries of the world[1] and others with a trade component and negotiates with many others. [2] The EU has concluded trade agreements with these countries/regions, but both sides are negotiating an update. THE EU`s development policy stresses the importance of trade and focuses on the countries most in need. The Generalised System of Preferences grants preferential access to the EU market for certain products from developing countries. The Economic Partnership Agreements guarantee preferential trade treatment for African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, while the "Everything But Arms" system applies to the least developed countries. These rules are in line with the rules of the World Trade Organization. The EU provides Aid for Trade (AfT) to support partner countries` efforts to develop and expand their trade, increase their countries and reduce poverty. Eligibility criteria for the standard GSP, which provides for tariff reductions for around 66% of all tariff headings, have been strengthened to cover only the most vulnerable low- and low-middle-income countries. As a result, the group of beneficiaries was significantly reduced from 176 to 23 during the period 2016-2017 and numbered 16 in 2019, while countries classified by the World Bank as high- and middle-income countries were gradually removed from the program.
The EU`s trade and development policy stresses that these countries should be specifically involved in their own development strategies. They must implement sound domestic policies and reforms needed to boost trade and investment, ensure that the poor benefit from trade-oriented growth and ensure that their development is long-term. At multilateral level, the EU supports the World Trade Organisation (WTO) development agenda launched in Doha in 2001. In October 2015, it ratified the Trade Facilitation Agreement reached at the Ninth WTO Ministerial Conference in Bali, which is particularly important for developing and landlocked countries. At the 10th WTO Ministerial Conference, the EU, together with other WTO members, actively engaged on other issues of interest to developing countries. However, the lack of outcomes from the 11th WTO Ministerial Conference in Buenos Aires, held in December 2017, hampered further results for developing countries. The Small Traders Capacity Building helps developing countries manage, train and inform developing countries about tariffs, trade flows, standards, etc. Under the 2000 Cotonou Agreement, the WpA has become the main instrument for promoting trade between the EU and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) regions. They are the building blocks of trade relations between the EU and acp countries, one of the three pillars of the Cotonou Agreement, and are designed to be WTO-compatible. .
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