The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean hosted a workshop on Trade Policy and Trade Indicators in Kingston, Jamaica on December 12-14, 2017
The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean hosted a workshop on Trade Policy and Trade Indicators in Kingston, Jamaica on December 12-14, 2017 as part of their Development Account Project, `Increasing the Contribution of Preferential Trade Agreements to Inclusive and Equitable Trade’.
It was intended to train officials from the Jamaican government in tools that enable the creation of evidence-based policies on international trade and other related areas.
Participants reviewed key theories of international trade, data classifications, data sources, quantitative methods and indicators.
This included a brief overview of trade policy’s economic effects, new theories of international trade, trade and investment microdata, a review of basic statistical analysis, indicators relating to trade dynamism and types of tariff protection.
Discussion was based on ECLAC’s `Manual on Foreign Trade and Trade Policy: Basics, Classifications and Indicators of Trade Patters and Trade Dynamics’, published by their Division of International Trade and Integration.
The manual focuses on presenting all possible indicators in order to better understand a country’s trade pattern and its trade dynamics, with the main aim of providing technical support for government officials and negotiators and decision-makers in the business sector.
ECLAC is a United Nations regional commission that functions to encourage international economic cooperation.
Many of its Caribbean participants are Least Developed Countries from the Commonwealth network.
