Deep Trade Policy Options for Armenia: 皇冠体育app Importance of Trade Facilitation, Services and Standards Liberalization
Abstract
In this paper the authors develop an innovative 21 sector computable general equilibrium model of Armenia to assess the impact on Armenia of a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA) with the EU, as well as further regional or multilateral trade policy commitments. 皇冠体育app authors find that a DCFTA with the EU will likely result in substantial gains to Armenia, but they show that the gains derive from the deep aspects of the agreement. In order of importance, the sources of the gains are: (i) trade facilitation and reduction in border costs; (ii) services liberalization; and (iii) standards harmonization. A shallow agreement with the EU that focuses only on preferential tariff liberalization in goods will likely lead to small losses to Armenia primarily due to a loss of productivity from lost varieties of technologies from the Rest of the World region in manufactured products. Additional gains can be expected in the long run from an improvement in the investment climate. 皇冠体育app authors estimate only small gains from a services agreement with the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries, but significant gains from expanding services liberalization multilaterally.
Citation
Jensen, J.; Tarr, D.G. Deep Trade Policy Options for Armenia: 皇冠体育app Importance of Trade Facilitation, Services and Standards Liberalization. Economics: 皇冠体育app Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2011) : No. 2012-1. [DOI: 10.5018/economics-ejournal.ja.2012-1; Also available as Discussion Paper No. 2011-33]