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Study on the existing regulations and level of liberalization in selected services sectors within the West African Region
Details
Locations:Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo
Start Date:Nov 1, 2008
End Date:Apr 30, 2009
Contract value: EUR 18,419
Sectors: Regional Integration, Research
Categories:Consulting services
Funding Agencies:
Date posted:Jul 11, 2013
Description
The specific objective of the current project tendered by DG Trade is, within the countries of the West African region, to:
a) identify a series of data on existing regulations and national and regional policies on services and investment,
b) identify the actual level of trade liberalisation, comprising any barriers to market access to services and more generally to foreign direct investment (in the sense of GATS arts XVI and XVII);
c) provide West African countries with a comprehensive overview in order to facilitate the development of a regional offer on trade in services.
The work carried out consisted in the identification, analysis and reporting on (i) the general investment regime applicable to all sectors (identification of restrictions to the establishment); (ii) the specific rules on investment in three sectors: manufacturing, mining industry and agriculture, and (iii) the existing national regulations in the following key service sectors: professional services, construction services, distribution services, financial services, telecommunication services, transport services (and especially maritime transport services).
The assignment involved intensive travelling in the West Africa region. DRN provided 1 of the experts (permanent staff of DRN).