Pacific trade deal must deliver a development dividend

On August 3, 2009, the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) released a briefing paper called ‘The Development Dividend: Making Trade Negotiations Work for Pacific Communities’. ACFID is the peak body for the Australian aid and development sector. The Development Dividend argues that “Australian trade negotiators cannot simply assume that market reforms that have been good for a huge economy like Australia’s, such as removing tariffs, are good for small Island states of tens of thousands of people. The evidence from the United Nations shows that developing countries need to retain policy options for economic growth and tariffs as part of their toolkit.”

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