Regionalism/trade and development
ACP — African, Caribbean and Pacific countries. Group of 71 countries with preferential trading relation with the EU under the former Lom? Treaty now called the Cotonou Agreement.
Andean Community — Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela.
APEC — Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.
ASEAN — Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The seven ASEAN members of the WTO — Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand — often speak in the WTO as one group on general issues. The other ASEAN members are Laos and Vietnam.
Caricom — The Caribbean Community and Common Market comprises 15 countries.
CTD — The WTO Committee on Trade and Development
Customs union — Members apply a common external tariff (e.g. the EC).
EC — European Communities (official name of the European Union in the WTO).
EFTA — European Free Trade Association.
free trade area — Trade within the group is duty free but members set own tariffs on imports from non-members (e.g. NAFTA).
G15 — Group of 15 developing countries acting as the main political organ for the Non-Aligned Movement.
G77 — Group of developing countries set up in 1964 at the end of the first UNCTAD (originally 77, but now more than 130 countries).
G7 — Group of seven leading industrial countries: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, United States.
GRULAC — Informal group of Latin-American members of the WTO.
GSP — Generalized System of Preferences — programmes by developed countries granting preferential tariffs to imports from developing countries.
HLM — WTO High-Level Meeting for LDCs, held in October 1997 in Geneva.
ITC — The International Trade Centre, originally established by the old GATT and is now operated jointly by the WTO and the UN, the latter acting through UNCTAD. Focal point for technical cooperation on trade promotion of developing countries.
LDCs — Least-developed countries.
MERCOSUR — Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.
NAFTA — North American Free Trade Agreement of Canada, Mexico and the US.
Quad — Canada, EC, Japan and the United States.
SACU — Southern African Customs Union comprising Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland.
S&D — “Special and differential treatment” provisions for developing countries. Contained in several WTO agreements.
UNCITRAL — United Nations Centre for International Trade Law, d
ee “schedule”.