Opening Markets for Trade in Services

Trade in services is an increasingly important part of global trade and, as such, figures prominently in multilateral, regional and bilateral trade negotiations. In this volume of essays, academics, negotiators and experts from various international organizations explore the challenges, motivations and achievements of such negotiations. The contributions highlight issues in important services sectors, such as distribution, energy, finance, telecommunications, air transport and the postal and audiovisual sectors, as well as areas such as cross-border trade, the movement of natural persons and government procurement. Case studies look into the experiences of specific countries. The focus on sector analysis and country experiences sheds light on the state of services liberalization and the regulation of international trade in services at the beginning of the twenty-first century, making this an indispensable guide to ongoing and future international negotiations on this topic.