Migration

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicator 10.7.2 was developed by the co-custodians United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to inform the global review of SDG target 10.7. The indicator aims to describe the state of national migration policies and how such policies change over time. SDG target 10.7 which calls on countries to facilitate orderly safe regular and responsible migration and mobility of people including through the implementation of planned and well-managed migration policies is the target most explicitly and directly related to international migration among all the targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The data booklet highlights current migration policies and measures to inform SDG indicator 10.7.2 “Number of countries with migration policies to facilitate orderly safe regular and responsible migration and mobility of people”.

Cambodia is one of the most promising LDC economies in terms of growth rapid development services landscape and services export potential. The country’s openness liberal market economy young and agile population and proximity to important markets promise further development of its services economy especially if supply side constraints such as capacity constraints weak infrastructure and challenges related to governance and regulations are duly addressed.

Cambodia is a Southeast Asian country with over 15 million inhabitants neighboured by Viet Nam Lao People’s Democratic Republic Thailand and the Gulf of Thailand. It is a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

This publication forms part of the background research for the study titled “Effective market access for least developed countries’ services exports; An analysis of the World Trade Organization services waiver for least developed countries” (UNCTAD/DITC/TNCD/2019/1). The research was originally undertaken in 2017 and has been released for publication to help policymakers understand some of the intricacies behind the original study. Some details may have since changed.

The LDC Waiver is a legal tool that enables WTO Members to sidestep their obligation to treat all services imports equally under the Most-Favoured Nation (MFN) clause through the granting preferential treatment to services and service exporters from a Least Developed Country (LDC). It is similar to the “Enabling Clause” for goods within the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) except that the Waiver only benefits LDCs not all developing countries. It operates thus as an “LDC-only Enabling Clause for services”. The Waiver only enables preferences it does not require WTO Members to grant them nor provide them with specific ideas or tools to facilitate LDCs’ exports into their markets. This paper presents the findings of the pilot study on Cambodia. Focusing on a selection of services sectors of particular export interest to Cambodia this case-study assesses where appropriate on an anecdotal basis whether and to what extent the preferences granted by WTO Members respond to the market access regulatory and other barriers experienced by Cambodia’s services exporters in their export market(s). By converging all available sources of information the analysis aims to identify the relevance of the notified preferences for Cambodia’s services exports possible gaps and opportunities for further development of improved market access mechanisms as well as its utilization by LDCS’ services exporters.

This paper was prepared in the context of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) work in support of least developed countries’ (LDC) participation in trade. It aims to contribute to the discussion on market access for services and services suppliers from LDCs in particular in the context of the World Trade Organization (WTO) LDC Services Waiver Decision adopted on 17 December 2011 (hereinafter “the Waiver”).