With the successful completion of Phase 1 of the project the IPS continued its research on WTO Doha Negotiations under the Second Phase of the project with CUTS Centre for International Trade, Economics & Environment (CITEE) and other research partners from South Asia. The Second Phase contains 3 components: component 1 focuses on key issues from the WTO Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration from a South Asian Perspective; component 2 focuses on domestic preparedness to face the challenges arising from a successful completion of the Doha Round, while component 3 would be devoted to advocacy on domestic preparedness issues. The overall objective of this project is to generate negotiation inputs for trade negotiators and policy makers in the South Asian region whilst taking into account the positions of civil society on these issues when negotiating at the WTO. Under Components 1 and 2, the IPS undertook two studies, Preference Erosion and Aid for Trade, and Domestic Preparedness of Sri Lanka with respect to Services Trade Liberalization: Case Study of the Telecom Sector, respectively.
