Overview

The agreement on trade in services reached in the Uruguay Round is perhaps the most important single development in the multilateral trading system since the GATT itself entered into forec in 1948. The new General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) for the first time extends internationally-agreed rules and commitments, broadly comparable with those of the GATT, into a huge and still rapidly growing area of international trade. Although reliable statistics on trade in services are few, conventionally measured trade in services is generally agreed to be equivalent in value to about one-quarter of international trade in goods. A further unmeasured, but undoubtedly very large, proportion of international trade in services does not cross national frontiers, because the service supplier (such as a branch of a foreign bank) or the service consumer (such as a foreign tourist) does so instead. The reach of the GATS rules extends to all forms of international trade in services. This means that the GATS agreement represents a major new factor for a large sector of world economic activity. It also means, because such a large share of trade in services takes place inside national economies, that its requirements will from the beginning necessarily influence national domestic laws and regulations in a way that has been true of the GATT only in recent years.

   Role of the CD/WTO

 The General Department for trade in services is one of the four General departments that work under the supervision of the Central Department for WTO affairs (CD/WTO). This general department is responsible for coordinating all issues related to the WTO service negotiations and achieving a balance between Egypt's effective participation in the WTO and other regional agreements on services. In addition, the department is responsible for the coordination among all services stakeholders in Egypt to ensure Egypt's fulfillment of its obligations and commitments under the GATS. Furthermore, the general department presents public awareness about the General Agreement on Trade in Service (GATS) through its role as the technical secretariat for the trade in services subcommittee, which is one of the sub-committees that works under the High National Committee for Doha Negotiations. Also it organizes workshops and seminars on the GATS agreement as a way for increasing public awareness. 
The group’s work is summarized in a chart.

Through this section, you can access information on the status of negoting position on services in the context of the WTO, Euro-Med, and Arab countries.It also includes a summary about the activities of the Trade in Services Sub-committee,and the Council for Trade in Srvices under the WTO.

• Progress of Trade in Services Negotiations in the WTO
• Egypt's positing position in sevices 

• Egypt's position in the WTO
• Egypt’s position in the Euro-Med negotiations
• Egypt’s position in the Arab regional negotiations 

• Summary of activities of the Services Subcommittee in the High National Committee on Doha Negotiations

The Sub-Committee on Trade in Services is one of the sub committees that work under the umbrella of the High National Committee. It is comprised of representatives from almost all Egyptian ministries and competent authorities of the different service sectors.

Its tasks are encompassed of the following:

- Tackling the obstacles facing services suppliers when accessing international markets.
- Determining the status quo of the Egyptian service sectors and their market structure and studying the potentiality of harming the domestic market due to liberalization and competition.
- Identifying the weakness points in the domestic market that might be solved through importing foreign expertise from abroad. The matter that will be reflected on the Egyptian schedule of commitment submitted in the framework of the World Trade Organization.
- Studying the papers and proposals submitted by the member countries in the WTO.
- Preparing the Egyptian negotiating position which is a reflection of the Egyptian stakeholders’ interests. 

• Overview on the WTO Council for Trade in Services
• Seminar organized by the GATS Department for Public awarness
  • Seminar on GATS and selected Egyptian services sectors, February 2004
    • Egypt in GATS negotiations, Amgad Abdelghaffar 
    • Egyptian IT sector and the GATS, Walid Gad
    • Egyptian insurance and the GATS, Egyptian Insurance Supervisory Authority
    • Legal services, Hamid Mamdouh (WTO)
    • Construction services, Hamid Mamdouh
    • Maritime transport, Hamid Mamdouh
    • Road transport, Hamid Mamdouh
    • Professional services, Hamid Mamdouh
    • Financial services, Hamid Mamdouh
    • Services and development, Hamid Mamdouh
  • Seminar on Egypt and trade in services negotiations in the WTO, October 2002
    • Trading into the Future (background on all WTO agreements)
    • Introduction to the GATS
    • GATS--Fact and Fiction
    • Services Negotiations Offer Real Opportunities
  • Seminar on Egypt and trade in services negotiations in the WTO, 4 September 2007
    • The Agenda
    • Presentation titled Asseesment of Education Services Sector in Egypt, by Dr Samir Makary (in arabic)
    • Presentation titled Asseesment of Tourism Services Sector in Egypt, by Dr Adla Ragab (in arabic)
  • Seminar for the media representatives concerning trade in services - the basic principals, 3-5 January 2008
    • The Agenda
    • A summary of the Seminar
    • Presentation titled The mechanism of preparing Egypt's negotiating position, by Mr. Waleed Elnozahy (in arabic)
    • Presentation titled Lessons from negotiating liberalization and reform, by Mr Johanes Brinaby
    • Presentation titled Basic principals regarding trade in services, by Dr. Mona Elgarf (in arabic)
    • Presentation titled The relative importance of service sectors in the Egyptian economy, by Ms Sherine Bayomi (in arabic)
    • Presentation titled Egypt's negotiating position under the WTO and Euromed agreement, by Mrs. Dina Mahmoud (in arabic)
    • Presentation titled Egypt’s negotiating position on liberalizing trade in services among Arab countries and COMESA region, by Mrs Iman Abd El-kader (in arabic)
    • Presentation titled The effect of liberalizing trade in services on the exports of ready made garments, by Mr Amr Elesawy (in arabic)
    • Presentation titled Liberalizing Tourism sector in relation to GATS, by Dr. Adla Ragab (in arabic)
    • Presentation titled Trade in services position in the balance of payment; Case Study on Egypt and other industrial and Arab countries, by Mr Mamdouh Elwaly (in arabic)
• Assessments conducted by the deparement about services sectors in Egypt

  • Assesment of Trade in Computer Services in Egypt in Rlation to the Gats
  • Financial Services and Egypt's Commitments in the GATS
  • Distribution Services
  • Educational Services
  • Health Services
  • Tourism Services and its annexes

Click on links below to access more information about trade in services

• Summary of the GATS
• GATS Agreement
• More information on the GATS from the WTO
• Services classification in the WTO
• Egypt's Services Schedule
• Notifications of Egypt and WTO members and registration to receive notifications
• Relevant websites
• Exporters' Guid to the Agreement
• Report a trade barrier