The second annual issue of Centad’s flagship publication, the South Asian Yearbook of Trade and Development (2006), titled Multilateralism at Cross-roads: Reaffirming Development Priorities, was released jointly by Gopal K Pillai, Commerce Secretary, Government of India (GOI) and S N Menon, Former Commerce Secretary, GOI, in a book release function organised by Centad in New Delhi on March 14, 2007. The primary objective of the South Asian Yearbooks,launched by Centad in 2005, is to articulate debates on the development impact of economic globalisation, principally in South Asia, through rigorous policy research and analysis.

With a foreword by Dr Ha-Joon Chang of the University of Cambridge, UK, Yearbook 2006 is guided by an eminent panel of editors: B S Chimni (Professor of International Law, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India); B L Das (formerly India’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the GATT, India); Saman Kelegama (Executive Director, Institute of Policy Studies, Colombo, Sri Lanka); and Mustafizur Rahman (Research Director, Centre for Policy Dialogue, Dhaka, Bangladesh).

The volume is a rich mixture of new research and useful policy insights on a wide variety of topical issues, contributed by trade policy experts and professionals from across the South Asian region. The co-publisher of Yearbook 2006is Wiley (India), a publisher of international repute.

As is evident from the theme of Yearbook 2006(Multilateralism at Cross-roads: Reaffirming Development Priorities), the volume attempts to reflect on the development priorities and concerns of the South Asian region against the backdrop of the crucial phase that multilateralism is currently passing through. While the volume predominantly deals with issues pertaining to multilateral trade negotiations, critical issues of regional trade integration have also been addressed in some measure.

The chapters and the corresponding authors of South Asian Yearbook 2006 are as follows:

1 Overview
   B S Chimni
   B L Das
   Saman Kelegama
   Mustafizur Rahman

2 Agricultural Market Access and South Asia
   Parthapratim Pal

3 Special Products and Special Safeguard Mechanism: A South Asian Perspective
   Saikat Sinha Roy

4 Textiles and Clothing Sector in South Asia: Coping with Post-quota Challenges
   Ratnakar Adhikari and Chatrini Weeratunge

5 Duty-Free Quota-Free Market Access: Implications for South Asian LDCs
   Fahmida Khatun

6 Trade in Services and Selected South Asian LDCs
   Ananya Raihan

7 Emergency Safeguard Measures in GATS: Policy Options for South Asia
   Parashar Kulkarni

8 TBT Measures and South Asia
   Rajesh Mehta and Pooja Agarwal

9 Anti-dumping and South Asia
   Prabhash Ranjan

10 Rules of Origin Regimes and South Asia: A Preliminary Survey of Issues
   K N Harilal and Sejuti Jha

11 Operationalising SAFTA: Issues and Options
   Upali Wickramasinghe

Click here to read a summary of the chapters and the list of contributors.

Click here to read the foreword by Dr Ha-Joon Chang.