ABSTRACT

The motivation for the ‘Everything but Arms’ (EBA) initiative was to enhance the role of trade preferences as a European Union (EU) development cooperation policy instrument from the point of view of the least developed countries (LDCs). The European Commission’s view was that there was a real risk that these countries were becoming increasingly marginalized in the world economy. Apart from this altruistic motive, the initiative was intended to present the EU as a champion of development in the ongoing efforts at the time to launch a new multilateral trade round.