Question

What are Bolivia’s international trade policies?

Alliances, treaties, and relationships?

please provide a source.

Answer 1

1. Bolivia applies a uniform tariff of 10%, except for a 5% rate applied to capital goods and a 2% rate on books. The present tariff regime is mainly the result of autonomous initiatives. Bolivia bound its tariffs at a general ceiling rate of 40%, thus leaving a wide gap between applied and bound rates

Bolivia avoids the use of non-tariff barriers and it has never taken anti-dumping or safeguard actions. Bolivia uses tax refund schemes to support its exports, schemes which, however, do little to overcome difficulties for producers and exporters affected by structural problems in several economic sectors.

Agriculture and related processing activities, which are largely free of major government intervention, including subsidies, account for a large portion of Bolivia's foreign exchange earnings, some 42% in 1997. Soya exports, in particular, have undergone remarkable growth since 1993.

Most service activities are now open to foreign investment, which has played a key role in their modernization. Bolivia's commitments under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) are relatively modest, although its autonomous liberalization efforts have established the bases for expanding them.

2. Bolivia traditionally has maintained normal diplomatic relations with all hemispheric states except Chile. Foreign relations are handled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, headed by the Chancellor of Bolivia,

Relations with Chile, strained since Bolivia's defeat in the War of the Pacific and its loss of the coastal province of Atacama, were severed from 1962 to 1975 in a dispute over the use of the waters of the Lauca River. Relations were resumed in 1975 but broken again in 1978 over the inability of the two countries to reach an agreement that solved the Atacama border dispute,

Bolivia pursues a foreign policy with a heavy economic component. Bolivia has become more active in the Organization of American States (OAS), the Rio Group, and in MERCOSUR, with which it signed an association agreement in 1996. Bolivia promotes its policies on sustainable development and the empowerment of indigenous people. Bolivia is a member of the United Nations and some of its specialized agencies and related program. The Republics of Bolivia and Peru, desirous to cement in solemn manner the bonds that unite them, to increase thus their strength, and mutually guarantee one another certain rights, have drawn up the present Treaty of Defensive Alliance, to which end the President of Bolivia has invested with ample powers to conduct said negotiation.

Source is the World Trade Organisation