ENVIRONMENT SERVICES: OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE FOREIGN INVESTMENTS

The goods and services for environment (GSE) play a major role in promoting the sustainable development. This idea was largely recognized on the occasion of the Fourth Ministers’ Conference of the World Trade Organisation held in Doha, in November 2001, when it was agreed to negotiate the diminution in, or even the elimination of the tariff and non-tariff barriers to the goods and services for the environment. The Doha Declaration points out that the negotiations concerning the GSE are directly aimed at the intensification of the mutual support of the trade and environment to produce “win-win” results. Beyond the practical aspects of the “win-win” scenario, such as who makes the environment gains and who makes the trade ones or what are the implications of the liberalisation of this kind of trade for the sustainable development on the national and regional levels, etc., the most discussed issue was the definition of the concept of goods and services for the environment.