Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in Manuscript date: July 2016 Disclaimer: This is a working paper, and hence it represents research in progress. The opinions expressed in this paper are the personal opinions of its authors. They are not intended to represent the positions or opinions of the WTO or its members and are without prejudice to members' rights and obligations under the WTO. Any errors are attributable to the authors. The authors would like to express their sincere gratitude to Hubert Escaith and Taufiq Rahaman for their very useful comments on the previous version of this paper. 1 Development Division, WTO, Rue de Lausanne 154, CH -1211 Geneva 21. Email: Sèna Kimm Gnangnon (sennakimm.gnangon@wto.org); Shishir Priyadarshi (shishir.priyadarshi@wto.org). 1 HAS THE MULTILATERAL HONG KONG MINISTERIAL DECISION ON DUTY FREE QUOTA FREE MARKET ACCESS PROVIDED A BREAKTHROUGH IN THE LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES' EXPORT PERFORMANCE? Abstract This paper assesses the impact of the 2005 multilateral Hong Kong Ministerial decision on duty free quota free (DFQF) market access for products originating in Least developed countries (LDCs) on the latter's export performance. The analysis is conducted over a sample of 41 LDCs, with data spanning the period 1998-2013. The empirical analysis examines both the average effect and the short term/medium term effect. Results indicate that on average, this multilateral decision has exerted a positive effect on LDCs' performance on merchandise exports, with this average positive effect being solely driven by a positive effect on LDCs' export performance on primary products; the average effect on manufacturing exports has been statistically nil. In the short and medium term, this decision has exerted a positive effect on LDCs' merchandise export performance, as well as on the components of the latter, namely both primary product exports and manufacturing exports. However, the positive effect on primary product exports appears to be far higher than that on manufacturing exports. These findings have important policy implications regarding reflections on the way LDCs could utilize their policy flexibilities in the WTO Agreements to diversify their exports away from the primary sector and toward manufacturing and/or services sector.