African Trade Policy Centre Business Plan : Business Plan 2014 - 2018

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African Trade Policy Centre

Business Plan

2014-2018

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Ordering information

To order copies of the African Trade Policy Centre Business Plan (2014-2018), please contact:

Publications

Economic Commission for Africa P.O. Box 3001

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Tel: +251 11 544-9900 Fax: +251 11 551-4416 E-mail: ecainfo@uneca.org Web: www.uneca.org

First printing December 2014

Material in this publication may be freely quoted or reprinted. Acknowledgement is requested, together with a copy of the publication.

Designed and printed by the ECA Documents Publishing Unit. ISO 14001:2004 certified.

Cover images (left to right): A. Stafiniak/Sxc.hu, freeimages.com and R. Linder/Sxc.hu

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Acronyms and abbreviations ... v

Introduction ... 1

Part 1: Development context ... 3

A. Africa’s economic outlook ... 3

B. Global trade in perspective ... 3

C. Africa’s trade challenges ... 3

D. Africa’s transformation agenda ... 4

E. Role of the African Trade Policy Centre and its contribution to the development of trade in Africa ... 5

Part II: Leveraging the past for a future transformative agenda ... 6

A. Achievements from 2003 to2013... 6

B. Evaluations ... 8

C. Constraints and lessons learned ... 8

D. Rationale for continuing the mandate... 9

E. Niche and comparative advantage of the African Trade Policy Centre ... 9

Part III: Strategic framework and programme ...11

A. Vision ...11

B. Mission statement ...11

C. Strategic objectives and programme 2014 - 2018 ...11

D. Work organization and programme implementation strategy ...14

Part IV: Resource requirements and governance ...20

A. Budget 2014 – 2018 ...20

B. Human resources ...20

C. Funding ...20

D. Governance structure ...21

Part V. Reporting, monitoring and evaluation ...23

A. Monitoring ...23

B. Evaluation ...23

Part VI. Strategic partnerships ...24

A. Collaborating partners...24

B. Funding partners ...24

C. Universities, research institutes, private sector and civil society organizations ...24

Part VII: Anticipated risks and risk management strategy ...25

A. Risks related to the African Trade Policy Centre as an institution ...25

B. Risks associated with activities and beneficiaries ...25

C. Risk management strategy ...25

Annex 1. African Trade Policy Centre: Estimated budget 2014 – 2018 ...27

Annex 2. African Trade Policy Centre: Results-based matrix ...29

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List of Tables

Table 1: Breakdown of result areas ...15 Table 2: Institutional risk assessment and mitigation measures ...26

List of Figures

Figure 1: Strategic objectives of the African Trade Policy Centre ...11 Figure 2: ATPC Governance Structure ...21

List of Boxes

Box 1: Breakdown of result areas ... 2

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Acronyms and abbreviations

AfDB African Development Bank

AGOA African Growth and Opportunity Act ATPC African Trade Policy Centre

AUC African Union Commission BIAT Boosting Intra-African Trade CFTA Continental Free Trade Area ECA Economic Commission for Africa

ECOWAS Economic Community of West African States

EPA Economic Partnership Agreement GDP Gross domestic product

ICT Information and communication technologies RITD Regional Integration and Trade Division SADC Southern African Development Community

UNCTAD United Nations Conference on Trade and Development UNDP United Nations Development Programme

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Introduction

Trade promotes and accelerates economic growth.

The economies of African countries have been improving steadily. Over the past decade, the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita has grown significantly in most African countries. The region’s economy grew by 4.8 per cent in 2013 and is projected to reach 5.3 per cent in 2014. Six of the fastest growing economies of the world are in Africa; and the continent has been ranked as the world’s second fastest growing region after East Asia.

Although trade is vital to Africa, the continent currently contributes only about 3 per cent of global trade. Africa is not faring well in international and regional trade because of poor infrastructure and the slow pace of regional integration. The region exports raw materials mainly, with little value addition and limited linkages with other sectors of the economy.

In addition, imports are mainly made up of manufactured goods. Also, the absence of diversification and competitiveness has limited the potential of intraregional trade.

Trade has not served as a transformational tool for Africa as it has for many other developing economies.

The vision of the continent is to achieve an African economic community, with the creation of a single continental market for goods and services and to ensure the free movement of business people and investments. This will help turn the 54 individual African economies into a larger and more coherent market.

It is against this backdrop that in January 2012, the African Union Assembly of Heads of State and Government adopted the decision to establish the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) by an indicative date of 2017. The Assembly also endorsed the Action Plan for Boosting Intra-African Trade (BIAT). With the growing awareness that cross-cutting themes should be integrated into trade to achieve sustainable and inclusive development, this historic decision, would require a concerted effort to assist African countries in conducting a technical analysis of trade policy options and ensuring that they are consistent with their national development strategies.

The African Trade Policy Centre (ATPC) was set up to build the human and institutional capacities of

African Governments and the regional economic communities to formulate and implement sound trade policies and participate more effectively in regional, bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations. Specifically, it will work with the World Trade Organization and on North-South trade, dealing with Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) and the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). It will also work on South-South trade and investment relationships. The Centre will also work with stakeholders at the national, regional and international levels to develop and implement sound national, regional and international trade strategies, policies and programmes, by generating knowledge through research and providing policy advice, training and capacity-building, based on the needs identified by partners.

The ATPC 2014-2018 Business Plan is therefore a strategic articulation of the Centre’s programme of work for the next five years. The Plan outlines how ATPC intends to deepen its work in the area of international, regional and bilateral trade and progres- sively strengthen its partnership with a wide spec- trum of partners within and outside the continent, to support Africa’s transformative trade development agenda.

The Business Plan is in seven parts. Part I provides the strategic context of the Plan and highlights Africa’s development context, the role of trade in the new development paradigm and trade development challenges. It also highlights the role of ATPC in supporting Africa’s trade development agenda and the achievements it has made since its inception 10 years ago. Part II presents the objectives and vision of ATPC and its strategic direction, while part III outlines the Centre’s strategic framework and programmes in response to the current needs and emerging trade development priorities of the continent. It also describes its implementation strategy and work organization around five result areas for greater impact (see box 1). Part IV presents the resource requirements and governance structure of the Centre, while part V highlights the reporting, monitoring and evaluation strategies.

Many potential partners have extensive networks, a history of building institutional capacities and the

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insight and goodwill that Africa needs. Part VI of this plan, therefore, highlights the work of ATPC, in close cooperation with development partners, to address the continent’s emerging trade priorities. Lastly, part

VII presents an analysis of the anticipated risks that could affect the delivery of expected results. It also provides a strategy for risk management.

Box 1: Breakdown of result areas

Result areas Sub-themes

1. Trade policy framework for economic growth and

structural transformation in Africa • Promoting value chains

• Trade and structural transformation

• Trade policy formulation and analysis

• Export diversification

• Trade in services

• Trade facilitation

2. Africa’s participation in global trade • World Trade Organization negotiations

• Aid for trade

• EPAs

• AGOA

• South-South partnerships 3. Regional market integration and cross-border trade • BIAT and CFTA

• Trade-related regional integration, including cross-border trade

4.Trade and cross-cutting themes • Gender

• Environment and climate change

• Trade and finance

• Technology and innovation

• HIV/AIDS

5. Support to African trade initiatives • African Corridor Management Alliance

• Private sector

• African Alliance for e-Commerce

• Civil society organizations and regional private sector organizations

• African Trade Forum

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Part 1: Development context

A. Africa’s economic outlook

The growing importance of trade in Africa has been accompanied by impressive economic performance.

The economies of African countries have been growing steadily over the past decade, with the GDP per capita in most African economies increasing at a significant pace. Six of the fastest growing economies of the world are in Africa and the continent has been ranked as the second fastest growing region in the world after East Asia.

Africa’s economy grew by 4.8 per cent in 2013 and is projected to accelerate further to 5.3 per cent in 2014 (African Economic Outlook, 2013). The main sources of dynamism are the expansion of agricultural production, robust growth in services and a rise in oil production and mining. The relatively broad-based pattern of growth is underpinned by the continued increase in external financial flows and resurgence in domestic demand, driven by consumption and investment.

It is clear that Africa’s economic outlook is promis- ing and indeed, the continent could be considered as the next growth pole in an ailing global economy. However, the growth being experienced by most African countries has not been associated with economic transformation and may be termed as “non-inclusive” as it has hardly contributed to job creation, poverty alleviation and the overall improvement in living standards¹.Industrialization and trade are now seen as the key drivers of economic transformation and poverty reduction in Africa. To transform their economies, African countries must add value to their goods and trade in semi-finished and finished goods. Indeed, trade should be pushed to the centre of the African development agenda in order to sus- tain the prevailing economic surge on the continent.

Improved trade performance will enable Africa to lift itself out of poverty and reduce its heavy depend- ence on external aid.

B. Global trade in perspective

The recent global financial and economic crises have had a significant impact on global trade, with varying

1 Economic Commission for Africa, African Union Commission, Economic Report on Africa 2011: Governing development in Africa – the role of the State in economic transformation (Addis Ababa, 2011).

levels of intensity over the past five years. World trade growth fell from 5.2 per cent in 2011 to 2.0 per cent in 2012 and is expected to remain sluggish in the coming years. The abrupt deceleration of trade in 2012 was due mainly to slow growth in developed economies, recurring bouts of uncertainty over the future of the euro, low output and high unemployment in developed countries and reduced imports that led to a lower pace of export growth in developed and developing economies alike.²

Africa’s exports shrank by 8.5 per cent in 2011, following the Libyan civil war, but rebounded in 2012, en- abling the continent to record the fastest export-led growth of any region, at 6.1 per cent. Africa was fol- lowed by North America with4.5 per cent, while Asia only managed to increase its exports by 2.8 per cent, despite the 6.2 per cent growth in Chinese exports.

Other regions that export large quantities of natural resources saw slight increases in export volumes - the Commonwealth of Independent States (1.6 per cent), South and Central America (1.4 per cent) and the Middle East (1.2 per cent). This is not unusual, since quantities of primary products tend to change significantly from year to year. The region with the slowest export growth in 2012 was Europe at 0.6 per cent, while the European Union grew at an even slower pace at 0.3 per cent.³

The share of Africa’s world exports inched up in the past decade from 2.3 per cent in 2000 to 3.3 per cent in 2012 (UNCTAD Stat).

C. Africa’s trade challenges

In spite of the obvious importance of trade to Africa, the continent currently contributes only about 3 per cent to global trade. It also has the lowest volume of intraregional trade in the world, estimated at10 to 12 per cent. The limited continental and global trade performance of Africa can be attributed to a variety of supply-side constraints. The continent remains heavily dependent on the export of a few primary commodities, most of which, until recently, had suf- fered a significant decline in prices, leading to large trade losses and worsening balance of payments. In

2 World Trade Organization. The World Trade Report 2013.Available from http://www.wto.org/english/res_e/publications_e/wtr13_e.htm.

3 Ibid.

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addition, Africa imports mainly manufactured goods - a reflection of its relatively low level of industrialization and lack of diversification and competitiveness.

Other factors contributing to the continent’s continued poor trade performance include: lack of diversified production structures; unstable and low export prices and revenue; inadequate trade support services; poor trade facilitation; and weak coordination of policies at the national, subregional and regional levels.

Clearly, Africa has paid very little attention to the linkages between trade and cross-cutting themes such as gender, environment and technology and innovation, which are critical to the enhancement of domestic and external trade. In addition to the structural problems outlined above, African countries have to contend with the costly and highly technical requirements of an increasing number of trade negotiations at the multilateral, regional and bilateral levels.

Measures should be taken at the macro, meso and micro levels to tackle the trade challenges facing African countries and make trade work for Africa.

At the macro level, mainstreaming trade into national development policies and strategies is an absolute necessity. Regrettably, very few African countries have well-documented and comprehensive national trade policies or trade-sector support programmes.

At the meso level, there is a need to build the capacity of African trade-support institutions, the regional economic communities and trade-related government and public-sector institutions; and also enhance the role they play in promoting the African trade agenda. It is also important to strengthen collaboration with other trade-sector stakeholders, such as, the private sector, civil society organizations, gender organizations, parliamentary trade committees, academia and research institutions; and build their capacities.

At the micro level, structural deficiencies, which limit the competitiveness of African enterprises in the area of trade, have to be dealt with through targeted and focused programme support interventions aimed at improving access to markets, finance and investment, production infrastructure and processes and technology and innovation.

In addition to the above, and from a continental strategic standpoint, stronger and deeper regional market integration in Africa will help to promote sustainable economic growth and development and also enhance the continent’s participation in the global economy, making it less vulnerable to external shocks. Regional market integration will promote intra-African trade and assist African countries in building experiences to prepare them for global markets.

It will also provide a framework for them to cooperate in developing common services for finance, transport and communication and help them deal more effectively with trade and cross-cutting themes for sustainable and inclusive growth.

D. Africa’s transformation agenda

The current strategic focus of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), following its recent institutional restructuring exercise, is to support structural transformation in Africa through industrialization and trade. Africa must use its current growth trajec- tory as a platform for broad structural transformation.

The Commission seeks to become the think tank of reference on matters pertaining to the continent’s transformation agenda as part of the new “Africa First”

development paradigm.

Drawing on its convening power and strength in research and knowledge generation, policy advice and capacity-building, ECA will offer African policymakers critical insights into relevant priorities on the transformation agenda for Africa’s development.

This is consistent with the overarching African Union Agenda 2063 to develop “an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the global arena”.

The critical role of ECA, as the African Union’s leading technical partner for the realization of Agenda 2063, has been widely acknowledged and endorsed by African Heads of State and Government.

A crucial part of the Commission’s new agenda is to actively support the process for the creation of a single continental market for goods and services, with free movement of business, people and investments. This, in turn, will help realize the ultimate goal of establishing the African Economic Community as envisaged under the 1991 Abuja Treaty. The single market will also help expand intra-African trade by better harmonizing and coordinating trade liberal- ization and facilitation regimes among the region-

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al economic communities and throughout Africa.

Lastly, it will help to resolve the challenges of multiple and overlapping regional economic community memberships and address the disconnect between contiguous regional economic communities, thereby unlocking the interregional economic community trade potential across the continent, (Assessing Regional Integration in Africa, 2013).

It is clear from the foregoing that trade is, and will continue to be, one of the key pillars of ECA and Africa’s transformation agenda.

E. Role of the African Trade Policy Centre and its contribution to the development of trade in Africa

ATPC was established in June 2003 as an initiative of ECA. The main objective of the Centre, since its establishment, has been to strengthen the human and institutional capacities of African Governments to formulate and implement sound trade policies and participate more effectively in trade negotiations at

the bilateral, regional and multilateral levels. ATPC also supports and facilitates the involvement of other stakeholders such as the private sector, civil society and academia in research, training, information dissemination and advisory services, to build consensus and achieve inclusive development outcomes.

The Centre has evolved over the past 10years to become a leading trade policy research and technical support institution in Africa. It has also graduated from being a stand-alone donor-funded project to one that is fully integrated into the governance and operational framework of ECA. Demand for its services and leadership in trade matters has risen steadily at the continental, regional and national levels. This has provided an opportunity to evaluate its activities and achievements to date; establish clear objectives and priorities to effectively respond to Africa’s trade challenges; and strategically articulate its direction and programme in the coming five years. The Business Plan is an important first step in guiding ATPC during this critical transition from its past to its future.

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Part II: Leveraging the past for a future transformative agenda

A. Achievements from 2003 to2013

The first phase of ATPC (ATPC I) was from 2003 to 2008. Some of the key results achieved during that phase are:

Enhanced African capacity to develop technical trade proposals. This is evidenced by the improved participation, understanding and confidence of trained African negotiators and a better understanding of ATPC research activities. This was confirmed by the African World Trade Organization Group in Geneva and the Evaluation Team of ATPC I.

Increased understanding of the impor- tant role of trade in development. Active information dissemination, training and advisory services enabled all African countries and the regional economic communities to seek better ways of integrating trade into their development strategies.

This was attested to by participant evaluations at several ATPC activities, including the ad hoc expert group meeting on mainstreaming trade into national development strategies, which took place in Casablanca, Morocco in May 2006.

Increased coordination and harmoniza- tion of regional and subregional trade positions. Some examples of common trade positions which ATPC helped to formulate are the Tunis Roadmap, the Cairo Declaration and Roadmap and the Arusha Development Benchmarks.

Increased credibility and influence in shaping Africa’s trade agenda. The contribution of ATPC to trade capacity-building in Africa is increasingly being recognized.

It hosted the 2006 Global Trade Analysis Project Global Trade Conference and has developed partnerships with other key stakeholders in the area of trade.

The increasing demand for ATPCI services by African countries and their expectations of continued and

broad support led to ATPC II (2008-2013), which maintained the broad objectives of ATPC I and focused on assisting the regional economic communities in Africa and their member States to integrate trade more effectively into their development strategies.

With core funding support from the Canadian International Development Agency and contributions from the Department for International Development (DFID) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, ATPC II made an impact on the African trade agenda with the following key accomplishments:

The Centre supported the regional economic communities in setting up their trade policy units. Trade policy units are now fully functional at the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the East African Community and the Southern African Development Community (SADC);and are currently providing technical support to member States in trade policy analysis.

It facilitated consensus building and stakeholder validation of common trade positions. Trade policy decisions made by senior officials of the regional economic communities and member States based on ATPC research and technical advisory activities have influenced major global and regional trade positions significantly, as re- flected in the outcome document of the Fourth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries in May 2011 in Istanbul, Turkey; the outcome document of the Tenth Annual Africa Growth and Opportunity Act Forum held in Lusaka, June 2011; the adoption of a common African position to postpone the sign- ing of economic partnership agreements (EPAs) between African regional economic communities and the European Union;

the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development joint Aid for Trade at a

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Glance 2011 report; the outcome document and the adoption of a common position of African Ministers of Trade at the sixth ordinary session of the African Union Conference of Ministers of Trade held in Kigali from 29 October to 2 November 2010, on institutional reforms of the World Trade Organization, the Roadmap for Doha and the response to the global financial and economic crises; the decision by African Ministers of Trade at the Ministerial Conference in 2010 to fast-track the establishment of a CFTA; the adoption of a common position to extend AGOA be- yond 2015 and the extension of the Third Country Fabric provision; the decision to establish a tripartite free trade area among EAC, SADC and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa; the 2012 decision of the African Union Assembly of Heads of State and Government to en- dorse an Action Plan for BIAT and the establishment of a CFTA by the indicative date of 2017; and the ongoing discussions on the BIAT implementation strategy.

ATPC II also designed and delivered research, training, mentoring and advisory support on trade issues to beneficiaries.

These are evidenced in the development of an EPA template as a framework for negotiations. The ATPC evaluation revealed that 70 per cent of senior officials trained in the member States participated in the analysis and review of their national trade policy frameworks, while 85 per cent of ATPC trainees provided a positive assessment of the training received, through participant evaluation. Remarkably, all the ATPC training programmes are oversub- scribed.

The centre has also systematically dissem- inated its research findings, activities and other current issues to its member States and the regional economic communities and helped to enhance Africa’s knowledge base on trade and trade-related issues through research analysis, publications and training. The Centre’s evidence-based and analytical research work on publica-

tions such as “Work in Progress” and “Policy Briefs” have enhanced the negotiating capacity of African Governments. Over 2,000 subscribers are registered in the Africa Trade Knowledge Network.

The ATPC website is still functioning and is updated on a regular basis. Knowledge management user spaces have been cre- ated for the ATPC “Trade and Environment”

and “Trade and Gender” networks, with links to a continuously updated invento- ry page on Africa trade facilitation institutions within the knowledge management platform. The Centre has been acknowledged by trade constituencies as one of the leading Africa-based policy advisory service providers.

The Centre continued to work tirelessly to mainstream HIV/AIDS, gender and environment into its activities. As a result of its programme to support gender-related activities in trade, the Centre has become a full member of the Gender Expert Network formed by the International Trade Centre to enhance the outcomes of aid for trade. Opportunities have been creat- ed for the cross-fertilization of experiences and knowledge for women in business in Africa through the ATPC/ECA-Subregional Office for Southern Africa programme of activities to support women in business.

The Centre also supported ECOWAS member States to undertake specialized training in trade and gender dynamics. Following the launch of the Trade and Environment Knowledge Management Platform for ECOWAS, efforts are underway to replicate the platform in other regional economic communities. The cross-border trade project of the East African Community was also initiated to enhance the trade activities of the border communities in East Africa.

The Centre also mobilized support and se- cured agreement to scale up resources for the World Trade Organization Aid for Trade Initiative. Other achievements by the cen-

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tre include: enhancing solidarity and forg- ing common negotiating positions with emerging developing economies in World Trade Organization negotiations; achieving an effective negotiating outcome for African regional economic communities and member States in the EPA negotiations; securing critical improvements in the preference regime for eligible African countries under AGOA, including but not limited to the extension of the AGOA timeframe and the Third Country Fabric Provision; building critical trade institutional capacity through the establishment of the African Alliance for e-Commerce and the African Corridor Management Alliance ;and support to the Government of Ethiopia to establish the Dry Port of Ethiopia.

The Centre also adopted the aid for trade strategies by ECOWAS and SADC for their respective regions and the e-Commerce strategy by SADC. It partnered with the African Centre for Gender and Social Development and UN-Women to conduct the Annual Continental Workshop on Trade and Gender that advocates and influences the gender agenda in Africa. The Centre was also involved in the institu- tionalization of the Africa Trade Forum into African Union structures on BIAT and CFTA.

B. Evaluations

The ATPC programmes have been reviewed twice in the past 10 years by a team of independent evalua- tors. ATPCI was evaluated in 2007 and ATPC II in 2011.

One of the main objectives of the evaluations was to identify key lessons drawn from its implementation with the view to improving the relevance and performance of the Centre. The evaluation exercises under- scored the need for ATPC to:

Incorporate the regional dimension more into its work

Put more resources at its disposal

Develop quantitative indicators to measure its impact;

Broaden the research scope and incorporate cross-cutting issues in its activities

Provide more specialized training to stakeholders and create trade policy units in the regional economic communities

Enhance links between Geneva and Brussels-based negotiators and African capitals

Assist African countries to translate international trade agreements into domestic legislation

Explore a wide range of options to ensure sustainability

The external evaluation of ATPC I conducted in 2007 concluded that ATPC has, since its inception, proved its relevance, efficiency and ability to provide timely response to African countries to help build capacity in trade-related issues. Stakeholders adjudge the Centre to be effective in undertaking activities related to its service lines, especially in research, training and dissemination of its products. In spite of its limited human and financial resources, ATPC has been able to achieve its objective to respond to the capacity constraints of African trade negotiators at multilateral negotiations. A direct positive result of this development is the fact that African trade negotiators are increasingly involved in discussions on substantive issues in World Trade Organization and EPA negotiations.

According to the 2011 evaluation report on ATPC II,

“The increased demand for its services points to its importance and relevance to Africa’s current growth efforts”. Also, “The sustainability of ATPC is of utmost importance. The support of development partners and ECA that has kept the work of the Centre going up until now should be appreciated and encouraged to continue while efforts are made to bring other partners on board to support ATPC.” Lastly, “ATPC has also played a significant role in advancing the trade agenda in Africa … and the important work that ATPC is doing and its success so far should be ap- plauded”. The full report of the evaluation has been widely shared with stakeholders and is available under a separate cover.

C. Constraints and lessons learned

A number of constraining factors and lessons were also identified during the evaluation; the main one

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being the difficulty for quantitative indicators to measure the Centre’s overall impact. For instance, some outputs in trade performance could not be attributed to ATPC alone, especially where other trade-related capacity-building projects were also supporting the same stakeholders. The Centre also lacked the requisite human resources to meet the increasing demand for its services from African capitals, the regional economic communities and negotiators in Brussels, Geneva and the United States of America.

There was a need to find a balance between the limited capacity and resources of the Centre and meeting the demands from individual States. As ATPC was clearly not in a position to meet requests from all African countries, it was felt that a regional and subregional approach to providing advisory services would give better value for money.

The evaluation revealed that the Centre’s partnerships had enabled it to leverage its limited resources to deliver on its extensive activities. However, it was also clear that since many of its partners did not deal exclusively with African issues and had other constituencies, they might not be able to take on Africa- specific perspectives. This was not the case for ATPC, whose African constituency was clear.

D. Rationale for continuing the mandate

The significant role played by trade in the growth and transformation of African economies and the regional integration process of Africa cannot be overempha- sized. The experience of most developed countries and emerging economies unequivocally reinforces the same fact about the importance of trade, and clearly establishes the linkages between trade improvement in production capacities, value addition, specialization, job creation, income generation and poverty alleviation.

The trade challenges faced by African countries and the policy recommendations articulated in an earlier section of this Business Plan require continued institutional capacity-building support. Also, skills must be developed to enhance the ability of officials at the regional, subregional and national levels to integrate trade into national development strategies and regional integration programmes. There is also a need to improve the capacity of African negotiators of bilateral, regional and international trade agreements.

African countries should also be empowered to implement negotiated agreements. These critical ele- ments in Africa’s trade development agenda confirm the importance of trade support institutions such as ATPC.

In addition, the decision by the African Union Assembly of Heads of State and Government to boost intra-African trade and establish a CFTA have carved out a prominent role for ECA/ATPC as one of the leading technical institutions supporting the implementation of the summit decision.

E. Niche and comparative advantage of the African Trade Policy Centre

ATPC has the potential to grow very quickly to become the leading advocate of Africa’s trade agenda.

There is currently no Africa-based regional institution supported by African institutions and managed by local professionals, which focus exclusively on developing trade on the continent. For nearly 10 years now, ATPC, with the support of its implementing and funding partners, has developed the institutional capacity and memory on trade and the trade-related agenda for Africa and an extensive network of stakeholders and partner organizations. Also, it has the brand identity to fill the gap associated with trade challenges in Africa.

The Centre’s relative strength lies in its ability to con- vene different stakeholders working on trade negotiation and implementation issues; its ability to provide targeted support to national and regional institutions; its continental scope and flexible approach. On BIAT/CFTA-related initiatives, ATPC has made a positive contribution in bringing policymakers together from across the continent to learn from each other and begin to build a coordinated response. The annual African Trade Forum and national consultative forums, initiated by the Centre, are two examples of this contribution. Indeed, the African Union has institutionalized the African Trade Forum as part of the BIAT/CFTA frame work, to provide a comprehensive, integrated and inclusive platform for intense policy dialogue among trade constituencies and deliberate and agree on common approaches and strategies for implementing the action plan for BIAT and establishing CFTA.

There is general consensus that AUC and ATPC work on the CFTA negotiation agenda and the BIAT imple-

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mentation agenda has made positive contributions and should be continued. The proposed BIAT/CFTA implementation strategy developed by AUC and ATPC, under consultation and finalization, has laid out clear action plans for member States, the regional economic communities, AUC and other stakeholders for the implementation of BIAT and establishment of CFTA by an indicative date of 2017. ATPC is therefore well positioned to continue to provide targeted support to key components of the two initiatives.

The Centre’s work on trade and cross-cutting themes has also contributed to the continent’s transformative agenda. For growth to be sustainable and inclusive in Africa, there must be continued exploration of cross-cutting themes such as gender, green economy and environment, energy and information and communication technologies (ICT) and their linkages to trade. ATPC, with its extensive experience in these critical areas, is thus strategically positioned to continue supporting Africa’s trade agenda.

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Part III: Strategic framework and programme

A. Vision

The vision of ATPC is to become a leading Africa- based centre of excellence and a continental hub for providing and coordinating technical support for the development of trade in Africa.

B. Mission statement

The mission of ATPC is to work with stakeholders at the national, regional and international levels to keep them informed about the development and implementation of sound national, regional and international trade strategies, policies and programmes. The Centre will also conduct research to generate and disseminate knowledge on trade and provide policy advice, training and capacity-building, based on the needs identified by its partners.

C. Strategic objectives and programme 2014 - 2018

Over the next five years, ATPC will focus on achieving four strategic objectives:

Providing leadership in advocacy on trade

Generating and disseminating knowledge on trade

Strengthening stakeholder capacity

Improving the Centre’s organizational and financial sustainability

ATPC is a Pan- African knowledge and policy hub, which recognizes the positive role played by trade in tackling the development challenges of the continent. We work with stakeholders at the national, regional and international levels to inform them of the development, negotiation and implementation of sound national, regional and international trade strategies. We do this by providing policy advice and support, knowledge management, training and capacity-building, based on the needs identified by partners

ATPC is a Pan- African centre of excellence, which supports national, regional and continental trade policy objectives

Provide a continental platform for policy dialogue on the African trade agenda

Establish stakeholder forums for outreach and consultation.

Establish a continental knowledge management platform on trade.

Disseminate research findings through publications and other multimedia channels.

Develop and implement capacity- building programmes for stakeholders, based on

needs assessment

Establish mechanisms for cross- fertiliza- tion of experiences among stakeholders

Staff exchange

Develop and implement an organizational performance improvement plan, including a

human resource plan

Develop prioritized work plans

Establish a robust monitoring and evaluation system

Appropriate governance and advisory bodies

Apply recognized financial standards and accountability frameworks

Work with strategic partners to identify needs, develop plans and mobilize resource Provide leadership in

advocacy on trade

Generate and disseminate knowledge on trade

Build stakeholder capacity

Improve the organizational and financial sustainability of ATPC

Figure 1: Strategic objectives of the African Trade Policy Centre Mission Strategic objectives Strategies Vision

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1. Providing leadership in advocacy on trade ATPC occupies a unique place on the continent as a convener and serves as a platform for dialogue and discussion on the African trade policy agenda.

As such, it has the opportunity to play a leadership role in facilitating and advocating dialogue on trade policy. Over the next five years, the Centre will strive to provide a continental platform for policy dialogue and advocacy on the African trade agenda and establish stakeholder forums for outreach and consultation on trade issues.

Continental platform for policy dialogue on the African trade agenda

With its extensive knowledge on trade and trade-related issues, ATPC will provide intellectual leadership and influence the trade policy dialogue by providing technical support in trade policy formulation and analysis and advisory services to the regional economic communities, AUC, policymakers in member States, the private sector and other stakeholders.

Stakeholder forums for outreach and consultation ATPC will continue to draw on its convening power and institutionalized annual and bi-annual trade forums, such as the African Trade Forum and the National Trade Consultative Forum to strengthen its support for policy dialogue and discussions on shaping Africa’s trade agenda. This will provide opportunities for building consensus, exchanging ideas, facilitating common trade positions and seeking inputs for shaping the Centre’s thematic areas of focus.

2. Improving organizational sustainability The 2013 ECA restructuring exercise mainstreamed the structure of ATPC into the Commission’s Regional Integration and Trade Division (RITD). This provided a unique opportunity to critically review and assess the capacity of the Centre to deliver on its mandate and mission. This internal change in ECA does not affect or change the original mandate and objectives of the Centre.

The location of ATPC within RITD has several advan- tages. First, the Centre can easily draw on the financial and human resources of the division to overcome human capacity constraints. It enables ECA to provide the Centre with core staff and basic services to continue its work when the flow of external financial support becomes limited. Secondly, the Centre will benefit from close relationship with other ECA divisions

and centres, especially in terms of service delivery for cross-cutting themes such as gender, environment and climate change and HIV/AIDS. Such relationship entails conceptualizing and implementing the ATCP work programme jointly so as to save on the cost of hiring consultants. This would enable the Centre to tap into the existing networks of ECA divisions and centres to build its own network of stakeholders.

Thirdly, since ECA is subject to United Nations management practices, rules and regulations, ATPC is bound to use these same processes. These include the management of funds, accountability, auditing, recruitment, monitoring and evaluation, procure- ment and travel of staff and consultants. This will not only enable the Centre to save on resources that would be required to set up and administer its own separate processes, but ensure that its operations comply with globally accepted standards.

Over the next five years, ATPC will implement the following operational strategies to achieve its key strategic objectives:

Development of an organizational performance im- provement plan. Including a human resource plan To ensure that ATPC has the internal capacity to deliver on its mandate, it will need additional in-house staff in order to have the critical mass needed to realize the set objectives and expected results. Such an organizational improvement plan will facilitate equi- table division of labour among staff, create space for staff training and create a favourable working environment for optimal staff performance.

Development of a focused agenda and prioritized work plans

An African continent of almost one billion people in54 countries constitutes a potential ATPC cli- ent base. This huge market implies that ATPC must streamline its priority areas and have an efficient work programme which maximizes the set results.

The annual work plan will be designed to ensure that the activities of the Centre are directly linked to its approved outputs and outcomes.

Establishment of a robust monitoring and evalua- tion system

ATPC will continue to be guided by a results-based management approach, with service delivery strengthened, by paying close attention to the qual- ity and timeliness of implementation. In addition,

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performance indicators will be used to continuously monitor progress toward the expected results and evaluate the Centre. Baseline data to be used for measuring progress will be compiled when implementation of this Business Plan starts. All ATPC staff will be trained in the monitoring and evaluation framework and its application. A logical framework with specific indicators of achievement is attached as annex II.

3. Strengthening financial sustainability The Centre’s mandate and mission calls for a robust work plan, with an adequate level of resources - more than can be reasonably expected from any one source. The financial sustainability of ATPC is therefore a strategic objective over the next five years. The Centre will implement the following two key priority activities:

Applying recognized financial standards and ac- countability frameworks

ATPC will save on resources, apply recognized financial standards and establish internal and external review mechanisms if it maintains the practice to use the same management and financial processes as the United Nations.

Working with strategic partners to identify needs, develop plans and mobilize resources

As a Centre within ECA, ATPC will continue to have close collaboration with other ECA centres and divisions to strengthen its delivery, outputs, mechanisms and impact on its results. It will also continue to benefit from ECA partnerships with the African Union, the regional economic communities and the African Development Bank (AfDB). Its ability to work closely with these institutions derives from their close working relationship with ECA, as manifested in the joint implementation of programmes and activities.

Any decisions or requests from member States and regional organizations in the area of trade and market integration can therefore be referred to ATPC, which has also established direct links with other stakeholders at the national and regional levels. In addition, the Centre will continue to strengthen its collaboration with organizations such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Bank, the World Trade Organization, the International Trade Centre, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development(UNCTAD) and the African Capacity- Building Foundation. It will also work with training

institutions such as the African Institute for Economic Development and Planning, the Trade Policy Training Centre in Africa, the African Economic Research Consortium and the Trade Law Centre for Southern Africa, to avoid duplication of efforts and ensure max- imization of resources and results, so as to achieve its set mandate.

ATPC will also continue to work and deepen its relationship with regional and national development financing institutions to support its financial resource mobilization efforts. The Centre will develop a comprehensive resource mobilization strategy to ensure adequate and predictable financial resources for its operations. This will help forge stronger ties with current funding partners and attract new multilateral and bilateral institutions and agencies interested in supporting Africa’s trade development agenda.

Partner funds will complement the regular budget of ECA for ATPC programme activities.

4. Establishing a knowledge management platform on trade

Since its inception, ATPC has built and established institutional memory on Africa’s trade-related development agenda. It hosts a continental knowledge and management platform on trade, which includes trade and trade-related studies, reports, policy briefs and other publications that influence the trade agenda. It uses its internal capacity and external partners to disseminate these policy documents through its knowledge and management platform and outreach strategies.

Over the next five years, ATPC will transform its existing knowledge and management platform into a cutting-edge electronic one to enhance efficiency in the storage, retrieval and dissemination of trade-related information.

5. Building stakeholder capacity

ATPC works jointly with a wide range of stakeholders at the national, regional and continental levels. Many stakeholders play multiple roles as allies, collabora- tors and beneficiaries. These relationships are of strategic importance to ATPC as it moves forward.

ATPC stakeholders face many challenges in developing and implementing their respective trade agen- das. It will therefore continue to play an important role in supporting the stakeholders to build their

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capacities to manage their trade aspirations. Over the next five years, the Centre will focus on developing capacity-building programmes for stakeholders and promoting the cross-fertilization of experiences among them.

Developing capacity-building programmes

The Centre will partner with the African Institute for Economic Development and Planning for all training and skills development initiatives for stakeholders.

Technical assistance in specialized areas will be sought from identified specialized institutions and strategic partners, if the need arises. In developing its capacity-building programmes, ATPC will adopt a participa- tory approach by jointly working with stakeholders to identify their needs and find appropriate solutions.

Also, the Centre will regularly communicate information on its programme activities to its stakeholders and solicit their input and buy-in.

Cross-fertilization of experiences

As part of its capacity-building programme, the Centre will facilitate the cross-fertilization of experiences among stakeholders. This will include undertaking comparative studies and organizing work- shops, seminars and consultative meetings involving multiple stakeholders.

D. Work organization and programme implementation strategy

To implement its work programme and achieve the strategic objectives outlined in paragraph A above, ATPC has organized its work into five result areas. The result areas are anchored on the expected development outcomes and include:

(a) The trade policy framework for economic growth and structural transformation in Africa (b) Africa’s participation in global trade (c) Regional market integration and cross-bor-

der trade

(d) Trade and cross-cutting themes (e) Support to Africa’s trade initiatives

The modalities for implementation will include:

policy research to enhance knowledge generation and management (generation of knowledge and

dissemination through analytical and empirical research);technical advisory services in policy formulation, analysis and review; policy programming and implementation; advisory services and technical cooperation; advocacy, policy dialogue, stakeholder consultation and consensus building; and training and capacity-building, aligned to the result areas.

The Centre will provide more advisory services and broaden research. More advisory services would help do away with the perception that the first phase had focused more on negotiations rather than research, which would have covered a wider range of trade-related sectors and cross-cutting themes on the relationship between trade and poverty and between the environment and gender. The Centre’ straining programmes will continue to be tied to research findings and will focus on building the institutional capacities of countries and the regional economic communities.

ATPC will also leverage its in-house expertise and the research work and knowledge generated by other ECA programme divisions such as the African Centre for Statistics, the African Centre for Gender and Development, the African Climate Policy Centre, the Macroeconomic Policy Division and RITD.

The Centre cannot conceivably focus on all 54 African countries, and will therefore work with the regional economic communities, agencies and research institutions to deliver its services and enhance its strategic impact. Also, it will continue to partner with other institutions undertaking trade programmes to ensure ownership, build synergies and avoid duplication of efforts. Such partnerships should involve intergovern- mental bodies such as the African Union, AfDB, UNDP, UNCTAD, the International Trade Centre, the World Trade Organization, the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, the African Capacity Building Foundation and the Commonwealth. It will also partner with research bodies such as the African Economic Research Consortium and the South Centre; and also with the private sector and civil society organizations.

Table 1 shows a breakdown of the ATPC result areas, addressed in more detail in the subsequent section.

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Result Area 1: Trade, economic growth and structural transformation

Trade is often seen as a vector for economic growth.

It also leads to diversified economies and structural transformation, with the use of value chains and trade in services. To promote trade, appropriate policies should be formulated and implemented at the national, regional and continental levels, with all stakeholders fully involved. To realize concrete outcomes, it is essential to: mobilize appropriate financial resources through aid-for-trade initiatives and other interventions to support policy implementation; provide technical support for trade policy formulation and implementation, including establishing monitoring and evaluation mechanisms; and mobilize the requisite financial resources.

The Centre’s work in this result area will therefore focus on providing technical support to African member States and the regional economic communities to develop their national or regional strategies for trade policy formulation. This will be complemented by advisory services for programme implementation and monitoring and evaluation to ensure that appro-

priate objectives are attained and positive impacts maximized. Considering the critical need to mobilize financial resources to implement trade policies effectively in Africa, work in this result area will entail providing technical assistance to stakeholders toward securing funding, including through aid for trade.

These interventions will enhance the ability of African member States and the regional economic communities to formulate, monitor and evaluate national and regional trade policies and programmes and meet the requirements for securing financing. They will also be able to formulate and implement sound- er national and regional trade policies.

Building capacities to improve trade policy analysis As a result of the constantly changing dynamics in implementing trade-related activities, trade policies must be subject to periodic review and analysis. In addition to providing capacity-building support in trade policy formulation, therefore, the Centre’s work in this result area will focus on conducting training activities to reinforce the capacities and skills of government officials and staff of the regional economic Table 1: Breakdown of result areas

Result areas Sub-themes

1. Trade policy framework for economic growth and

structural transformation in Africa • Promoting value chains

• Trade and structural transformation

• Trade policy formulation and analysis

• Export diversification

• Trade in services

• Trade facilitation

2. Africa’s participation in global trade • World Trade Organization negotiations

• Aid for trade

• EPAs

• AGOA

• South-South partnerships 3. Regional market integration and cross-border trade • BIAT and CFTA

• Trade-related regional integration, including cross-border trade

4.Trade and cross-cutting themes • Gender

• Environment and climate change

• Trade and finance

• Technology and innovation

• HIV/AIDS

5. Support to African trade initiatives • African Corridor Management Alliance

• Private sector

• African Alliance for e-Commerce

• Civil society organizations and regional private sector organizations

• African Trade Forum

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communities in trade policy analysis. It will also carry out research on the cost-benefit analysis of trade policies undertaken by African member States and the regional economic communities, thereby enhancing policy decision-making.

Providing technical support for structural transfor- mation through export diversification and better exploitation of value chains

In general, the economies of most African countries are characterized by poor diversification in terms of products and export destination. Also, African exports tend to be strongly dominated by raw materials and commodities whose values are highly dependent on fluctuating commodity prices. Adding value to the commodities and products through various processes is important to supporting export diversification and ensuring the structural transformation of African economies. In this regard, ATPC will provide technical support to African member States and the regional economic communities in their efforts to diversify and transform trade and production structures.

Providing support for development of national and regional strategies to boost trade in services

Although trade in services is a dynamic element of global trade, it has not seen much participation by African countries. Although Africa’s trade in services is growing, it is concentrated in only a few countries.

Moreover, the continent’s share of global service exports was only about2 percent in 2012.⁴

Clearly, the potential for further increase in the volume of trade in services for Africa can strongly support economic growth. A top priority for ATPC will be to support African member States and the regional economic communities to develop national and regional strategies that enhance the continent’s trade in services. Emphasis will be on services which facilitate the movement of goods, people, information and capital (transport, financial and communication services).

Result Area 2: Africa’s participation in global trade

Africa must enhance its participation in global trade and ensure that its own priorities are adequately re- flected in the multilateral trade agenda. With a view

4 World Trade Organization, International Trade Statistics 2013.

Available from http://www.wto.org/english/res_e/statis_e/its2013_e/

its13_toc_e.htm.

to attaining this objective, ATPC had, in the past, provided technical support to African member States and the regional economic communities (where appropriate) to forge common negotiating strategies and position sat the World Trade Organization. Such support has been extended to the African Group in Geneva for the “pre-Bali” and “post-Bali” debate, thereby ensuring that multilateral positions are as consistent as possible with Africa’s regional integration agenda. Prior to the post-Bali agenda, ATPC will provide advisory support to operationalize and implement commitments on trade facilitation, the Least Developed Countries services waiver and preferential rules of origin, as well as other commitments adopted at the Ninth World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference held in Bali, Indonesia, in December 2013.

In addition to multilateral trade negotiations, preferential agreements with traditional partners such as the European Union and the United States of America are of crucial importance to Africa’s trade performance. The Centre’s work in this result area will focus on providing support to African member States in ongoing EPA negotiations with the European Union, with particular focus on: the cost and benefits of EPAs and possible alternatives to them; the relationship between EPAs, the Tripartite Free Trade Area and CFTA; and the World Trade Organization-plus ele- ments of the EPAs and Africa’s transformation agenda.

In addition to above interventions, the Centre will be providing technical and analytical support to a seam- less renewal of AGOA, including the Third Country Fabric Provision; help deal with the challenges and opportunities in the post-2015 AGOA period; and formulate more strategic policy frameworks and implementation modalities for harnessing AGOA for structural transformation.

Furthermore, the Centre has taken notice of the growing South-South trade over the last decade which is set to become a key strategic issue among African countries and in their relations with emerging countries such as China, Brazil and India. Hence, the Centre will provide technical and analytical support to African countries and the regional economic communities to assess South-South trade expansion opportunities and challenges, particularly with those emerging economies.

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Result Area 3: Regional market integration and cross-border trade

At its eighteenth ordinary session held from 29 to 30 January 2012, in Addis Ababa, the African Union Assembly of Heads of State and Government endorsed a seven-cluster action plan for BIAT and a framework for establishing a CFTA by an indicative date of 2017. ATPChas been the lead technical partner of AUC and the regional economic communities in developing the implementation strategy for BIAT/

CFTA initiatives.

The regional economic communities and some member States have sought ATPC technical assistance to operationalize the strategy, set up appropriate BIAT/CFTA structures and develop concrete and implementable national and regional BIAT action plans. ATPC is therefore working with UNDP and other partners to provide continued technical support to member States and the regional economic communities.

ATPC will also provide technical support for the establishment of the African Agricultural Market Information Systems Network (AAMIS-NET) to promote intra-African trade and improve the food and nutrition security of agricultural producers. It will also provide trade information, such as the availability of commodities and the regulatory framework in each of the member States and the regional economic communities.

Result Area 4: Trade and cross-cutting themes Cross-cutting issues that influence trade and its sustainability should be integrated if trade policy formulation is to lead to inclusive and sustainable development. Over the next five years, ATPC work in this result area will cut across gender, the environment, technology and innovation and trade and finance.

Trade and gender

Gender equality and women’s empowerment are critical development objectives. Introducing gender considerations brings the concerns of over 50 percent of the African population into trade poli- cymaking. Growth in international trade increases female employment. Enhanced trade flow leads to greater employment in the export-oriented sector, increased connection to markets and higher wages

in export-oriented industries for women⁵. Gender- sensitive trade policies and programmes should be introduced at the national, regional and international levels to deal with gender-based constraints to trade and strengthen the competitiveness of women en- trepreneurs.

ATPC will continue to provide technical support to African Governments and the regional economic communities to build their capacity to formulate and implement gender-sensitive trade policies and programmes.

Trade, environment and climate change

The main objective of the trade and environment nexus is based on two central ideas. First, trade regulation should not hinder environmental progress and secondly, trade regulation can actually become the driver of environmental progress by instituting fair, transparent and environmentally beneficial trade rules that are widely respected, thereby helping to accomplish national, regional and global environmental goals.

Therefore, the objective of this sub-result area is to ensure that climate and environmental considerations are taken into account in trade policies to make sure trade contributes to sustainable development.

While Africa’s growth of the last decade has been unprecedented, climate change and environmental degradation pose major threats to the continent and are likely to have a negative impact on Africa’s future growth patterns. There is a great scope to ensure that international trade regulations are designed to take environmental issues into consideration. However, there is no doubt that trade has served and will continue to serve as an effective tool for development.

ATPC will continue to provide technical advisory services to member States and the regional economic communities to develop and implement policies and programmes that reflect the nexus between trade and the environment.

Trade finance

Trade finance covers a wide range of tools that deter- mine how cash, credit, investments and other assets can be used for trade. It also contributes to trade, in terms of payment facilitation, risk mitigation, financ-

5 International Trade Centre website. Available from http://www.intra- cen.org/itc/market-info-tools/trade-statistics/.

African Trade Policy Centre Business Plan : Business Plan 2014 - 2018