17-01496
Getting the future Africa-United Kingdom trade partnership right Expert Group Meeting
Background
The decision of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to exit the European Union has significant implications for the country’s trade relationship with Africa.
While Africa may not be a top priority for the trade policy of the United Kingdom post-Brexit, the strong historical links and ongoing meaningful trade relationship between many African countries and the United Kingdom signify that Africa should not be overlooked by the Government of the United Kingdom. In addition, now is the moment to establish the foundations for a strong and mutually beneficial long-term relationship.
Urgent action is required to provide continuity in the trade relationship between Africa and the United Kingdom. An immediate priority is to ensure, at a minimum, that existing market access is retained for all African countries following Brexit. While maintaining continuity and avoiding uncertainty is crucial, an attempt should be made to replace the existing European Union Economic Partnership Agreements with an improved framework that addresses the divisions created by the Economic Partnership Agreement process and its various limitations. The new trade policy of the United Kingdom offers an unprecedented opportunity to introduce a more comprehensive framework that is more effective in supporting the integration, industrialization and development agendas of Africa. There is a real risk of missing this opportunity if urgent action is not taken.
Objectives
The objective of the session will be to advance understanding of the opportunities and challenges Brexit offers for African countries. In doing so, policy options for effectively leveraging Brexit to support the achievement of the continent’s development and trade objectives, while, at the same time, delivering win-win solutions that can also facilitate the interests of the United Kingdom, will be highlighted. In the session, how to get the future Africa-United Kingdom trade partnership right will be the theme of the discussion, with the intention to answer five important questions:
1. What is the value of existing preferential access for African countries into the United Kingdom?
2. What lessons can be learned from the existing European Union Economic Partnership Agreements?
3. What characteristics should a new United Kingdom Generalized System of Preferences scheme have?
4. What are the expected implications of Brexit for African firms with regard to complying with quality standards and integrating into global value chains?
5. How can the future Africa-United Kingdom trade relationship be aligned with regional integration, industrialization and development agendas of Africa?
Panelists
Representatives of ECA and the Overseas Development Institute and African, and British trade experts.
Venue and date
United Nations Conference Centre, Caucus room 10, Addis Ababa 31 October 2017
2 – 4.00 p.m.
Contact person
Ms. Lily Sommer, African Trade Policy Centre ([email protected])
3
The Continental Workshop on Trade and Gender:“The role of regional economic communities in supporting gender sensitive implementation of the continental free trade area”
Background
The impacts of trade agreements and trade policy in general are traditionally considered to be gender neutral. Real-life experiences have proven that this is not the case. While trade liberalization is not inherently good or bad for gender inequality, gender and trade mutually affects each other in ways that can amplify existing gender gaps. To meaningfully acknowledge this relationship – and use it for closing and not widening the gender gap – it is important that rather than being an afterthought, gender considerations become an integral part of trade agreements and trade policy.
African countries launched the negotiations for the continental free trade area in June 2015, with expectations that they would be concluded by the end of 2017. The continental free trade area is an ambitious project, and is likely to contribute significantly towards boosting intra-African trade and strengthening the position of Africa in the global market. Given the expected changes in the dynamics of trade within the continent and between Africa and countries outside the region, the ability for African countries to consider gender aspects in trade policy is crucial. The African regional economic communities form the backbone of the continental free trade area process and can play an important role in guiding and supporting the implementation of gender-sensitive strategies through their respective member States.
Objectives
The Continental Workshop on Trade and Gender will provide a platform for regional economic communities to share experiences about gender mainstreaming, and discuss ways in which they can more effectively support member States in incorporating gender considerations into trade policy and more specifically in the implementation of the continental free trade area.
Panelists
Representatives of regional economic communities; ECA and external experts.
Venue and date
United Nations Conference Centre, Addis Ababa 31 October 2017
9 a.m. – 5.30 p.m.
Contact person
Ms. Heini Suominen ([email protected])
Ms. Lily Sommer ([email protected]), African Trade Policy Centre
Ad hoc expert group meeting to review policy options for boosting intra- African investment through regional harmonization of investment policies and treaties
Background
In order for Africa to achieve the twin goals of structural transformation and sustainable development, increased international investment flows are a prerequisite. In this context, intra- African investments could play a crucial role in increasing the actual levels of investment in Africa, and serve as a source of capital for development financing. A second associated challenge to achieving adequate levels of investment for development in Africa is making the most of the continent’s regulatory landscape governing investment. Currently, the continent is plagued by a myriad of bilateral investment treaties and double taxation treaties, and understanding how these instruments relate to each other is often limited, leading to poor policy coherence and inconsistencies between the agendas pertaining to investment and taxation.
To help to build a better understanding of intra-African investments, and which policies and regulations are most suitable to attract such investments, ECA, through its Investment Policy Section, has conducted two studies on the following topics: the factors supporting intra- African investment and the linkages between double taxation treaties and bilateral investment treaties.
These two studies will be presented to experts in the planned Expert Group Meeting, with a view to contribute to and inform the ongoing continental dialogue on investment, initiated by the Africa Union Ministers of Trade in 2013. It is hoped that the discussions will promote greater coherence and coordination on investment regulations that may help level the playing field for attracting greater investment from within the continent and externally.
Objectives
To discuss key factors supporting intra-African investment flows and strengthen the understanding of investment policies aimed at attracting greater intra-African investments.
To deliberate on how Africa can better leverage investment and taxation regulations to level the playing field for African and foreign investors with the objective to increase investment attractiveness without compromising adequate tax revenue mobilization or policy space in formulating investment and tax policies.
Participants
Investment experts, representatives of African Countries, regional and international organizations, including the African Union Commission and regional economic communities, private sector enterprise, and academic institutions, among others.
Venue and date
UNCC, Conference room 5, Addis Ababa.
5 Contact Person
Ms. Laura Páez, Chief of the Investment Policy Section ([email protected])
Ms. Wafa Aidi, Economic Affairs Officer, International Policy Section ([email protected]) Ms. Mekdes Kassa, Staff Assistant; International Policy Section
Ad hoc expert group meeting to review policy options on how to strengthen agribusiness as a pathway to a sustainable and inclusive transformation in Africa
Background
Since the turn of the twenty-first century, Africa has been one of the most rapidly growing regions in the world. The average annual economic growth rate has been about 5 per cent. The size of the middle class in most African countries has also increased. Despite this progress, intra-African trade has remained very small and countries are not very diversified.
Poverty reduction has not been impressive, as almost one out of every two persons in Africa still lives on two dollars a day. Poverty, hunger, insecurity, and pervasive informal “vulnerable”
employment, including high youth unemployment, are prevalent throughout the continent.
Following the recent fall in commodities price and the change in the development model of China towards a domestic consumption-based economy, policymakers in Africa have been looking to expand regional markets within Africa and promote a regional value chain as a way to return to high economic growth. Development policy discourse has been based on, for example, the diversification of production and exports, the expansion of regional markets and an increase in investment and trade with traditional and new partners. This issue is still hot in the development agenda. Building knowledge about policy options for sustainable development in Africa should not, therefore, be undertaken only for academic interest, but also to better inform policymakers of the extent and importance of trade and diversification.
Consequently, a number of African countries have expressed increased interest in agribusiness and agro-industrialization. This sector has proven to have great potential in driving economic transformation and industrialization in other areas of the world, such as in the East Asia and South-East Asia subregions. In addition to the growth that can be unleashed from agriculture and development of the industrial sector, including agribusiness and agroindustry, brings about more high-income jobs, enhance upstream and downstream linkages to domestic firms, and provides ripple effects through the economy, benefiting both formal and informal workers.
Recent literature on industrialization and trade have suggested that adding value to current comparative advantages, such as to agricultural goods and commodities, or building competitive advantages in new industries by redirecting investments and trade to local and regional markets and implementing strategies that are aimed at attaining sustained and inclusive growth. Such strategies would involve identifying new investment priorities, mobilizing resources and skills training. These strategies should not be mutually exclusive;
successful industrialization also requires a set of State-led visions and policies developed with close coordination with the private sector. In all cases, however, agribusiness could play a significant role in developing agricultural value chains, and serve as a viable option to industrialization.
Objectives
The event will provide a platform for participants to exchange ideas and experiences related to one of most burning issues of Africa, agribusiness development. In this context, the
7 include a focused discussion on concerted actions required to build a broad-based consensus for: (a) boosting agribusiness in Africa; and (b) fostering associated institutional and policy innovations and synergies at the national, regional and continental levels.
The main objectives of the event are to: (a) review and validate a plan for a unified coordination mechanism, which ensures the alignment of efforts with the joint pooling of resources directed towards promoting the agribusiness-led transformation of the agriculture sector; and (b) identify areas for policy actions and innovations to support the operationalization of the suggested coordination mechanism. This is to include identification of priority commodities; creation or strengthening of commodity-specific working councils and a functional network of partners and stakeholders operating in agribusiness in Africa; and developing an action plan for the realization of a super platform and vehicle, outlining activities, responsibilities and a timeline
Panelists
Representatives of the African Union Commission, the African Central Bank, ECA, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development and regional economic communities.
Venue and date
UNCC, Conference room 6. Addis Ababa 31 October 2017
8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Contact person
Mr. Adama Ekberg Coulibaly, Chief, Agriculture, Food Security, and Land Section ([email protected]; [email protected])
