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ECA calls on Development Partners to Implement Key Aid for Trade Priorities.
Abuja, 29 January 2010 (ECA) - The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has called on all development partners to commit to advancing the six core areas identified in the Aid for Trade work programme for the years 2009 – 2011, in order to strengthen Africa’s participation in global trade.
The call came in a statement read by the director of ECA’s sub-regional office for West Africa, Madame Fatoumata Sy Ba, who was representing United Nations Under-Secretary General and Executive Secretary of ECA, Mr. Abdoulie Janneh; at the Aid for Trade review meeting of the Economic Community of West African States. The review took place in Abuja, Nigeria from 27 – 28 January.
The statement also noted the irony that Africa, a continent with a rich history of international trading routes, with important historical trade centres such as Timbuktu, is now in need of Aid for Trade. “The world is rich with trading routes, in which African people were key players,” the statement reads.
Part of the challenge is the erosion of Africa’s cost advantage over time. For example, “unit costs of African imports and exports would fall by an average of twenty percent if transport costs were lower,” she said.
Ms Ba said ECA would focus its Aid for Trade work on promoting greater ownership of Aid for Trade in Africa; strengthening its regional dimensions, emphasizing the implementation of projects and monitoring their impacts.
Steven Karingi, senior economist in charge of trade at ECA, presented some stylized facts about Africa’s trading position as follows: the continent is trading well below its potential for global and inter-African trade; has failed to take full advantage of available market opportunities; and even if a Doha Round trade agreement was concluded with a full developmental aspect, Africa would not reap full advantage of the resulting opportunities. “The slow pace of economic transformation and lack of diversification in most African economies has led to a concentration in low value exports” he said.
While reviewing the recent evidence on Africa’s trade performance, Karingi pointed to a small improvement in some of the indicators of trade performance in Africa. “Export diversification has shown slight improvements, transport and logistics costs have also been going down, and intra-African trade has improved for some countries and regions” he said.
However, more work is necessary in order to analyse the impact of aid for trade in Africa, both in terms of designing an analytical framework and gathering the necessary data.
The ministers adopted a resolution stressing the importance of moving from discussions to implementation of aid for trade programmes. The resolution also calls for the retention of necessary policy space by West African countries; emphasizes the importance of trade in regional integration; acknowledges the importance of the private sector and supports efforts to strengthen the ECOWAS Business Forum; and urges the ECOWAS Commission to finalize a common trade policy for its Member States.
:: Statement by Ms. Fatoumata Sy BA, Director, Sub Regional Office, Western Africa, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
:: Surmounting Africa’s Trade Capacity Constraints: Assessment of the Effectiveness of the Aid for Trade by Stephen N. Karingi and Vincent Leyaro, UNECA
:: Draft Communiqué
Issued by the ECA Information and Communication Service P.O. Box 3001
Addis Ababa Ethiopia
Tel: 251 11 5445098 Fax: +251 11 5510365 E-mail: ecainfo@uneca.org Web: www.uneca.org Related Articles
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