Final report : the development and expansion of trade between Africa and the others developing regions

UNITED NATIONS

ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR AFRICA

Division: International Trade and Finance

FINAL REPORT

Project Title:

The development and expansion of trade between

Africa and the other developing regions

Project Number: BIL/Netherlands/198O/TFRTWCS/OO2

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Pages

I. Background and justification I_2

II. Objectives of the project , 2

III. ■ Immediate objectives . , 3

IV. Project plan 4_1X

(a) Activities executed in implementing the project

(b) Highlights from reports of Co-ordinators, participants

and by other collaborators

1. The Far East 2. The Near East 3. Latin America

VI. Results of the project , 12-15

(i) Achievements (ii) Difficulties

(iii) Summary of conclusions based on above reports

VII. Conclusions 15-16

VIII. Recommendations 17

IX. Project Budget 17

Annex Synopsis of results of African businessmen's tour of Latin America, the Far East and the Middle Fast

I, ' Background and justification

■ 'The Third Ministerial Meeting of the Group of 77 held at Manila in February 1976 followed by the Colombo Summit of non-alligned countries in August 1976, culminated in the adoption/ in September 1376S of the Mexico City Programme of Action on Economic Co-operation Sniong Developing Countries of which., trade expansion among developing countries constitutes an essential element. The programme has itself been fully

integrated within "the^ strategy for collective selir-reliance adopted by "the Group of 77 at the"ir'meeting of February 1979 in Arusha, Republic of Tanzania.

"■■■■ -'The African regional meeting in December 1979 under the joint auspices of the

■ OAU-'-'ECA and ' UNCTAD reviewed a number of'basic studies carried out by the joint QAU/ECA

■secretariats (E/CN.14/WP.1/116) and by UNCTAD within the framework of fostering economic 'co-eperaticn among developing countries pursuant to reinforcing collective self-reliance

with other Third World Countries. The studies relate to trade preferences among developing countries (GSTP), co-operation among State Trading Organization (STOs) and establishment of multinational marketing enterprises (MMEs). Implied also was providing of direct contacts between individual ana groups of businessmen or enterprises which Was- the: central theme of this project^ as implicit in these studies.

This project is linked to the above programme. It reinforces ECA resolutions 3O1(XIII) and 3O2(XIII) on economic co-operation between Africa on the one hand, and

Western Asia "and" Latin America en the other/ and'ECA resolution 355(XIV) on Economic

-attd1TechnicaL Co-operation among Developing Countries.1 ' " "

■ -The",justification-of the-project liesF in the'fact that Africa remains" the poorest

partner in interregional trade among the developing'rebions. Interregional trade in

1979 amounted to US$99.24 billion of which Africa's exports to the other developing regions-■accounted "for-US$7.;86 billion'or 7.9 per cent wnile" its imports were US$8.65 billion or'8.7 per-cent. In absolute terms," Africa had"'a" deficit of US$790 million in

1979. Broken down into its components, Africa's trade with each of the other three

developing regions shows that with Asia, Africa had a deficit of US$1.98 billion, with

We-stetn AsiaV"-a;vdefie"it"o'f ■US$r'.4i:biliion and with' Developing 'America a large surplus

of US$2.i68i;biffioft'i" glvihjr a' net' deficit of US$123 million'.' However,'the trade with

developing America includes export cf one major commodity, fuel, which in 1979 amounted

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to US$2.97 billion as against an import of the same commodity- .£rpm Developing'America- amount inp to US$494 million. Thus, Africa's overall trade with the other developing regions,, excluding fuel, .showed a. total deficit of US$3.26 billion? in 1979. In 1980 Africa,, had a deficit of US$3,157 billion with the Far East, a deficit of US$1,516 billion with the Middle. East and a. surplus of.US$3.450.billion with'Latin America, ;The ^et

interregional African trade balance.was then.a deficit of.US$1.225-in the same- year.

, .. The activities implemented; in this programme element form.an-integral part of-the ECA's programme of work- and .priorities adopted on sensitizing; African businessmen about the importance of co-operation with their respective government authorities, especially the Ministries of Commerce.and industry as well as the Chambers of Commerce laying stress on, advantages of establishing,.direct bilateral-and/or multilateral trade links-with the other developing regions with a .view to promoting and. expanding ""African exports. In-.this way, it. is. hoped to., turn .trade, expansion into an engine of .economic growth and development

II. Objectives of the project , . . . .. -; : ■ :

The concept of Collective Self-reliance as adopted by the Group, .of 77-in February 1979 in Arusha, Ro;uMic of Tanzania acknowledges the indispensability of assistance of the UN.system and the international community to developing countries to their.efforts in expanding trade amorif,.themselves,, especially as. regards the establishment of effective trade links and the reinforcement of. existing ones. . This project was therefore.' -

formulated in such a way as to assist, with promoting the exploitation-of complementaries among the developing countries. It was also aimed at strengthening their economic

bargaining position by..way of creating a more balanced relationship between :them and with their traditional .trade partners-. . .: - . -.■-■-. ■ ' . ■■-',■■ ■■:■■■;.

..The second objective focused .attention on- assisting the; African 'businessmen- to ■ initiate .action designed ,for the ,-penetr-atioa.of the markets of .the ether developing ": . countries with potential,.export, possibilities'. ; ..-■,.' ■■'■--

Suffice to mention that this second ..project drew heavily on the interest. generated

by the pilot project in 1981. This, is evidence from the many requests received from

countries .that participated and those which did not participate but-wished to be. '■ - ■

afforded with the opportunities tn do so.

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III. Immediate objectives

Based on the assessment of the positive results of the first missions carried out by the few EGA sponsored African businessmen to Asia and' Latin-"-America* the immediate objectives were reformulated to include continued assistance to the African countries to effectively participate in trade promotion activities. For countries which-had ' earlier participated in the project the aim was to help them consolidate some of the preliminary -arrangements made during the previous and subsequent business tours. It was also intended-to help them set up trade promotion programmes involving bilateral and/or multilateral:arrangements with countries'of the other developing regions.

■ • ■ It was therefore decided to include markets of the countries of the developing Western :Asia regions apart from those of the developing regions of South Asia and

the Pacific- and Latin America.

IV,- Project plan ■ "

:-■■. The project was implemented in'3 phases, each with its own activities. Thus, three groups of African traders and trade officials were organized respectively to Asia, Latin America and Western Asia. In addition were several follow-up actions undertaken jointly withUNCTAD and the other regional commissions. These activities enabled the programmers with the reformulation"of the -rogrammes for trade expansion -between Africa and-other three developing'regions. Follow-up at country level assisted

with consolidating 'contacts established during each respective tour. Similarly, for the follow up consuifaticns'with most collabrating secretariats and a selected number, of Chambers of Commerce and Industry. The results of these follow-up missions have gone into-"writing this' summary aUc gives "some' of the experiences and also attempts to make suggestions-tf certain logical steps to follow to ensure that the initial momentum is not;-lost. ■ In.'other-words, to" ensure "that the gains' of the experiment can help the developing'African countries to consolidate their'"newly discovered export market

opportunities.' .■" ■ '■" .,*■■ : ■■-■■■

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V. Project activities

(a): Activities,executed in implementing the project

Phase ■ I . .-. ■ ■

(i) Reviewed findings, experiences, observations of-participants in the ' : initial; project and the results of the follow up missions to-selected countries which participated in the initial project. Eight countries participated in the 1981 tour: Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal and Zambia ;tQ Latin.America; while Ethiopia, Kenya and Zimbabwe'went to

; Asia, The-serious resource constraint caused by inflationary tendencies, especially the rather rapid increase in air fares did not discourage EGA from complementing the generous financial offer of the Netherlands grant in implementing necessary follow up action to the 1931 tour. For instance, a pre-mission had been carried out to Senegal in 1982. The results of the mission was a discovery that Cuba had sent a follow-up trade mission to Dakar, that Argentina had.agreed to have the Senegalese Centre for External Trade (CSCE) as the official counterpart and that Senegalese authorities were contacting their Mexican counterparts about their mutual trade expansion. Similarly, a-mission to Kenya brought to ECA's attention that the-country-; had,received some enquiries about _ its exports and about consultancy opportunities■in this country. -It was

in this connection that Kenya requested EGA to assist her to intensify ._ follow-up action in the .Singapore and Thailand .marketsI ■ ■ ' *-; '

(ii) Consultations. ,within the Division and with :other ECA Divisions, in ... particular Put lie.Administration, .Management and'Manpower Division in; "

. terms .of facilitating promotional-skills and techniques; Technical : : .Assistance, and Co-ordination Office regarding plan implementation ;

contributed to imparting of skills in marketing techniques to

participants in the tour;

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{■iii,>v,--..Consultation;s-- with 'UNCTAD and ITG ascertain established available

professional and practical assistance to- the project taking into account of their.respective competence -in executing the project. These same consultations also enabled the project officers to collect data for markets monographs used'by the country participants. Furthermore, ITC-and UNCTAD scretariats prepared for use1by the participants some - comprehensive.market profiles of the target countries in the few

selected non-African countries;

Civ) Consultations with the International Centre for Public Enterprises in Developing. Countries enabled the ECA"pro-grammes to"make better use of the machinery of State trading organizations in expanding trade among developing countries for African countries like Senegal with

■ respect to-Cuba and Argentina;

(v) . Consultations with ether regional economic-commissions (ECWA, ESCAP and ECLA} regarding their"practical input in.arranging contacts in their respective areas contributed to a large measure for the success of the business contacts established. For instance, selection of timing of the respective visits in each area, the selection of

countries as well as in making advance preparations in the respective ccuBtr[ie:s,.visited by the African businessmen.

Phase II

(i) -' Country monographs were completed under phase II, These were based on data collected froiri UNCTAD, ITC and the International Centre for -"' Public Enterprises in Developing Countries. This trade information

reinforced data available at ECA;

(ii) Selected African countries for inclusion in the business tour of Asia, Latin America and Western Asia. Participants were selected from

representatives of Manufactures Associations and Chambers of Commerce : . or Industry. The national Chambers of Commerce were also involved in

determining .the. target regions for their ^participants. . At least 4 countries confirmed their willingness to participate in the visit of Latin America: Morocco, Central African Republic, Nigeria and .Kenya. On the.other hand, 6 countries:. Cameroon, Central African

Republic, Kenya, Senegal, Sudan and Zambia choose to be included

in-the tour of Asia and the Far East. The third, .group of 3 countries:

. Ghana, Mauritius-and Zimbabwe choo.se to visit,-the Middle East;

(iii) Following the selection of countries, the substantive project officers each visited the selected African countries and assisted them with preparations at the national level. It was possible during these missions to involve ethers.-in: terms of obtaining mandates from other . possible exporters, collect;-export samples and price lists which

were carried on the tour. It, was also, possible to discuss with them about certain optimal marketing techniques against the background , . ;of products offered for export in the .respective Asian, Latin American

and-Western Asian developing regions. .To the extent possible, some use .was also made,to bring this matter to the attention of several representatives who- attended the second Conference of Chambers of Commerce in Zimbabwe in May 1982, -; ,■ ;

(iv) ECA's substantive officers also got in touch with UNCTAD, XTC, ESCAP, ECLA and ECWA for purposes of making advance preparations and

finalization of arrangements for the tour into the Asian, Latin American and Western Asian regions. The project officers who made these visits discussed concrete inter-secretariat trade expansion projects,

especially the linking of some of .the project activities with other . . ongoing trade expansion activities. For example, .the draft ECA/ESCAP

project and a new one envisaged between £CA .and.,ECWA on Afro-Arab trade as well as the one initiated jointly by ECA/ECLA on trade promotion pursuant to the conclusions of .the first joint ECA/ECLA meeting of Governmental Experts from Africa and Latin America on economic and technical co-operation in which interregional trade and financial issues were given a considerable amount of emphasis were dovetailed in this project. The other commissions and UNCTAD, apart from ECWA, seconded co-ordinators along side those from EGA during the whole length of each tour of the African businessmen.

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Phase III

(i) Two separate briefing sessions fcr the participants were arranged and implemented. The first covered participants to Asia and Latin America.

The total number of 6 participants representing. £enya(2), Cameroon, Senegal, Sudan and Zambia,could not be briefed with their counterparts for the Middle East because of a change in schedule for the later.

The briefing included details on travel arrangements. Attention was focussed on the concept-of:self-reliance in economic co-operation among developing countries and also-dealt with some techniques of enhancing self-reliance;at interregional level. In other words, a review of how to overcome some of the current constraints to self-reliance and ... co-operation including among others, greater use of the existing

machinery of State trading organizations (STOs) in expanding inter regional trade, investigating ways of setting up or the feasibility of multinational marketing enterprises between African countries and ., ./, , . .other developing ■countries. ■ UNCTAD provided i-a "direct" input by making

available personnel resources from its UNDP's financed project on

i

. Trade. Information System (TIS).

(ii). The session was by its -.very nature a means of enhancing intra-African .- ■ -trade because, it provided1 for direct contact by bringing together

African businessmen from different subregiorts of ECA;

(iii) Three separate tours of African traders were conducted to capitals of selected Asian, Latin American and Western Asian countries, each under 1 . the leadership of a substantive1ECA'project officer assisted by

substantive officers■seconded.respectively by UNGTAD, ESCAP and ECLA.

A maximum of; 4 countries; iii each -region, except.for Asia with the inclusion of Hong Kong were visited, and a minimum of 4 working days .in each .country was the planned duration. . During the length of the

tour,-coordinators held.-daily get-together briefs with participants*

basically to share experiences at the end of each day--in order to make optimal use of the opportunity in penetrating the export markets of the other regions. Countries visited in each region were;'

(a) The Far East: India (Bombay), Thailand (Bangkok), Singapore, Philippines (Manila) and the Republic of Korea '(Seoul). ' '

(b) ', Latin America: Brazil (Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo), Argentina . (Buenos Aires), Chile ■■(.Santiago), and Colombia

■ : - : ■■■ ■ (Bogota and Medel.lin). •

(c).. Thq.Middle-East: Saudi Arabia (Jeddah), Kuwait (Kuwait), United

■ ; .■ . . . ■■.;-. ... ■ . Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi, Dubai) and Bahrain .; ■ ■■ .- ■ (Bahrain) ,. ■ . , ■

(iv) Debriefing sessions at the end of each tour were conducted by each ECA co-ordinator. -.The session allowed for an-exchange of experiences gained and observations on possible-short-comings' of the programme.

These revelations are to be found in the subsequent sections in this

; report devoted to difficulties encountered and recommendations. The

■, .. -tour reports including those from the debriefing sessions constituted

a-preliminary, .back-to-desk .working document now. fed into this final

report,

(v) Preparation- of end of tour reports by each tour, -cp-ordinator was . completed but not copied to the Government of the- Netherlands. This

was because-of the need to. incorporate the views of participants . ■ . -.which did not all reach-ECA in .the expected.time.'.

(vd) Review and analysis of participants.'- and co-crdinators s mission r ;.. reports by project officer has been .completed and-forms part of the

basis of the final report.

(Vii) Follow-up advisory services missions between January and February 1983 to the capitals of countries which participated in the tours by

project officers intended to concretize provisional trade arrangements

made during the mission and to associated secretariats to formalize

additional support services were completed in the first and second quarter of 1983. This was possible.because,..of the rescheduling of the .._ : -terminating period of .the project as indicated, in. the progress, repprt .

■ ■ of .July to .December- 1982; . .-; ..._ ■ , .- ■■■:., .. . .■

(viii) Follow-up advisory missions to a selected number of Gulf States

(Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia) were undertaken by two project

officers from 10 to 17 May 1983 in order to concretize the contacts ' .,; established, by, businessmen from Mauritius, .Zimbabwe and. Ghana,, This .. : .mission revealed that soae of the orders placed ,f,or. imports, frpm.... . ■,..

;;..■...-.■ Airdca^.were^being executed, but. that, other .African .suppliers., had < ■; . . -, not been able to provide complete specifications for their export

■ ; . " ^commodities;.. ■■ . ;■ . ■ : : '. ■ '■ . ' \ ..■■■■' - ■: ■ -1 ■ * =' '■ '

(ix) .. Preparation of the.fin:a,l report for .submission .to the Government pf .

the Netherlands through the Technical Assistance and Co-ordination . Office undertaken ras indicated in the progress report of July to

>■ ;...-■-. December 1982,' The project, was rescheduled for ^termination in .;, :

. ■ ,. .June 1983 instead of December 1982 -as originally ..approved...■ -This •.:

terminal report will also indicate other envisaged future action.in-

this area for consideration by the Government of the Netherlands and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa*

(b) Highlights from the reports of co°ordinatorss participants and 1 "; by other collaborators ■

(1) ' The ^ar °ast

In .the majority of the countries visited, in Asia, ■'the .business, counter parts .were ..mainly interested in the : African markets- for .their produc.ts.?...,

Nevertheless possibilities of .mutually beneficial trade.were explored .and identified^ Furthermores the African businessmen found a willingness, in-:the

countries visited to evolve some form of participation in joint ventures with

african businessmen especially in industrys agriculture and fisheries both

on a small or medium scale.

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Some of the African businessmen like those from Zambia and Kenya derived consider able business prospects because they had earlier been to some of the countries visited.

For most organizations and individuals met in the Far East, it was their first time to see non-governmental African businessmen in their towns. Information about African countries as exporters of non-primary arid primary commodities was distorted, even though a few had trading contacts with Africa already. There is therefore a need to bridge the information gap that exists between businessmen in Africa and the Far East.

(2) The Near East . .

The tour of the Middle East was quite successful with regards to export orders for certain products such as furniture, cut flowers and ready garments. It has been confirmed that trial orders of more than US$700,000 were received by businessmen from Mauritius.

Africa's non-traditional exports in the Middle East Market are victims of the dumping practices of the developed world suppliers. Africa's high cost of production as well as prejudices against African products also work against African export prospects

in the initial stages.

Businessmen of the visited countries are unaware of potentialities existing in Africa in the field of investment and production. To remedy this situation, it is

necessary: '■

- to have a data bank on African investment projects, investment codes and

incentives at EGA;

- that tours of Arab business executives and investors are organized in several African countries after thorough preparations at the.African level;

- that the Arab chambers of commerce should be associated with efforts undertaken to strengthen and unite African chambers of'commerce. It is suggested that chambers of the countries visited be invited as observers to the constitutive meeting of the Federation of African Chambers of Commerce to be held in

Morocco in 1983; :■■.--.■

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So far, Afro-Arab co-operation has been restricted to government relations. It was observed in the Gulf countries (particularly in Kuwait) that there were pressures from the private-sector requesting that aid-'from the Arab public sector:be'linked "to the: : access of.Arab private-capital to aid-countries ! productive activities, hence, the'

necessity of looking carefully into private .sector approaches. " ,.■■-■

Most-Arab .countries with funds to invest in Africa .are not able to do so because

the-prospecting African businessmen rarely present good or attractive feasibility

■studies. - ' ' ■ '

.-':-■■■ ;..-Air and sea links "between the Middle East and Africa should be strengthened so that they would accommodate trade increase between the 2 regions.

One African country (Mauritius) is considering opening up consular offices and establishing direct air link with certain Gulf States. The attached clipping sent by the UNDP Resident Coordinator in Mauritius helps to confirm this very point.

(3) Latin America

The discussions held in Latin America enabled ECA to pinpoint areas requiring differentiation of treatment in terms of the Latin American's disposition to African countries as.trading partners: countries on the Atlantic (Brazil and Argentina) showed

greater.receptivity and motivation.unlike their counterparts on the. Pacific side (Chile and Colombia) . ... ■...■..-, .: ■

.Envisaged follow-up joint ..action by ECA and EC LA was discussed in Santiago at the end of the mission. It was decided that FXLA would submit ;to ECA a draft project

document focussing attention on specific pilot projects based in part on some of the impressions gained during the tour. Follow-up activities suggested in the light of the above include inter alia selection of products' cr groups of products with good export potential, that is to say with important and increasing offer and demand; undertaking of supply and demand studies for those products in close collaboration with the respective chambers of commerce and industry as well as the ministries of commerce and industry;

organizing specific export promotion programmes; improvement of relations between

African and Latin American chambers of commerce; greater use of export trading companies,

and study of export financing and credit insurance mechanisms.

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VI. Results of the project

Tables included.to this report show seme of the results achieved by virtue of implementing the project in each of the three areas of Asia*and the Far East,, the Middle East"and Latin America visited by the selected African businessmen. This indicative list of results is based on evidence recorded in the reports of individual' participants, co-ordinators and from information received or obtained during the course of the advisory niissions undertaken as part of the last part of phase III. Some of business deals can not be reported upon because the individual concerns require that the project respect a certain degree of secrecy. African businessmen who participated in the tour to the Far East, the Middle East aad Latin America have written reports in

which they express their observations on achievements, difficulties and recommendations

for follow-up actions: ■ : . ■ .■■■..■■

(i) '■ Achievements' : ' .■■■■.■.■.■■

(a) The most significant achievement was the fact that African : '. •■■■.

businessmen established direct contacts with their counterparts in Latin America, Middle East and Far East. Both sides were keen to deepen and continue these contacts. Contacts in Korea generated a lot of interest for joint ventures with African countries, in

particular for the Zambian market; ..:.

(b) The second achievement consisted of concrete business deals between..

African businessmen and their counterparts in the visited countries.

For instance, securing of substantial export orders for garments, . flowers, handcarved furniture by the Mauritius delegation. Similarly,

the possibility of Zimbabwe exporting trial orders.of electirc motors and the confirmation of agents willing to act on.behalf, of.African ..

exporters; . ...

(c) . The project activities imparted marketing skills to the-'African businessmen who were included in the programme; ' "

(d) Countries such as .Mauritius and Zimbabwe -have already, undertaken to "

implement .some of the recommendations made by the irrespective" --r I ■■' ■ participants. Mauritius has -since received financial' support■ froirf'--'?

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the Commonwealth Secretariat for necessary follow up on the EGA . initiative in .the Middle .East;' "This was'stated1 by "the Mauritius

Minister of Foreign Affairs,' Mr. Anvil Hayan in'Week-End on 3 May 1983,

(ii) Difficulties

(a) It was not possible to visit'all the countries of the participants'

first preference due in part to the difficulty of reconciling the

distances involved against the constraint of the budget and time.

Consequently, the countries finally selected were those which had the higher number of preferences by a majority of participants and those which the project officers considered showed a good potential

■ '"for initial expert possibilities.

(b) English was the language used in most of the places visited. The French-speaking participants complained of not being able to follow all the discussions despite the fact that the co-ordinatcrs provided

some interpretation. This difficulty is one which1the French-speaking

African countries may have to find their own solutions, especially if they are bent on exporting into markets which do not use French as the main commercial language. Alternately, they could be assisted by the project with' the inclusion of an official interpreter.

(c) Experience again bore out the fact that 2 or 3 days were insufficient

■ ■- : for-deep and wide ranging business contacts,, especially with certain industrialized countries such as India and the'"Republic of Korea. A longer period'of-a week or more'for sofne1 of the countries would seem 'quite;-' reasonable'/ "'"" ' " ' ' ' "■' ' "

(d) Many developing African businessmen failed to attract investments for joint ventures because they did'not have properly formulated

■projects. ' : " ■ '

(e) ' As'pointed out by the'participant from Cameroon in hfs report, there was an information gap regarding trade potentials and co-operation possibilities between the guests and the hosts.

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^y^ipg en£ry visas in some of

greatly reduced the expected results.of the project.

^

(g) More preparatory time at EGA should have been allowed for.

This would have enabled the project officers to "complete arrangements for the participation of .business representatives nominated by

Morocco, Nigeria and the Central African...Republic. ■

Summary of conclusions based on above reports

(a) The tours have indeed been an eye-opener of trade potentials for African businessmen who participated therein. They should be

encouraged, continued and expanded;

(b) The concerned governments should extend continuous support for the implementation of interregional trade expansion and technical

co-operation programme;

(c) The regional economic commissions should continue to assist the private sector.and the governments in implementing trade expansion

programmes among developing countries;

(d) Given the fierce price competition among developing countries for . similar exports (e.g. Ghanean timber versus- timber, from Chile) in

the Middle. East, African countries' costs.of production have to be eonside-rably redyeed, otherwise they will never be able to

penetrate markets in the Middle East for such products;

(e) Businessmen and enterprises in the countries visited.in Asia and the Far East, Middle East and Latin America are. not. well informed about existing investment potentialities in Africa. Hence,

investment promotion should be more carefully considered in the

future tours. Secondly., African countries seem to be less prepared

in attracting foreign investment because few ever take with them

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concrete proposals in terras of feasibility studies on the projects on which foreign investment is required. The project should assist these countries with project

formulation. . . . .'

(f) Savings from the project could be used for specific follow up' activities on the basis of the reports of participants, these ':' "' could include follow up on co-operation in small and medium

scale joint ventures. For example, the joint project of

manufacturing exercise books and soft paper by Michael Atabcng

of Cameroon with some Singaporean or Korean businessmen.

Similarly, the project of manufacturing rattan furniture by Omar Sokhna of Senegal with a Thai firm. BotH projects and those by the Mauritius had been discussed during the tour.

VII. : Conclusions ■■ ■ ■ " ;. .. ■ ■

There have been many signs which indicate that the African Businessmen's Tours to the Far East, Middle East and Latin America has had some tangible concrete results.

This is confirmed both by the observed follow-up .actions taking, place. It is also evident from some of the orders which have been placed by some Asian and Middle East businessmen in Africa and vice-versa. The question of follow up on joint ventures

proposals in case of Sudan, Zambia and _ and Mauritius are being

studied by both parties. .. ■ ■ - - . .

For instance, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mauritius declared in "Week-End"

•on 8 May 1983 that with the assistance of the Commonwealth funds,.a mission of businessmen of Mauritius were due in Saudi Arabia as a government strategy for finding import markets.

The 0i?©etor of the Office of Tourism, Mr. Cyul vandamotoo -> *** gone to Saudi Arabia as an advance party. The clipping of the Minister's statement was supplied to EGA by the UNDP Resident Co-ordinator as he thought this was a follow-up to the 1982 ECA~s?onsored

African businessmen tour which is the subject of this report.

16 -

African businessmen who participated in the tours have reported an exchange of correspondence with their counterparts in the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific and Latin America. Some Mauritius enterprises (cake decoration) have visited the Middle East; the Zambia participant has since returned tc some Asian countries to follow up on the initial contacts.

These few concrete results are sufficiently illustrative worthiness of this

project. Some of these activities are only the beginning because we have not been able.

to record all the transactions which have taken place since then. The full impact of those tours cannot reasonablly be assessed in such a short space of time. Trade promotion.demands in certain cases, long gestation periods. The experience gained by

the participants and the extent to which such experience will be put in enhancing

interregional trade cannot be assessed in 3 to 4 years from now.

The African chambers of commerce"which sent their members in the tours consider the experience to have been a great eye-opener for their members. They are keen to repeat the exercise and they expressed a wish to the Economic Commission for Africa to continue rendering assistance to them in this field.

Similarly, correspondence by Asian businessmen also indicates appreciation of the benefits derived from such direct contacts with African businessmen. Many have

therefore expressed the wish that more frequent and regular contacts should be encouraged between them and their African counterparts. ' '

The extent of commitment by participants and their sponsors to this project has already been indicated in the Progress Report covering the period 1 July to

31 December 1982 already submitted to the Netherlands Government. In this connection,

it has been observed■that participants and their sponsors contributed about US$112,246 representing about 80 per cent of the total cost. ;

=!"/■

VIII. Recommendations

1. On the basis of these initial results, the project lias certainly succeeded in fulfilling both its long and immediate objectives in promoting trade expansion and technical co-operation between Africa and the other developing regions. It is therefore, quite important that the momentum should not be lost and that additional African countries should also be assisted on similar lines in 1984 and after. In addition, this opinion is shared by all parties notably ECCA, ECWA, ESCAF, UNCTAD and participants from member Statess involved in this project,

2O Savings from the 1982 project could be judiciously used in?

(a) organizing missions to African countries which participated in

the tours to assess the concrete follow-up actions that resulted from, the tours in question;

(b) examining the results of the whole exercise with the chambers of

commerce, especially the most dynamic ones such as the Mauritius Chamber of Commerce and Industry which sent 11 of its members to the Middle East tour and similarly the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce;

(c) formulating feasibility project studies for securing or

attracting foreign investment.

Annex

Synopsis of results of African businessmen's tour of Latin America

LatinAmerican countries African countries CentralAfrican Republic Kenya Morocco

Argentina' Nonparticipation The2countries examinedthe promotionoftrade betweenthem through:trade contacts,transport facilities,trade financingand jointventures. Nonparticipation

Nonparticipation The2countries examinedthe promotionof tradebetween themthrough: tradecontacts, transport facilities,trade financingand jointventures Nonparticipation

Chile Nonparticipation The2countries examinedthe promotionoftrade betweenthem through:trade contracts, transport facilities,trade financingand jointventures Nonparticipation

Colombia Nonparticipation The2countries examinedthe promotionoftrade betweenthem through:trade contacts,transport facilities,trade. financingand jointventures. Nonparticipation

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Synopsis of results of African businessmen's tour of the Far East

FarEast countries African countries Cameroon

India n.a.

Philippines Kenys Senegal

n.a

rv,a.

Republic ofKoreaSingapore n.a n.a.

Orderof.automobileJoint-.venture batteriesfromDOOSAMforthenanu- facturingof exercisebooks andtoilet papers n.a. n.a.

n.a. anorderof rattanworth FCFA20000000 fromSingapore anorderof corocodileand snakeskins frothSingapore wasbeing examinedr

Thailand n.a, n.a, joint venturein corocodile growingand inrattan furniture making Sudan4t,Hassan,Chairman, fArabicGumCompany fSudanvisited ombay■-■■---

Mr.Hassan,Chair manofArabicGum CompanyofSudan ;isitedManila

Mr.OsmanA.Yagoub contactedSAMSUNG CORFORATIONexplor- inpossiblebusin essdeals Mr.Hassan,Chair manArabicGum Singapore;order edonethousand cattleof:live stockatUS$650 each Mr.Hassan,Cahir man,ArabicGum CompanyofSudan visitedSingapore

Mr.Hassan Chairman, Arabic GumCompnay ofSudan visited Bangkok

-3- SynopsisofresultsofAfricanbusinessmen'stouro£theMiddleEast <NV>MiddleEast vJpountries African"<xw countries_"\ Ghana Mauritius Zimbabwe

AbeDhabi -C'hanaeanpricesarenot competitive -rarkettoosmallfor investmentinexport activities OrderofMauritian furnitureandgarment -brochuresillustrating Zimbabweanproducts iavebeenprintedand senttoAbuDhabi --Jsasuresarebeing [consideredtoreduce :nstsofZimbabwean iroductsandmake :hemcompetitive

Ohubai -Ghanaeanpricesarenot competitive -constructionindustry inresessionthus impossibleto exporttimber OrderofMauritian furnitureandparment -Brochuresillustrating Zimbabweanproducts printedandsentto Dhubai

Kuwait -Ghanaeanpricesare notcompetitive -localagentneeded tomarketGhanaean ■products -OrdersofMauritian furnituresready- madegarmentsand cut-flowers. -GeneralManagerof Afro-ArabCompany forinvestmentin Africawouldvisit Mauritiustofind outinvestment opportunities -Localagentidenti fiedformarketing- Zimbabweanelectrical raotors. -Brochuresillustratir Zimbabweanproducts printedandsentto Kuwait. -Measuresbeingconsic tomakeZimbabwean productscompetitive inKuwait|^Saudi

Arabia -■Ghanaeanprices arenot competitive -localagent neededto marketGhanaean products -Openingair-link MauritiussJeddah -OpeningMauritius officeinJeddah -Touristicrelations beingconsidered n.a. L *g iered