Caribbean Trade Law and Development

Tag: africa

  • ACP Trade Ministers demand ‘concrete outcomes’ at upcoming WTO MC11

    ACP Trade Ministers demand ‘concrete outcomes’ at upcoming WTO MC11

    Alicia Nicholls

    Trade ministers and other representatives from the 79-member Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries added their voices to demands for ‘concrete outcomes’ at the upcoming World Trade Organisation’s Eleventh Ministerial Conference (WTO MC11). Preparations for the upcoming WTO MC11 was one of several topics discussed by ACP trade representatives at their 20th ACP Ministerial Trade Committee meeting held in Brussels on 18-19 October last week.

    According to the press release from the meeting, the ACP representatives  reiterated the need for a development-friendly and robust MC11 work programme which recognized differences between developed, developing and least developed countries and whose outcomes were aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

    Reaffirming their commitment to the multilateral trading system, they also called for “inclusiveness, consensus and transparency in all WTO decision-making processes, as well as careful framing of any reform evaluation of the WTO to ensure that the interests of all countries are protected”. Guyana was chosen to be the spokesperson for the ACP Group at the Ministerial which will take place in Buenos Aires December 10-13, 2017.

    In a speech delivered at the ACP meeting, the WTO’s Director General, Roberto Azevedo, acknowledged the important role ACP countries have played in shaping the WTO’s work.

    Mr. Azevedo gave a brief status report on the WTO’s preparatory work for the upcoming Ministerial Conference, lauding the ACP countries for being at the “forefront” of these discussions. He noted that although there were some positive signs, the many gaps to bridge meant that there was still much work ahead with respect to the negotiations.  He further reiterated that in order to achieve concrete results in Buenos Aires, “more focused engagement and negotiation will be required to quickly identify areas of convergence”.

    In the meeting which was chaired by the Hon. Carl Greenidge, Vice President and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, ACP trade representatives also focused on several  other topics of importance to ACP countries’ trade, including enhancing trade among ACP countries and trade issues with the European Union (EU).

    The ACP press release also notes that ACP representatives have committed to “increased integration, unity and solidarity” among ACP countries, including taking more “joint ACP approaches to trade and development”.

    The press release from the ACP can be read here.

    The WTO Director-General’s full speech can be read here.

    Alicia Nicholls, B.Sc., M.Sc., LL.B., is a trade and development consultant with a keen interest in sustainable development, international law and trade. You can also read more of her commentaries and follow her on Twitter @LicyLaw.

  • Inaugural Africa Regional Integration Index Launched

    Alicia Nicholls

    “ The Vision of the African Union is to
    become an integrated, prosperous and
    peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens
    and representing a dynamic force in the
    global arena.”
    African Union Agenda 2063

    In a not insignificant milestone in the thrust towards a united African continent, the African Union Commission, along with the African Development Bank (AfDB),and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA),  launched the inaugural Africa Regional Integration Index  last Sunday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia during Africa Development Week.

    Recognising that integration is key for securing prosperity and development for the continent’s peoples and promoting economic growth, the African Union has made it no secret that it plans to deepen the continent’s integration imperative, with plans for a continental free trade area by 2017. The African Union’s Agenda 2063 “sets out the vision for Africa’s integration path over the next 50 years” and is complemented by the Regional Integration Policy and Strategy (2014-2023) developed by the African Development Bank Group.

    However, significant data gaps on the current levels of integration and their impact on countries within the continent exist. The inaugural African Regional Integration Index 2016 aims to remedy this lacuna by providing a monitoring and evaluation mechanism, with the concomitant aim of facilitating evidence-based regional policy making.

    The current report focuses on the member countries of the 8 regional economic communities (RECs) recognised by the African Union: Community of Sahel–Saharan States (CEN–SAD),  Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), East African Community (EAC), Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Arab Maghreb Union (UMA).

    The analysis is based on five dimensions (regional infrastructure, trade integration, financial and macroeconomic integration, productive integration and free movement of people) and 16 indicators.

    Findings

    The report shows that the EAC (consisting of Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda) has the highest level of integration among the RECs and “has higher than average scores
    across each Dimension of Regional integration, except for financial and macroeconomic integration”. Overall, it found that trade integration had the highest scores while financial and macroeconomic integration had the lowest. Another interesting finding was that the biggest economies, such as Nigeria, Egypt and Algeria, were not among the best integrated.

    In his foreword to the report, Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Erastus Mwencha,noted that

    Findings show that while progress is being made, with 28 high
    performing countries across the eight Regional Economic Communities, average
    integration scores stand at below half of the scale. It is time for Africa to build on this
    and drive regional integration ever further forward.

    African integration still has a long way to go and many of the challenges facing Africa in its integration efforts are not dissimilar to those we share in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). For instance, similar to CARICOM, Africa countries’ major trading partners are not each other but are external. Intra-African trade currently constitutes around 12% of total African trade, lagging behind other regional groupings. A myriad of logistical and other challenges have served as barriers to intra-African trade and a continental FTA would be a solution to removing many of these barriers.

    I believe this index initiative is a laudable step, even more so that the results have been made available to the public. To know where one needs to go, one needs to know where one stands and the empirical data contained in this stocktaking report are an important first step in both measuring and monitoring the pace and impact of integration on the countries included and should serve as a basis on which reforms and policy decisions concerning the region can be made. It is something which we in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), whose  experimentation with integration predates Africa’s, should consider emulating as we seek to reform our own integration process.

    The full report may be accessed here.

    Alicia Nicholls, B.Sc., M.Sc., LL.B. is a trade and development consultant with a keen interest in sustainable development, international law and trade. You can also read more of her commentaries and follow her on Twitter @LicyLaw.