Development and building trade capacity

Trade facilitation is central to Africa’s competitiveness in the global economy. Costs related to trade facilitation make up a significant proportion of overall trade-related costs, which in Africa are higher than in any other developing region. This acts as a barrier for the integration of African countries into global markets, as well as greater intra-African integration. Improving trade facilitation is essential for lowering costs for African agricultural producers as Read More

De plus en plus de personnes s’accordent à penser que le facteur ayant eu la plus forte incidence sur le commerce ces dernières années est l’introduction de technologies nouvelles et innovantes. L’évolution des technologies de l’information, de par sa vitesse et son intensité, a une incidence sur le commerce et plus généralement sur notre vie quotidienne comme jamais auparavant. Elle a rendu possible des interactions entre les humains, entre les humai Read More

The nature of technology used in products plays a major role in determining the governance structure of value chains and the benefits of participation for developing countries. Standardization through breaking production into modules with a high degree of functional autonomy (limited mutual interference between modules) can dramatically reduce the amount of research and development (R&D), learning by doing, and the number of complementar Read More

Structural transformation is imperative for Africa’s economies. An unprecedented policy unanimity has emerged amongst African government and business leaders that to achieve sustained growth and development, Africa must industrialize and secure a greater share of the benefits of its participation in global value chains. This requires further advances in a programme for ‘development integration’ that simultaneously combines market integration with Read More

The World Trade Report has been written under the general direction of Patrick Low, Director of the Economic Research and Statistics Division. The main authors of the Report are Bijit Bora, K. Michael Finger, Marion Jansen, Alexander Keck, Patrick Low, Hildegunn Nordas, Roberta Piermartini and Robert Teh. Trade statistics and tariff information were provided by the Statistics Group of the Economic Research and Statistics Division, co-ordinated by Guy Read More

This year’s World Trade Report looks at how trade and other forces of change are affecting our world. It combines contemporary analysis with conjecture about the future. The approach is eclectic, reflecting many different forces at work. The intermingling of these drivers of change is multidirectional and complex, and the pace of change is rapid.

International trade rebounded in 2002 from its contraction in the preceding year, growing at about 2.5 per cent in volume terms, which was faster than the growth of global output. The rebound occurred despite the weakness of the global economic recovery, greatly reduced capital flows, major changes in exchange rates, increased restrictions on international trade transactions to mitigate risks from terrorism, and rising geopolitical tensions. Trade g Read More

Following the so-called “Asian option” of transition, from the early 1990s Viet Nam adopted the Doi Moi (renovation) process, a combination of liberalization, stabilization and structural reforms. This included two main waves of trade liberalization, one in the 1990s and a second in the 2000s (Coello at al., 2010). The first wave lasted from the initial opening of the country until approximately 2001 and foresaw the total abolition of trade licences and the removal Read More

Although small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) represent the vast majority of firms worldwide, their participation in international trade remains limited relative to their share of overall economic activity and employment as compared to large firms. The rise of the digital economy could, however, open a range of new opportunities for small firms to play a more active role in global value chains (GVCs). This chapter reviews evidence of SME participation in Read More