Development and building trade capacity
Varieties of informality
The distinction between formal and informal employment is somewhat fuzzy. Instead of a single universally accepted concept there are many different and often competing views which are refl ected in a multiplicity of defi nitions. These in turn are linked to the plurality of methodologies that are used to quantify informal activities. This chapter presents existing views and defi nitions as well as an integrated approach which is currently emerging based on the idea of multi-segmented labour markets.
Global growth, trade and poverty: The macro links
The relationship between economic growth poverty reduction and trade is not a simple one. Although great progress has been made in reducing the number of people living in extreme poverty due in large part to the rapidly growing participation of developing countries in the global economy nearly one billion people still live on less than $1.25 per day.
The digital creative economy and trade: strategic options for developing countries
The creative sector is an important source of growth in the global economy and digital creative trade has increased sharply in recent years and particularly in the context of COVID-19. Digital content is replacing physical goods in the sector for example in music books and gaming. Digital aggregators like Amazon Apple Netflix Spotify TikTok and YouTube have fuelled rapid growth and diversified earnings towards streaming ad-supported income and data monetization. Copyright revenues are also rising and the share of digital collections is the fastest growth segment. Participation in the sector by developing countries appears to be increasing although data availability is poor. To reap the potential benefits of the digital creative economy developing countries should support a shift from the typical low value-added stand-alone practitioner industry model to a strategic collaborative approach that facilitates higher levels of creative and digital entrepreneurship. This will require a stronger legal and institutional framework to improve leverage and monetize copyright financial support for the commercialization of creative activities government involvement in business support services (e.g. training incubators innovation labs market incubators cluster development and market development programmes) the creation of enabling institutions to represent the interests of creative workers and firms and the harmonization of government policies towards the sector.
The Poverty Impact of Modernising Dar es Salaam Port
This study assesses the likely impact of the modernization of the Port of Dar es Salaam on household welfare and poverty in Tanzania and neighboring countries. Trade volumes in Tanzania increased more than 10% per year in the last decade and international trade has been one of the engines of growth in the country. However the current state of Dar es Salaam port is a severe constraint on further growth. Increasing the efficiency of the port is a key challenge; container vessels have to wait an average of more than 10 days before berthing and dwell times average another 10 days. The costs associated with the inefficiencies in the port are partially related to congestion. The situation is more critical for imports than for exports; the inefficiencies act as an implicit tax on imports and to a lesser extent as a tax on exports (Morisset 2013).
Prospects for multilateral trade cooperation
This section explores the relevance of current trade rules – as well as the need for new approaches to trade cooperation – in light of the forces that are currently re-shaping international trade. It suggests that the multilateral trading system will need to adjust to developments in trade and in the trading environment – as it has done repeatedly in the past – and reviews proposals for updating the WTO’s agenda and governance. The section starts with a short overview of key trade developments within the broader socio-economic context – especially the rise of global supply chains the general shift of trade power away from the West and towards Asia and other emerging economies as well as the changing nature composition and direction of trade. It then highlights some of the main challenges facing the WTO and how they could be addressed.
Building Capacity in Africa to Facilitate Integration into Global Value Chains: Contributions from the ITC
While Africa’s share of global value-added trade has increased significantly during the past 20 years connecting African small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to value chains and turning the support for greater intra-African trade into a reality remains challenging. Ensuring that the trade discourse is fully integrated into this development story is critical and countries especially those that have recently acceded have to be supported to recognise and take advantage of the global trading system and their WTO membership. To place a spotlight on trade-led growth for SMEs the International Trade Centre (ITC) launched its SME Competitiveness Outlook in 2015. This flagship publication identified three key determinants of SMEs’ ability to integrate into value chains: their ability to compete connect and change. The ITC’s capacity-building interventions which have a strong focus on African countries are centred on helping SMEs become more competitive and connect to value chains to drive the continent’s sustainable economic development.
Mainstreaming trade for industrial development in Africa
The Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) works with African LDCs to mainstream trade priorities for national development and build trade-related institutional and productive capacity. In line with UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 9 “Build resilient infrastructure promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation” the EIF not only supports targeted agro-processing projects but also the active integration of trade dimensions in existing national policy strategies. Sectors that have mainstreamed trade into their strategies include infrastructure industry agriculture tourism energy environment information and communications technology and transport. Policy development and implementation are fostered through strong coordination and engagement mechanisms.
Investment and Trade Rules: Increasing the Stock of African Foreign Direct Investment Flows
Trade can be a powerful engine for development. But harnessing trade for development in Africa requires investment to foster lasting economic transformation. Investment therefore is key to unlocking the potential of trade-led growth. While flows of foreign direct investment (FDI) into Africa paint a familiar picture of the dominance of extractive industries the reality is more nuanced and promising. The fact that FDI stocks in Africa are geared towards the burgeoning services sector offers immense potential for countries in Africa to access and climb regional and global value chains; however unless interrelated policy challenges are addressed Africa will not be able to optimize the benefits of FDI. Combined with efforts at national and regional levels the WTO should be better used by African countries to properly exploit the trade-investment nexus for the achievement of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
African Union Priorities at the WTO
The African Union’s (AU) priorities at the WTO reflect the priorities of the WTO’s African member states that the multilateral trading system should contribute to the economic development of their economies through the elaboration of equitable fair and development-friendly rules. The position of the AU is consistent with the recently adopted United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which also see trade as being critical to achieving the goal of eradicating extreme poverty everywhere. The AU’s priority is therefore to see WTO outcomes that serve to facilitate the structural economic transformation and development of developing and least-developed African countries in line with the vision of the African Union’s Agenda 2063.
The social dimension of trade in the SDGs
Trade plays a critical role in addressing hunger food security nutrition and sustainable agriculture contributing to healthy lives and wellbeing employment and growth.
S’engager dans l’économie numérique : questions et enjeux liés à l’établissement d’une feuille de route pour le commerce électronique en Indonésie
La présente étude porte sur les questions structurelles et pratiques qui se posent à la suite de l’adoption de la feuille de route pour le commerce électronique en Indonésie (2017–2019) et sur les conséquences sur l’avenir de l’économie numérique du pays. Deux grandes catégories de questions sont examinées pour identifier les problèmes et les difficultés rencontrés par les parties prenantes concernées. La première catégorie c’est-àdire celle des questions structurelles s’inscrit dans le contexte plus large de la gestion de l’économie numérique du pays à laquelle les activités de commerce électronique sont liées. Le contexte de la gestion comprend le contexte juridique et réglementaire le mécanisme d’institutionnalisation et les phases de mise en oeuvre dans le cadre desquelles des interactions socioéconomiques et politicoéconomiques ont lieu entre les acteurs clés. La deuxième catégorie concerne les dimensions pratiques qui comprennent les questions liées à la réduction des écarts et à l’adaptation aux concepts aux modèles et aux pratiques de l’économie numérique. La position de l’Indonésie concernant le moratoire sur le commerce électronique et les initiatives locales en matière d’économie numérique sont présentées pour illustrer les efforts déployés par les parties intéressées pour réduire les écarts dans les domaines où des désaccords et des négociations sur certaines questions politiques structurelles et pratiques ont émergé par exemple la position de l’Indonésie sur le moratoire de l’Organisation mondiale du commerce (OMC) sur le commerce électronique et les initiatives locales (telles que celles de Yogyakarta) visant à faire progresser l’économie numérique.
Introduction
Digital innovations are transforming the global economy. The decline in search and information costs rapid growth of new products and markets and emergence of new players ushered in by digital technologies have the promise of boosting global trade flows including exports from developing countries. At the same time digital technologies are also threatening privacy and security worldwide while developing countries that lack the tools to compete in the new digital environment are in danger of being left even further behind. This book from the World Trade Organization (WTO) Chairs members of the Advisory Board and WTO Secretariat staff examines what the rapid adoption of digital technologies will mean for trade and development and the role that domestic policies and international cooperation can play in creating a more prosperous and inclusive future.
Integrating into the multilateral trading system and global value chains: The case of Russia
For most countries foreign trade makes a critical contribution to the national economy and the Russian Federation is no exception to this. Over the last five years the world economy has been strongly affected by the global economic crisis which also seriously affected the Russian economy in general and its foreign trade in particular.
Las cadenas de bloques en el comercio internacional: ¿una forma de avanzar en la promoción económica de las mujeres?
La tecnología de la cadena de bloques parece sumamente prometedora para impulsar la participación de las mujeres en el comercio internacional. El anonimato y la eficiencia de las cadenas de bloques podrían ayudar a que muchas mujeres que de lo contrario se verían frenadas por la ley los hábitos o los elevados costos puedan participar en transacciones financieras y comerciales. Las cadenas de bloques se pueden utilizar para permitir a las mujeres que carecen de documentos de identidad realizar transacciones que en caso contrario requerirían una identificación oficial y demostrar que son titulares de los activos de que se trate sin la intervención de miembros masculinos de su familia. Pueden ayudar a las mipymes más del 30% de las cuales son propiedad de mujeres a afrontar los costos asociados a la exportación e importación y a interactuar fácilmente con los consumidores otras empresas que participan en la cadena de suministro agentes de aduanas y organismos de reglamentación. Pueden ayudar también a las mujeres agricultoras a acceder a más información sobre los cultivos y las condiciones del mercado mejorando así su capacidad de negociación. Sin embargo si las cadenas de bloques no se reglamentan adecuadamente su mayor utilización también podría hacer aumentar el rendimiento relativo de unos conocimientos tecnológicos sofisticados que con mayor probabilidad poseerán los hombres y ahondar así la brecha digital entre hombres y mujeres. La Organización Mundial del Comercio (OMC) podría desempeñar una función esencial al elaborar directrices de uso de las cadenas de bloques en el comercio internacional a fin de favorecer la adopción eficiente e inclusiva de la tecnología de la cadena de bloques.
Technology transfer for cotton by-products development in eight African LDCs
Cotton is a vital cash crop for many African LDCs as it provides income for an estimated 4 million farmers and their families where 17 per cent of those farmers are women. Sub-Saharan African countries export more than 90 per cent of the raw cotton lint they produce; these countries earned approximately US$ 15.5 billion in 2018 for over 1.5 million metric tonnes of lint.
L’évaluation de la mise en oeuvre de la facilitation des échanges à l’ère du commerce électronique : une analyse comparative de la Jordanie, d’Oman et de Hong Kong, Chine
L’émergence du commerce électronique entraîne d’importants changements dans les pratiques en matière de commerce international. Il apparaît désormais clairement que les améliorations apportées à la mise en oeuvre de la facilitation des échanges devraient être appuyées par des systèmes électroniques. Dans le cadre de l’étude comparative de plusieurs rapports publiés par des organisations internationales – la Banque mondiale la Conférence des Nations Unies sur le commerce et le développement (CNUCED) l’Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques (OCDE) et l’Union internationale des télécommunications (UIT) – concernant des questions liées au commerce électronique à la logistique et à la facilitation des échanges nous avons examiné la situation et les résultats de la Jordanie d’Oman et de Hong Kong Chine. D’après cette analyse Hong Kong Chine témoigne de pratiques parmi les plus exemplaires pour ce qui est de la modernité des processus en matière de facilitation des échanges et de douanes et nous avons constaté que la volonté des pouvoirs publics permettait d’accélérer la mise en oeuvre des dispositions sur la facilitation des échanges. La Jordanie et Oman ont récemment entrepris des réformes commerciales visant à faciliter les échanges mais ils doivent encore combler l’écart qui existe entre la politique et la pratique dans l’ensemble des organisations gouvernementales en matière de facilitation des échanges et de commerce électronique et un renforcement des capacités des citoyens est également nécessaire. En améliorant la mise en oeuvre des mesures de facilitation des échanges et en renforçant leurs capacités en matière de commerce électronique à l’image de Hong Kong Chine la Jordanie et Oman parviendront à une prospérité commerciale portée par l’économie numérique mondiale.