Bénin

This second joint Review of Benin Burkina Faso and Mali has allowed the TPRB to assess developments since 2004 in their trade and related policies and to enquire about future priorities. I would like to thank Minister Diallo and the three delegations for their hard work in preparing for the Review their written replies to the questions and their full and open participation in this meeting. I am also grateful to our discussant Ambassador Wasescha of Switzerland for his farsighted observations.

This second joint review of Guinea and Mauritania the fourth for Guinea and the third for Mauritania has enabled us to assess the changes in their trade policies and practices and the effects thereof on their economies since 2011. Our discussions have benefited from the participation of H.E. Ms Naha Mint Hamdi Ould Mouknass Minister for Trade Industry and Tourism and head of the delegation of Mauritania and Ms Fanta Cisse Secretary General of the Ministry of Trade and head of the delegation of Guinea. I am also grateful to H.E. Mr Alberto Sanz for his contribution as the discussant and to the Members for their commitment to this review.

Since 2006 Benin has benefited from the United States Government initiative the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) programme. In Benin the main component of this programme is the Access to Markets Project through which 61 per cent of MCA subsidies are directed towards improving port operations and infrastructures. The aim of this chapter is to assess the potential effects of these trade facilitation reforms over the project period. Based on performance indicators this chapter shows an increase in goods traffic via the Cotonou Port Authority (CPA) by an average 13.65 per cent annually. The Granger causality test is applied to establish a relationship between aid and the time taken to process import containers as well as the quantity of imports. The study shows that Aid for Trade (AfT) induces a significant decrease in the time taken for import container processing at CPA by an average 6.9 per cent annually. An econometric model of importing enables support for these correlations. We estimate the model with and without an MCA grant. Findings highlight an important increase in volume of imports when MCA aid is included in the model. These results show that an MCA grant contributed to improvement in the CPA’s performance and we suggest intensification of trade facilitation reforms at the CPA.

Este tercer examen de las políticas comerciales nos ha permitido conocer más a fondo las políticas de comercio e inversión del Ecuador en particular por lo que respecta a las reformas y los cambios introducidos desde el último examen realizado en 2011. Quiero dar las gracias a la delegación del Ecuador encabezada por el Sr. Diego Caicedo Viceministro de Comercio Exterior por su participación a lo largo de todo el proceso. También quiero dar las gracias a nuestro ponente Embajador Eduardo Sperisen-Yurt Representante Permanente de Guatemala ante la OMC por sus observaciones que ofrecen una base importante para este examen así como a las 33 delegaciones que han hecho uso de la palabra.