Développement et renforcement des capacités commerciales
Filter :
Aid for Trade and building trade capacity: The case of Morocco
The aim of this chapter is to examine the broad framework which has been evolved for the reception of Aid for Trade (AFT) in Namibia. The economic situation before this period included the prevalence of poverty the HIV/AIDS pandemic low educational opportunities and a very highly skewed or unequal distribution of the wealth of the country which has increased income inequalities and unsustainable economic growth as outlined in Namibia Vision 2030 (Namibia Office of the President 2004). In this regard Namibia shares this economic dependency at the regional level and most trade and economic relationships are mainly with Botswana Lesotho Swaziland and South Africa all of which are members of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) and Southern African Development Community (SADC). The objective is to create a free trade area in the Southern Africa region.
Integrating small African economies into global value chains through foreign aid: The case of Namibia
The aim of this chapter is to examine the broad framework which has been evolved for the reception of Aid for Trade (AFT) in Namibia. The economic situation before this period included the prevalence of poverty the HIV/AIDS pandemic low educational opportunities and a very highly skewed or unequal distribution of the wealth of the country which has increased income inequalities and unsustainable economic growth as outlined in Namibia Vision 2030 (Namibia Office of the President 2004). In this regard Namibia shares this economic dependency at the regional level and most trade and economic relationships are mainly with Botswana Lesotho Swaziland and South Africa all of which are members of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) and Southern African Development Community (SADC). The objective is to create a free trade area in the Southern Africa region.
The facilitation of trade by the rule of law: The cases of Singapore and ASEAN
Geography is unkind. This could be a result of historical accident wars or colonial boundaries but the results are the same. The classical definition of the factors of production is land labour and capital. It is a fact of life that some countries have a limited supply of all three.
Integrating small and medium-sized enterprises into global trade flows: The case of China
In China the term “small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)” refers to “different forms of enterprises under different ownerships that are established within the territory of the People’s Republic of China that meet the social needs and create more job opportunities and comply with the industrial policies of the State”. This definition is rather more complex than that in other countries where the definition of SMEs tends to be based purely on their size. It is nevertheless the case that in China also SMEs tend to be enterprises which have fewer employers lower sales volume and lower gross assets. Most Chinese enterprises are SMEs. Indeed they account for more than 98 per cent of industry and contribute to 60 per cent of China’s GDP 75 per cent of its industrial value-added output and 50 per cent of its revenue (as of June 2012). Chinese SMEs also provide for 75 per cent of China’s urban employment opportunities and absorb more than 50 per cent of the workers laid off from the state-owned enterprises. They employ more than 70 per cent of the new entrants to the labour market (Jianjun 2006). Hence Chinese SMEs play an important role in China’s economic development due to their contribution to GDP and the employment they create as well as their vigorous creative ability.
Foreword by the WTO Director-General
It is a central premise of the World Trade Organization (WTO) that trade drives growth and development. By liberalizing trade countries benefit not only from increased access to technology and consumer goods but also from the chance to find new markets and connect to global value chains. This can quickly translate into GDP growth and a rise in the standard of living. But why do some countries seem to benefit more – and more quickly – than others? That is the question that this book tries to answer.
Note on the WTO Chairs Programme
The WTO Chairs Programme (WCP) was launched in 2010 as a capacity-building project. It aims to enhance knowledge and understanding of the trading system among academics and policy makers in developing countries through curriculum development research and outreach activities by universities and research institutions. Information on the WCP is available at www.wto.org/wcp.
Value chain governance in export commodities: The case of Indonesia
Indonesia has been regarded as one of the success stories of developing countries escaping the resource curse (Rosser 2004; 2007). In many developing countries instead of becoming a source of economic growth abundant natural resources have been associated with stagnant growth a condition known as the resource curse or the paradox of plenty. As argued by Sachs and Warner (1997) economies with abundant natural resources have tended to grow less rapidly than those with scarce natural resources. Similarly the resource curse has been defined as “the phenomenon whereby a country with an export-driven natural resources sector generating large revenues for government leads paradoxically to economic stagnation and political instability” (ODI 2006). This chapter will review the efforts undertaken by Indonesia to diminish its dependency on natural resources and to better connect to global value chains (GVCs).
Introduction
Over the past decades trade flows have become increasingly global. Today South- South trade represents around one-half of global trade and the top ranks of major traders are not exclusively occupied by industrialized countries (OECD 2010). Trade now spans all major world regions and continues to grow within and across those regions. Trade also takes new forms as trade in goods is increasingly accompanied by trade in tasks. Capital flows more freely across regions and trade and capital flows together have contributed to an increased transfer of technological change across regions. There is a strong sense that companies and countries well integrated in these global networks are part of a virtuous circle involving technological progress and growth. Not being connected however can represent a very serious bottleneck for future growth and economic development.
Aid for Trade and export diversification: The case of Barbados
Although Morocco is one of the main beneficiaries of Aid for Trade (AFT) – the first in the Maghreb and among the top ten in the world – researchers and national academic experts have not shown much interest in it.
Aid for Trade and international cooperation for middle-income countries: the case of Chile
For many developing states which have experienced a substantial decline in their share of world trade and global value added Aid for Trade (AFT) initiatives have become a critical source of support in a context where these countries suffer from both market and government failure. As such the key issue is whether AFT programmes as currently configured are the right policy instrument or set of instruments to address the weak participation of developing countries in global trade and global value chains. In many regards the problem relates to an overdependence on a narrow range of exports (e.g. agricultural and resource-based commodities and low value-added manufacturing goods and services) that are faced with declining terms of trade tariff progressivity and diminishing economic returns (Reinert 2007). One of the key criticisms that has emerged is that the focus of AFT donors and relevant implementing agencies has been heavily weighted on the architecture of trade support programmes and not sufficiently on industrial upgrading and enterprise development (Cirera 2009).
Export diversification and economic growth: The case of Mauritius
The acceleration of global trade in the latter half of the 20th century has seen patterns of trade vastly differing from those predicted by classical trade theories built around perfect competition comparative advantage and constant returns to scale (Krugman 1980). Based on Adam Smith’s concept of division of labour and specialization for economic growth and development and the Heckscher-Ohlin Samuelson (HOS) model of international trade countries should specialize in producing those goods in which they have a comparative advantage. Recent literature instead has found that countries appear to diversify in terms of production and exports as they grow.
SPS standards and international competitiveness in Africa: The case of senegal
Despite a steady decline in its share of GDP and exports the agricultural sector continues to play an important role in African economies and in Senegal in particular where it employs approximately 60 per cent of the labour force. It accounts for a quarter of national public investment but contributed only 6 per cent to GDP between 2000 and 2009 (Ministère de l’Economie et des Finances du Sénégal 2011). Horticulture is one of the promising sectors as can be observed not only from a rapid growth strategy but also from many national agricultural development strategies because of the vast range of products included and the high level of income it generates for producers especially in urban and suburban areas. In addition Senegal has both a favourable climate and a good geographical position for the export of tropical off-season products. These factors have enabled the country to increase the production and export of fruit and vegetables significantly. Horticultural production has experienced a boom over the last ten years increasing from about 150000 to 228000 metric tons between 1992 and 2000 and to 429000 metric tons in 2007 an increase of 5.5 per cent per year. In 2008 the production of vegetables (excluding potatoes and fresh tomatoes) recorded a growth rate of 8 per cent and the production of fruit experienced a growth rate of 81 per cent. Accordingly exports have increased from 6175 metric tons in 1995 to 9000 metric tons in 2000 and 31000 metric tons in 2009 an increase of about 5.5 per cent per year. The main target markets for exports are neighbouring countries and the European Union (Ndoye-Niane 2004; Senegal National Agency of Statistics and Demography 2006–2010).
Barriers to trade: The case of Kenya
International trade is the exchange of capital goods and services across international borders or territories. Even though the WTO advocates trade opening many WTO members do not liberalize every sector of the economy and instead maintain certain barriers to trade. Many of these barriers take the form of non-tariff barriers (NTBs) i.e. discriminatory non-tariff measures (NTMs) imposed by governments to favour domestic over foreign suppliers (Nicita and Gourdon 2013). Barriers can also take the form of procedural obstacles i.e. obstacles related to the process of application of an NTM rather than the measure itself.
The role of international economic law in addressing climate change
Low- and middle-income countries face supply-side constraints such as technical capacities adequate hard infrastructure capacities human capital (above all knowhow) access to adequate credit and access to environmental goods and services that affect their capacity to address climate change and other environmental issues. This chapter discusses how the existing framework of international economic law may constrain the ability of low- or middle-income countries to overcome such supply-side constraints in order to address their or their trading partners’ environmental concerns regarding climate change and be included in global value chains. We will consider what should be done from a legal perspective what might be achieved and the likely implications of international economic law for acquiring and implementing environmentally friendly technologies and financing climate change mitigation and adaptation.
The potential economic impact of Aid for Trade in the MENA region: The case of Jordan
Many developing and least-developed countries (LDCs) remain on the margins of global trade attract limited foreign or domestic investment and have achieved only very limited success in the diversification of their supply of goods and services. Within the framework of Aid for Trade (AFT) attempts are being made to explore strategies to connect firms in developing countries and LDCs to international value chains. The World Trade Organization (WTO) has defined AFT as projects and programmes that have been identified as trade development priorities in the recipient country’s national development strategies. The AFT Task Force established in 2006 underlined that clear and agreed benchmarks are necessary for the global monitoring of AFT efforts. The following categories of AFT were identified: trade policy and regulations (including trade facilitation); trade development; trade-related infrastructure; building productive capacity; trade-related adjustment; and other trade-related needs. According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) developing countries that have participated in international trade – including trade with other emerging economies – make rapid progress in poverty reduction and job creation (UNDP 2013).
Acknowledgements
This volume has been produced under the WTO Chairs Programme (WCP) a WTO capacity-building programme launched upon the initiative of Hakim Ben Hammouda and Patrick Low in 2010. The WCP is jointly managed by the WTO’s Institute for Training and Technical Cooperation and Economic Research and Statistics Division under the direction of Bridget Chilala and Robert Teh respectively. The editors thank Fatima Chaudhri and Gerardo Thielen for their contribution to the initial stages of this book project and Clémence Gros for editorial assistance. Anthony Martin and Helen Swain are thanked for managing the production process of the volume.
Can developing countries use SPS standards to gain access to markets? The case of Mercosur
The role of sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) standards in agri-business has changed over the past decade from being a technical instrument to avoid the use of food safety animal and plant health measures for protectionist purposes to being a competitive instrument in differentiated product markets (Reardon et al. 2001). The change from mass markets to differentiated and niche markets for consumers with higher purchasing power triggered this shift towards SPS measures as a strategic tool for developing and differentiating markets gaining market access coordinating the quality and safety of the food system and defining market niches for those products. On the demand side high-income consumers with varied and sophisticated tastes have buttressed this change and on the supply side so have production processing and distribution technologies that allow for product differentiation and market extension and segmentation (Reardon et al. 2001).
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.
Connecting to Global Markets
This book brings together contributions from the 14 WTO chair-holders of the first phase of the WTO Chairs Programme (2010-2014). The volume is divided into four sections focusing on export diversification the role of non-tariff measures the rule of law in connecting to global markets and the role of the Aid for Trade initiative in building trade capacity and overcoming supply side constraints.