Addis Ababa — Geneva-based African negotiators, representatives of regional economic communities, and experts from relevant UN agencies kicked off a three-day meeting here today to help prepare African countries for the latest rounds of important global trade forums.
The meeting -- organized by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in collaboration with the Organization of African Unity (OAU), UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) -- is in anticipation of the upcoming Third WTO Ministerial Conference to be held from 30 November to 3 December 1999 in Seattle, USA, as well as the Tenth Session of UNCTAD scheduled for 12 to 20 February 2000 in Bangkok, Thailand.
Opening the meeting at ECA today, Ms. Lalla Ben Barka, Deputy Executive Secretary, noted that one of the fundamental challenges facing Africa as the new millennium loomed was "adapting to the momentum of globalization and liberalization of global trading markets in goods and services, within the framework of the rule-based multilateral trading system, and the implacable process of liberalization of financial markets."
Globalization and liberalization of the world economy, said Ms. Ben Barka, had indeed created opportunities for economies that were well-prepared or had sufficiently adjusted to the challenges and exploited the expansion in world output and trade. That said, "Africa has been among the regions that have not fared well, as reflected in the decline in its share of world trade which stands now at only 2 percent".
Among other issues, the meeting aims at:
· Elaborating specific proposals reflecting African concerns vis-a-vis the multilateral trading system that are to be submitted to the General Council of the WTO before the end of July 1999;
· Looking at the parallel African Caribbean Pacific - European Union (ACP-EU) negotiations and proposing appropriate African strategies towards securing a waiver at the WTO for the trade arrangements in the successor agreement to the Lome IV Convention; and
· Addressing the main issues of concern to African countries in regard to UNCTAD X, including deliberations on the text of a draft "African Ministerial Declaration on UNCTAD X".
Experts say that for the Seattle WTO Ministerial Conference and the negotiations in the new millennium to work in Africa's favour, they need to focus on a number of key issues, including:
· The need to structure a development dimension to WTO Agreements and the agenda of the multilateral trading system;
· Lifting supply constraints in African countries, especially least-developed countries;
· Addressing the problems of African countries in meeting the continual evolving quality and technical standards for exported goods;
· Advocating for further negotiations on tariff peaks and escalation, as well as for flexibility on tariffs for those LDCs that may require such flexibility; and
· Examining the implications of further negotiations of trade in services, including air transport, maritime services, telecommunications, financial services, and addressing limitations to most-favoured-nation exemptions.
Participants at the meeting expect the positions they evolve this week to be taken up by African policy makers at the forthcoming Conference of African Ministers of Trade being organized by the OAU with UNCTAD and ECA in Algiers, Algeria from 6 to 9 September this year.
For further information please contact Peter da Costa, Cabinet Office of the Executive Secretary, UN ECA, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Tel: +251-1-51-58-26 (direct) or 251-1-51-72-00 (main switchboard), Ext. 354866 Fax: +251-1-51-22-33 E-Mail: ecainfo@un.org
Press Release Date: July 21, 1999
