ECA Pushes Africa's Integration Agenda, Inclusivity and Equitable Trade At the 2017 Aid for Trade Global Review

19 July 2017
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United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (Addis Ababa)

The just-ended Aid for Trade Global Review 2017 that was held on the theme "Promoting Trade, Inclusiveness and Connectivity for Sustainable Development" saw the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) participating in key sessions with a determined focus on advocating the need to prioritize Africa's regional integration agenda, in particular, the flagship initiative of the CFTA and crucially, to push for more inclusivity and equitable outcomes in global trade.

Held in Geneva from 11-13 July 2017, the Global Review gathered delegates and experts from the international trade and development community to deliberate on the trade dimension of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), digital connectivity, women's empowerment and trade facilitation. The Review is held every two years and is organized by the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

During a regional session on Africa, a joint ECA-WTO regional report entitled: "Promoting connectivity in Africa: the role of Aid for Trade in boosting intra-African trade" was presented. ECA's intervention focused on the need to support policies and improve connectivity for the Continental Free Trade Agreement (CFTA).

Discussions looked into emerging issues, such as digital connectivity as well as the links between the expected benefits of intra-African trade and development cooperation, which the session stressed, should be guided by continental frameworks, such as the Action Plan for Boosting Intra-African Trade.

In order to assess how trade facilitation could best support sustainable growth in developing countries, an event was co-organized by the United Nations Regional Commissions to present the preliminary findings of the "Second Global Survey on Trade Facilitation and Paperless Trade Implementation". ECA presented key findings from the participating African countries and noted the need to incorporate more strongly, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and gender perspectives into trade facilitation initiatives. The global, as well as the regional reports, are expected to be available in September 2017.

In collaboration with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), the ECA launched a joint report titled: "The Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) in Africa: A Human Rights Perspective". During the discussions, participants recommended improvements to the study, such as the need to analyze the CFTA from a sustainable development angle and in this context, reflect the complexities and interrelationships between gender, human rights, poverty, education and health. The session also recommended that efforts should be invested in exploring the kind of structure that the CFTA monitoring and evaluation mechanism could take in order to ensure consistency in human rights outcomes.

A side event whose objective was to peer-review the concept note of the 2018 Africa Regional Integration Index (ARII) Report was also held by the joint publishers, ECA and the African Development Bank (AfDB). The discussions emphasized the importance of Regional Economic Communities (RECs) in driving the African integration process and agreed on the inclusion of social and gender variables that could support the notion of inclusiveness in the integration process.

On the margins of the Global Review, ECA also participated in a workshop themed, "Enhancing the contribution of preferential trade agreements to inclusive and equitable trade", whose focus was to share the lessons learnt in the course of implementing activities that fall under the umbrella of a 'Development Account' initiative on the same theme. The implementing institutions comprise the ECA, the UN Economic Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP); the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC); and UNCTAD.

The 2017 Global Review concluded with a confirmation of the commitment to Aid for Trade. Further, the Review highlighted the importance of the framework in supporting the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) as they seek to reap benefits from participation in trade. The meeting also called for innovative approaches in Aid for Trade and a wider range of projects and sectors to be promoted through the framework, including issues concerning digital connectivity. The need for the incorporation of gender into all Aid for Trade work was strongly emphasized.

Read the original article on UNECA.

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