Geneva — The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) will be taking part in the timely 2018 World Trade Organisation (WTO) Public Forum under the main theme "Trade 2030" with sub-themes on sustainable trade, technology-enabled trade, and a more inclusive trading system. The forum is scheduled to take place from 2 to 4 October in Geneva, Switzerland.
Mr. David Luke, coordinator of the African Trade Policy Centre (ATPC), who will be leading the ECA team says that this event is key to discuss with policy makers and representatives of government, private sector, civil society, academia, workers and consumers, how Africa can use digitalization as an opportunity to support the achievement of the continent's industrial and development goals underpinned in the AU's Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want.
ATPC will be co-organizing two events at the WTO Public Forum. "Africa Goes Digital: Leaving No One Behind" will discuss what policies, strategies and rules are needed to ensure a system of governance that both tackles the challenges associated with digital trade and capitalizes on the opportunities it offers. It will also reflect on effective practices already adopted in a handful of African countries that can provide lessons for the continent in closing the digital divide, including the significant gender digital divide. "How to harness the industrialization opportunities of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in the digital age" will identify actions needed to use the AfCFTA as a tool to further Africa's industrialization agenda. It will discuss options for establishing a continental digital strategy, appropriate national institutional, legal and regulatory governance structures, and AfCFTA national implementation strategies that identify comparative advantages based on the evolving and anticipated digital environment. [LS1] Mr. David Luke is also scheduled to participate in an UNCTAD side event at the WTO Public Forum on "Data and statistics for gender-responsive trade policy". A lack of gender-disaggregated data is a critical weakness in many gendered trade impact assessments and is one of the reasons that gender is currently inadequately reflected in existing trade policies and strategies[LS2] . Mr. Luke will discuss the role statistics in the gender-sensitive implementation of the AfCFTA and the priorities with regards to information on women in trade in Africa.
On the sidelines of the public forum, ATPC with the close and valued partnership of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) has organized an Authors' Workshop on "Digital Trade in Africa: Implications for Inclusion and Human Rights". The main aim of the workshop will be to review and discuss the drafts chapters of their upcoming joint edited publication on digital trade and human rights. The chapters build upon the various discussions, stories and experiences shared during the previous Digital Trade and Human Rights Conference which ATPC co-organized with its partners in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia earlier this year. The joint edited publication which will be launched in the first quarter of 2019, will identify options for African countries to harness digital opportunities and address digital challenges in a way that is consistent with inclusion, transparency, people-centred governance and the attainment of human rights.
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