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23 Nov. - 13 Dec.
CONTENTS:
20
November: Africa Industrialization Day - effective industrialization and market access key to
success
West
African Regional Seminar on integrating LDCs in global trade
Further
NORAD support to UNIDO Trade Capacity Building Initiative
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20 November 2003: Africa Industrialization Day
effective industrialization and market access key to success
Vienna, Austria 20 November,
2003
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In a joint statement issued on the occasion of Africa Industrialization Day (view or download statement), the
Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union, Mr. Alpha Omar Konaré; the Executive Secretary of
the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Mr. K.Y. Amoako; and the Director-General of the
United Nations Industrial Development Organization, Mr. Carlos A. Magariños, reaffirmed the
determination of the three organizations to accelerate Africa's integration in the global economy
through effective industrialization and market access. The Acceleration of Africa's Integration in
the Global Economy through Effective Industrialization and Market Access is the theme chosen for
this year's African Industrialization Day.
While acknowledging that "the ability to actually enter markets is fundamental", the statement points out that "Even if market access was totally free and supplies were available, success in entering markets would not be assured, particularly given the non-competitive market structures." The plight of the African countries is that "despite improving access conditions through several conventions as well as other international concessions, these have resulted in rather limited levels of additional exports of African manufacturing products, and as a consequence, have had a rather limited development impact" and that "in reality the limited supply response from Africa to these opportunities is due to a lack of productive capacity in the region, and the inability of African manufactured products to comply with international standards and requirements."
The statement enumerates a number of responses to these challenges, including the launch of the "African Productive Capacity Initiative", a plan developed by the Conference of African Ministers of Industry (CAMI), under the auspices of the African Union (AU), which intends to harmonize industrial strategies and policies at the sub-regional levels, identify sectoral approaches and priorities of the African regions based on comparative advantages, for the development of productive capacities and better access of African products to regional, continental and global markets. This initiative is in line with the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) objectives, which aims at promoting a rapid and sustainable development of African countries. The African Productive Capacity Initiative will be launched at the CAMI XVI meeting at UNIDO headquarters on 28 November 2003.
The message in the joint statement was reinforced by a statement made on behalf of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan ( view or download SG Annan's statement).
"Industrialization makes a varied and valuable contribution to the alleviation of poverty: it raises productivity, creates employment, reduces exposure to risk, enhances the income-generating assets of the poor and helps to diversify exports."
"International trade is a key companion of industrialization" the statement continues, " just as
trade is a source of industrial growth, so does industrial growth help to expand a country's trading
prowess. African countries need to diversify away from long-standing trade patterns, which have
involved excessive reliance on exports of raw materials and semi-processed goods, and on the
traditional comparative advantages of raw materials and unskilled labour. Greater emphasis on
higher-value-added products and specialization would reap rewards. However, market access is critical
for the success of such an approach. I call again for an end to the subsidies and tariffs that are
stifling the ability of poor countries to compete fairly in the international trading system and
trade their way out of poverty."
François d'Adesky, Tel:
+431 26026 / 3037, E-mail: F.Dadesky@unido.org
West African Regional seminar on Integrating LDCs in Global Trade
Dakar, Senegal, 29 September - 1 October 2003
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Representatives from the private sector, standard bodies, laboratories, WTO focal points and customs
from 11 West African countries (10 of them Least Developed Countries (LDCs): Benin, Burkina Faso, Cap
Verde, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal and Togo), and from Côte d'Ivoire met
for three days in Dakar, Senegal with experts from UNIDO, UNCTAD, WTO and ITC.
The West Africa LDC workshop is the second in a series of three meetings on Integrating LDCs into global trade. The third event in the series will be a high-level Roundtable Making Trade Work for the Poor: stimulating the real economy's response at the UNIDO General Conference in December, 2003. The first workshop, for East African countries was held in Addis Ababa in June this year see UNIDO scope 10 - 16 August, 2003). Both seminars were funded by Austria. The West African regional seminar, which was opened by Senegal's Minister of Trade, Mme. Aicha Agne Pouye and attended by the Austrian Ambassador to Senegal, Gerhard Weinberger, was organized by UNIDO and UNCTAD in joint cooperation with WTO and ITC.
The importance of the meeting, held to determine how the LDCs can make the best of opportunities offered by the Doha Development Agenda, was, if anything, enhanced by the disappointing outcome of the WTO Ministerial Meeting in Cancún. The three days of the workshop were based on presentations from the four participating agencies and led to intensive group work between the 31 participants. Among the main obstacles identified to a better integration of the West African countries into global trade were the lack of ability of enterprises to produce in sufficient quantity and quality according to the requirements of international markets or clients; the lack of access to export financing; the lack of recognized laboratory services for certification of exportable products; and the lack of streamlined procedures for the cross border flow of goods. The participants pledged for a more integrated approach to trade support services at country level and invited UNIDO, UNCTAD, WTO and ITC to consider joint technical assistance activities to remedy the present barriers to trade.
The joint communique of the meeting (in French) is available here for viewing or downloading,
Steffen Kaeser, Tel: +431
26026 / 3826, E-mail: S.Kaeser@unido.org
Further NORAD support for UNIDO Trade Capacity Building Initiative
US$ 933,000 Trust Fund for SAARC LDCs
Effective Industrialization and Market Access,
chosen as the theme for Africa Industrialization Day (see story this issue), is
critical for all developing countries, particularly the least developed countries (LDCs). UNIDO's Trade Capacity Building initiative, initially launched in March, 2002 at
the International Conference on Financing for Development in Monterrey, came into being for that very
reason. The success of UNIDO's trade-related activities funded by the Norwegian Agency for
Development Cooperation (NORAD), in Sri Lanka augers well for the initiative and is perhaps part of the
reason NORAD has now committed almost US$ 1million to a UNIDO Trade Capacity Building initiative in
the the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives and Nepal. NORAD has
also sponsored projects under the UNIDO Initiative in the Mekong region.
The SAARC LDC Trade Capacity Building Initiative will cover the following: a quality survey aimed at unmasking problems of compliance for companies and products; a sector and product analysis determining testing needs; assistance with legal and regulatory reforms; upgrading of metrology, chemical and micro-biology laboratories (based on needs identified in the surveys); strengthening existing accreditation bodies; building up local capacity in ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and HACCP; and training on requirements of the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Agreement and policy in conjunction with WTO.
Encouraged by the positive outcome of the Sri Lanka project, the UNIDO team is confident that the
success will be replicated in the Mekong and SAARC regional projects. The prospect of an additional
NORAD commitment up to US$ 3.0 million for Phase II of the Mekong Delta and SAARC regional projects
will perhaps push the team to even improve on past performance.
Lalith Goonatilake,
Tel: +43 1 26026/3657 E-mail: L.Goonatilake@unido.org
COMING SOON
UNIDO Director- General Carlos Magariños is one of
16 executive heads of specialised agencies and UN Organizations (FAO, IAEA, ICAO, ILO, IMO, ITU,
UNCTAD, UNDP, UNEP, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO (see UN System map )) working together on the High-Level
Summit Organizing Committee (HLSOC) of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). WSIS is
seen as a unique opportunity for all key stakeholders to assemble at a high-level gathering and to
develop a better understanding of the revolution that has given birth to the term "Information
Society", and its impact on the international community. The first phase of the World Summit on the
Information Society (WSIS), will be hosted by the Government of Switzerland, in Geneva, from
10 to 12 December 2003. It will address the broad range of themes concerning the Information
Society and adopt a Declaration of Principles and plan of action, addressing the whole range of
issues related to the Information Society.
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| SPX News is the quarterly newsletter of UNIDO's Subcontracting and Industrial Partnership Programme | BINAS ONLINE is UNIDO's Biosafety Information Network and Advisory Service | International Centre for Advancement of Manufacturing Technology is one of the centres established by UNIDO | ITPO Tokyo INVESTMENT NEWS |
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| The Asia-Africa Investment & Technology Promotion Centre | The World Intellectual Property Organization's (WIPO's) SME e-journal | on India's Small Industries Development Organization SIDO site - everything you need to know about cluster development in India | The International Network for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises-INSME |
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| features innovations, new policies and technologies | OECD - Entrepreneurship in Developing Countries | UNDP newsletter published quarterly, covering UNDP - supported programmes | every two months (English and French) contains 'Country Reports' and the 'Dossier' on ACP - EU activities |
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| usually found in the "Just Published" list on the bottom right of the UNCTAD homepage | Ethiopian Business Development Services Network, part of GTZ-MSE - UNIDO programme for Micro and Small Enterprises in Ethiopia. | GKP is a "network of networks" of public, private and non profit orgs from developed and developing countries | WAITRO NEWS from the World Association of Industrial and Technological Research Organizations. |
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| by the UNEP DTIE OzonAction Programme 3 times per year - in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish - hardcopy and on-line in PDF format . | |||
Send your comments to the editor: K.Timmins@unido.org
