Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 6 • Number 36 • 24th October 2002
African Ministers Point To Trade-Development Linkage At NEPAD Meeting
On 19-21 October, African ministers met for three days in Johannesburg to discuss the implementation of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). Nearly 500 delegates attended the meeting that hosted, beside government ministers, central bank governors, academics and representatives from business and civil society groups. It was the largest meeting since the establishment of NEPAD during the inaugural meeting of the African Union in Durban in July (see BRIDGES Weekly, 10 July 2002). The conference was convened by the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).
According to the ministerial statement released upon conclusion of the meeting, "deeper integration into global markets remains a priority" for Africa. Ministers reaffirmed that "trade will continue to generate essential resources to finance development", and underscored "the need to rejuvenate agricultural exports, identifying ways to regain market share". The statement further elaborates, "while commending the efforts by the WTO to launch a development round of trade negotiations, more needs to be done for trade liberalisation. In this respect, we urge our international partners to remove all further barriers to trade- particularly OECD [i.e. mostly developed country] agricultural subsidies, tariff peaks, and numerous non-tariff barriers." Ministers also called for the provision of duty-free and quota-free access for products originating from African countries and for the simplification and harmonization of rules of origin "to help ensure that African countries benefit from the market opportunities granted, particularly in value-added production".
Ministers further stated that more needed to be done to improve African representation in global trade talks. In this context, they gave their support to an initiative by the ECA to open an office in Geneva in order to support African delegations to the WTO and to strengthen African negotiating positions.
During the meeting, there was a special focus on the issue of country peer reviews, which are considered to be vital to the success of NEPAD. Ministers said peer reviews would be crucial in attracting foreign direct investment, and could replace part of the financial surveillance that is now done by international organisations such as the IMF and World Bank. However, concrete decisions on the peer reviews were not taken at the meeting, and it remains unclear how NEPAD will be implemented at the country level.
Heads of state from 15 African countries are scheduled to meet in November to further discuss NEPAD.
For further information on the conference of ministers, as well as the ministerial statement, visit http://www.uneca.org/conferenceofministers/.
"Experts Bullish On Promise of Africa’s Economies," ALLAFRICA.COM, 17 October 2002; "Still No Clear Way Forward for NEPAD," ALLAFRICA.COM, 21 October 2002; "African Ministers Meet to Hammer Out NEPAD Economic Plan," DEVNEWS, 21 October 2002; "NEPAD: economic development put in spotlight," EC, DG DEVELOPMENT NEWS, 21 October 2002; "Africa: Meeting Set to Discuss Implementation of NEPAD," UNWIRE, 17 October 2002.