Africa yet to benefit from trade talks under WTO

from The Herald

From Victoria Ruzvidzo in MANZINI, Swaziland

AFRICA has not benefited from trade talks under the World Trade Organisation and should thus present a common force to confront current challenges if it is to claim a fair share of the global trade, the Trade Policy Training Centre in Africa second annual conference which began here yesterday has heard.

Not much progress had been made to balance trade since the Doha talks of 2000 and the situation could remain so for a long time unless the continent formed a united force to circumvent the difficulties.

Presentations during the conference’s official opening ceremony yesterday were in agreement that there had been so much talk about improving the global trade system but these had largely remained in theory.

The North-South trade initiatives, which had been promising over the last few years, had not yielded much to date.

Therefore, such attitudes by the developed world and the past experiences of oppression and exploitation under colonialism needed to engender assertiveness and the resolve to work together among African countries.

In a paper presented on his behalf at the official opening of the conference, Swaziland’s King Mswati III set the tone for the three-day deliberations when he said Africa itself needed to rise up and do something about the situation because the North was reluctant to change the current trade systems that were largely tilted in their favour.

"I dare say that the manner in which the North approaches our situation tends to smack of some resemblance of attitude. Consider, for instance, the resolve and appropriateness with which the North is handling the plight and progress of Eastern Europe.

If Europe and the USA were to tackle our problems in a similar manner, there is no doubt that we would be a different continent today," he said.

"Suffice to say that the socio-economic situation we are in today as Africans is unacceptable.

"Let me assure that as African leaders we are determined to work together in reshaping the socio-economic situation of Africa. We realise that we have common challenges, a common future and common aspirations," said King Mswati III in a speech read by Prince Masitsela.

Both the Africa Union summit held in Accra last July and the Sadc summit held in Lusaka in August demonstrated the leaders’ resolve to work as a united front.

East and Southern Africa Management Institute (Esami) director-general Professor Bonard Mwape concurred that Africa needed to be united to push its agenda on global trade talks.

"Rationalisation and globalisation demands that African countries ensure that South-South co-operation produces fruitful developments for Africa," he said.

Initiatives under the African Union, Comesa, Sadc and Sacu, among other regional groupings, were bound to yield results.

Furthermore, intra-regional trade was critical to economic development and poverty reduction in Africa and other least developed countries given that regional intergration offered better markets, which created a bigger domestic territory among countries.

"It is imperative that in your deliberations on multilateral, regional and bilateral trade agreements and emerging scenarios and challenges for the least developed countries you should search for common approaches and responses with which our continent can resolve our depressing situation.

"Indeed this conference comes at a time when the regional and multilateral issues are not only key to regional integration, but also dominate the development agenda of many developing countries," said King Mswati III.

Being held under the theme "Multilateral, Regional and Bilateral Trade Agreements: Emerging Scenarios and Challenges for African and Least Developed Countries", the annual conference seeks to highlight challenges to trade and come up with solutions as regards how the continent can enforce balanced trade on the global arena.

Delegates from East and Southern Africa are attending the meeting together with representatives from the World Trade Organisation, the Swedish International Development Agency, the World Bank, African Union and the United Nations Development Programme, among others.

Zimbabwe is represented by officials from the Ministry of Industry and International Trade and the Zimbabwean embassy based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Issues under discussion will include the Doha Development Agenda, the impact of international trade on developing countries, North-South trade agreements, South-South trade and regional agreements and aid for trade and capacity building needs, among others.

The Trade Policy Training Centre in Africa (Trapca) was inaugurated in December last year to provide training and technical expertise on trade issues in Least Developed Countries.

Based in Arusha, Tanzania, Trapca operates under the auspices of Esami and Sweden’s Lund University.