AFRICA NEEDS TO REMOVE OBSTACLES TO TRADE, SAYS AMOAKO

AFRICA NEEDS TO REMOVE OBSTACLES TO TRADE, SAYS AMOAKO

(Reissued as received.)

KAMPALA, 18 May (ECA) –- African countries must do more to maximize the benefits of trade for development, the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), K.Y. Amoako, said today.

Addressing a three-day meeting of the Committee of Experts of the Conference of Africa’s Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development in Kampala, Uganda, Mr. Amoako said that even though international action was vital to allow Africa to trade more successfully, domestic bottlenecks at home must also be addressed.

Among the challenges were the need to strengthen trade capacity, find ways to replace lost income from lowered tariffs and identify new sources of finance for trade.

He also stressed the importance of regional integration for Africa, arguing that it would drive intra-African trade and stimulate export diversification.  Intra-African trade currently accounts for only 10 per cent of Africa’s total trade.

In his opening address, Uganda’s Finance Minister, Gerald Sendaula, agreed that Africa suffered from a poor enabling environment and lack of economic infrastructure, among other obstacles to change.

He said that having liberalized its external trade regime and introduced macroeconomic reforms and privatization, Uganda was now winning more foreign investment and managing to diversify into non-traditional exports.

However, Mr. Amoako warned African governments not to liberalize trade blindly because, in many cases, openness has not translated into growth.  Instead, he called for the adoption of dynamic trade policies going beyond protection and revenue maximization and driven by strategic development objectives.

On international trade negotiations, Mr. Amoako said there was now recognition that more effort and urgency were needed if the laudable objectives of the Doha Round were to be achieved in the wake of the failure of the World Trade Organization (WTO) talks in Cancun, Mexico, last year.

He said that the recent offer by the European Union Trade and Agriculture Commissioners to eliminate European Union export subsidies if the United States would do the same had added momentum to the trade negotiating process.

Minister Sendaula called on Africa to marshal all efforts to negotiate the removal of unfair international trade practices and build capacity in the area of trade negotiations in order to strengthen Africa’s negotiating approach.

Press Advisory

The experts meeting will be followed immediately by the Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development on Friday and Saturday, 21-22 May.

The ECA Conference of Ministers is being held back to back with the annual meetings of the African Development Bank (ADB).  The two organizations will host a joint symposium on Monday, 24 May, on the theme of The Missing Link in Growth and Sustainable Development:  Closing the Gender Gap.  The ADB annual meetings will follow on 25-26 May.

Issues papers, speeches and other resources can be found on the ECA Web site at http://www.uneca.org/cfm/

For further information or to make requests for interviews, contact Akwe Amosu, e-mail: amosu@uneca.org, tel: (Kampala) +256 71 412400 (until 26 May), tel: (Addis Ababa) +25 11 443322.

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