CHAPTER 3
Promoting New Exports: Experience from Industry Case Studies Claudia Nassif
Over the past 15 years, many non-oil-exporting countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have made strides in liberalizing trade, stabilizing the macroeconomic situation, and improving the investment climate. Supported by a favorable external environment, they have enjoyed remarkable export performance. In many of these countries, export growth outperformed the world average, reaching impressive yearly growth rates of 12–25 percent since 2000. Yet, with the exception of Tunisia, countries in the region enjoyed only half the export growth recorded by other emerging economies. Consequently, they have not strengthened their position in the world market; their shares in global manufacturing exports were less than 0.2 percent in 2005. Moreover, although there has been some progress, especially in new exports, exports remain concentrated in a few commodities. Faced with the challenge of stepping up the development of exports, many governments in the region are looking for more proactive ways to promote exports. In this context, it is useful to investigate how export promotion can be designed to spur not only growth but also diversification. 47