A FLEXIBLE TOOL FOR IMPROVING EXPORT CAPACITY
DEVELOPMENT INTERNATIONAL TRADE BOOST GROWTH AND FIGHT POVERTY Improved participation in global trade by developing countries is a powerful lever for growth and can cut poverty. Commercial opening encourages economic growth and helps create jobs by developing markets, creating economies of scale and boosting specialized production. Trade growth also encourages foreign direct investment as well as the transfer of expertise and technology. That said, trade liberalization does not produce all the benefits one might expect from it in terms of poverty reduction, particularly in the least developed countries where produc tion is disproportionately concentrated in the primary sector (agriculture, fossil fuels and extractive industries) and in products that have not undergone much processing and are vulnerable to volatility on the global markets. In these countries, the benefits of trade liberalization are all too often limited by structural inadequacies, a lack of professional training and local constraints that inhibit what can be produced, such as a lack of diversification, limited value chains, difficulties in adapting to the market, lack of structure in industrial chains, insufficient infrastructure, sub-standard products, lack of institutional capacity and so on.
Technical cooperation to build trade capacity underpins the evolution of the global trade system. A French aid plan to build trade capacity has been in place since 2002, running alongside multilateral contributions. A specific bilateral programme was created – the Trade Capacity Building Programme (TCBP). The TCBP is cofinanced by the Ministry for the Economy and Finance and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and implemented by Agence Française de Développement (French Development Agency - AFD). Support from the TCBP has a positive impact both on beneficiary countries’ ability to assimilate the rules governing international trade and their export trade performance. It is part of the framework of national policy to support the development of trade. It responds to a specific need, identified by economic missions and AFD offices in close collaboration with State partners and representatives from the private sector. The actions implemented come in the form of technical assistance, training and awareness raising, sectoral studies and funding for equipment and small everyday items. The TCBP can be linked to other structural funding from AFD or other funding bodies.
© Bruno Bosle, Cefeb
To respond to these challenges, the international community is providing aid to help developing countries benefit more from trade.
BUILDING TRADE CAPACITY TO IMPROVE INTEGRATION INTO THE GLOBAL TRADE SYSTEM
Autonomous port at Pointe Noire, Congo-Brazzaville