Tunis, 29 April 2014 (ECA) - Experts attending a 3 day meeting in Tunis last week have agreed that Regional UN Economic Commissions could collaborate in assisting developing countries to optimize their benefits from the WTO Bali Agreement on Trade Facilitation. The conclusion was reached at an Interregional Forum on the theme: “Facilitating the Effective Integration of Developing Countries in the Global Economy through Aid for Trade” from 22 to 24 April 2014. The meeting was convened by the Economic Commission for Africa and jointly organized by the 5 UN Regional Commissions as part of a UN project that aims to strengthen the capacity of selected developing countries and economies in transition to formulate bankable projects that can help boost trade, and enhance their technical capacity to monitor and evaluate them.
The experts convened the forum amidst challenges faced by developing countries inAfrica, Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as Asia, who face similar challenges in integrating into the global economy.
"There is a huge scope for collaboration in the area of trade facilitation between the United Nations Regional Commissions, namely: the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA); Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC); Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP); and Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA)," said ECA's Robert Lisinge in the organizing team.
Two projects formulated with the support of ECA were presented at the forum. Both projects aim at improving the efficiency and facilitating trade and transport along regional corridors in Africa in the context of the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA). One of the projects pertains to monitoring the performance of the Abidjan – Lagos Corridor in West Africa, and the other focuses on developing the transport corridor linking Pointe Noire to N’Djamena in Central Africa.
A visit to the Port of Rades in Tunis was one of the highlights of the interregional forum. Senior officials of the port revealed plans to expand its facilities with the view to improving the performance of the port, and reduce the dwell time that currently stands at 15 days on average.
The forum also provided a platform to present projects to potential partners. As a result of the presentation made on the Port of Rades and the visit to its facilities, some funding partners expressed interest in following up with the authorities of the port for possible support towards the project's expansion.
The forum underscored that efficient regional transport corridors and ports are critical components of Africa’s economic transformation agenda, particularly as this would help reduce trade costs and make African products more competitive in the global market, said Lisinge and added that efforts to improve transport corridors and ports on the continent have been hampered by the lack of bankable projects. "By developing guidelines for formulating bankable Aid for Trade projects, ECA has contributed to addressing the challenge of financing trade related projects in Africa," he said.
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