Development Account Projects
Promoting subregional growth-oriented economic and trade policies towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals in Arab countries of West Asia and North Africa
Background:
Economic growth in the Arab countries of West Asia and North Africa can benefit from cohesive policies that enhance the contribution of regional trade to the achievement of sustained economic growth, long-term structural transformation and the Millennium Development Goals. Regional integration, complemented by national reform initiatives, offers a stepping stone towards increased inward investment, transfer of technologies, improved terms of trade and trade expansion, increased investment in higher value-added production processes and industrial upgrading.
Lack of political stability aside, the low level of intraregional trade in Arab countries stems to a great extent from national and regional policies based on a trade-driven approach to development, rather than a development-driven approach to trade. This project seeks to support development and regional integration efforts in selected Arab countries in West Asia and North Africa, with emphasis on conflict economies, by promoting a development-driven approach to trade. This will be addressed through an innovative approach that involves the conceptualization of tailor-made programmes, analytical parameters, policy frameworks and institutional arrangements to build and strengthen the selected countries’ institutional capacity in the area of economic and trade policy and facilitate the implementation of regional integration initiatives. The project will be implemented by UNCTAD, in collaboration with ESCWA and ECA, and taking advantage of previous work done on the region.
Objective:
Enhanced contribution of regional trade to the achievement of sustained economic growth, long-term structural transformation and the Millennium Development Goals.
Expected accomplishments:
- Improved economic and trade policy-making capacities in Arab countries in North Africa and West Asia that follows a development-driven approach to trade, with emphasis on conflict (war-torn) countries, drawing on internationally recognized standards of data and economic policy analysis
- Increased production and utilization of international statistical methods and standards in the economic and trade policy-making processes of the selected countries to address the issues of growth and regional integration.
- Increased collaboration between the six targeted countries and between regional and international development agencies.
Implementation status:
This project began implementation in 2008. Main activities during the first year of the project include the preparation of background information notes and policy papers on development driven approach to trade and regional integration of war-torn economies as inputs to the regional workshops, as well as background notes, technical papers and training materials on compilation of trade statistics and the use of statistical method in trade (such as input-output analysis) and the use of trade statistics for informing economic policy decisions. These documents will be utilized as inputs for 3 regional training workshops to be organized for policy-makers, experts and staff of national statistical offices to improve the technical capabilities of countries in the area of economic and trade policy making, and the preparation and use of trade statistics for informing policy decisions. The project will also begin provision of advisory services, including advisory missions, to national and national statistical agencies and research institutions, and statistical departments of customs to assist them in using internationally accepted statistical methods to collect, compile, and disseminate trade-related statistics. These missions will also support the networking efforts between institutions involved in promoting intra-regional trade and regional integration, including by exploring formal and informal mechanisms for sharing trade related statistics and information among experts in their respective fields, in addition to facilitating their access to information on websites.
