Development Account Projects
Enhancing effective participation of developing countries in dynamic and new sectors of international trade
Background:
Development gains from international trade, and the use of trade as a genuine engine of growth, development and poverty reduction, may be achieved through the participation of developing countries in dynamic and new sectors of world trade. Such sectors include manufacturing (such as electronics and electrical products), commodities and alternative energy-based products (such as biofuels), and information technology-enabled services. By establishing new production and export capacities in these technologically advanced sectors, developing countries, especially least developed countries, can create new market opportunities regionally and globally and thus achieve substantial new development-oriented outcomes.
A key challenge is to package the existing positive experiences and related knowledge of successful developing countries into useable information and capacity-building activities that can be shared with other developing countries to stimulate innovation by investment, production and trade in new products and services. Furthermore, the setting up of related information (knowledge) networks involving Governments, industries and civil-society stakeholders becomes a critical step for promoting developing countries’ participation in new and dynamic sectors of world trade. The project builds upon lessons learned from the UNCTAD intergovernmental reviews and specific requests from member States. It is also based on the positive experience gained as a result of a partnership established between UNCTAD and the private sector to enhance new supply capacities of Southern African countries in the electrical sector. The project will strengthen new supply capacities of several developing countries by using innovative approaches to development and trade and organizational learning and information-sharing, thus making it a compelling business case.
The project will be executed by UNCTAD. Collaboration will be sought with Governments, UNDP and other United Nations agencies, and selected private-sector entities. The focus will be on two or three sub-regions or countries in each of the developing regions of Africa, Asia and Latin America and on three indicative sectors: electronics and electrical products, biofuels and information technology-enabled services.
Objective:
To strengthen, through innovation, networking, information-sharing, capacity-building and the effective participation of developing countries in selected dynamic and new sectors of international trade.
Expected accomplishments:
- Increased understanding and dissemination of developing countries’ acquired knowledge and successful experiences to build new capacities for production and exports of dynamic and new products and services
- Adoption of national/regional strategies to improve competitive supply capacity, exports, investment, market support conditions and trade facilitation measures for individual sectors
- Establishment of effective public-private knowledge networks and partnerships to implement national/regional strategies to enhance participation of developing countries in dynamic and new sectors of world trade, including designing mechanisms to sustain such networks and partnerships.
Implementation status:
This project began implementation in mid-2008. Initial activities include conducting and disseminating feasibility (diagnostic) studies, including training modules to assess economic viability of developing countries to embark in production and trade in specific dynamic and new sectors as well as organizing four national workshops to provide training, validate assessment studies, establish knowledge and information sharing networks; and the promotion of sustained dialogue among relevant stakeholders based on the local expertise to coordinate public and private objectives and activities, leading to facilitation and establishment of sustainable trade-investment-production partnerships in selected dynamic and new sectors.
Regional technical workshops (one in Africa, one in Asia-Pacific, one in Western Asia and one in Latin America and the Caribbean) will be convened beginning in 2009 to share expertise, develop common methodological frameworks, identify best practices and establish working relationships and networks among beneficiary countries, to ensure practical follow-up of the technical support and relevant training to Governments and private sector in the preparation of implementation coherent and cost-effective strategies and related regulatory legal and policy frameworks. Finally, study tours will begin to take place in order to draw lessons from successful experiences and best practices involving trade, investment, and production in specific dynamic and new sectors with a view to establishing new public-private knowledge networks and partnerships as well as strengthening logistical and technical bases of beneficiary Governments and the private sector by developing knowledge collections and databases on the web.
