Experts from the United Nations regional economic commissions told the Trade and Development Board (TDB) yesterday of issues affecting trade performance in their respective regions, a sector that is growing in importance but faces myriad challenges including those arising from expanding intra-regional trade.
Representatives of the five regional commissions discussed trends as the TDB continued its annual session, thus providing valuable regional perspectives to the discussion of global issues.
Expanding “South-South” trade and intensified trade within regions are areas in which UNCTAD is mandated to carry out analysis, consensus-building, and technical cooperation activities, as guided by the mandate coming out of the UNCTAD XIII quadrennial conference held this spring in Doha, Qatar.
Moderating the session, Mr. Guillermo Valles, Director of UNCTAD’s Division on International Trade in Goods and Services, and Commodities, told the meeting, “What we need is interactive dialogue and exchange.” He said challenges include “dealing with volatility,” coping with the issue of non-tariff measures, advancing “pro-poor” trade, and helping developing countries to link into the “high” end of value chains.
Mr. Abdallah al-Dardari, Director of the Economic Development and Globalization Division of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), told the meeting Tunisia, Libya, and Morocco recently became members of ESCWA, expanding the commission’s representation of the region. Over the past two decades, there has been an impression that free-trade agreements have not done much to change the economic characteristics of the region, he said – especially high unemployment and limited diversification of economies. However, intra-regional trade has grown significantly, and it appears that regional growth and “South-South” trade can be further expanded in addressing many development issues that created conditions for the Arab spring.
Mr. Ravi Ratnayake, Director of the Trade and Investment Division of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), said it is important to bring regional perspectives to global trade policymaking, especially as the regional component of trade is increasing. The ESCAP region has recovered from the global crisis, “but it has been short-lived,” he said. Problems facing the region include the effects of the Euro zone crisis and the slowdown in the U.S. economy -- two regions that are important trade partners -- and slower rates of growth in the region’s own “powerhouses”: China, India, and several other economies. NTMs also are increasingly important as market entry barriers.
Ms. Virginia Cram-Martos, Director of the Trade and Sustainable Land Management Division of the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), said it is important to take a “more holistic and methodological approach” to trade trends, value chains, and economic development prospects. Improving business procedures in a developing country, for example, so that production is more efficient does not help a country if railroad rolling stock is not available to carry the products to market. What is needed is “to look at all the aspects together,” she said.
Mr. Sebastian Herreros, Expert of the Division of International Trade and Integration of the Economic Commission for Latin American and the Caribbean (ECLAC), told the meeting that a significant deceleration of trade to and from the region is expected for 2012. Exports are estimated to grow about 4% and imports about 3%, down from growth rates of over 20% in recent years. Asia is becoming a more important trade partner for Latin America and the Caribbean, he said, partly reflecting stagnating trade to and from the Euro zone. The concern is that the “basket” of exports from the region to Asia consists mostly of commodities and thus adds to worries about de-industrialization. Intra-regional trade has not grown as rapidly as it has in other parts of the world, and various strategies are being considered for expanding it as the main trade policy challenge facing the region, Mr. Herreros said.
And Mr. Magdhi Farahat, Principal Adviser on Trade for Geneva Interregional Advisory Services of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), said African Heads of State recognized some years ago that the “engine” for increasing trade on the continent would not be multilateral but regional. Trade is increasingly in “tasks rather than goods,” he said; new instruments are coming into play; and African countries have decided to refocus the work of their Trade Ministries towards increased commerce with each other. Emphasis has focused on a continental free-trade area, and progress has been made in that direction. The intent isn’t merely increased trade on the continent, but “employment-creating trade” and “internal-resource generation,” Mr. Farahat said.
Also speaking were Mr. Bernard Hoekman, Director of the International Trade Department of the World Bank; and Mr. Andrei Tochin, Director of the Trade and Policy Department of the Eurasian Economic Commission.
