REGIONAL MEETING ON PROMOTING SERVICES SECTOR DEVELOPMENT AND TRADE-LED GROWTH IN
AFRICA
organized by UNCTAD in collaboration with the African Union Commission (AUC) and the UN Economic Commission for Africa
(UNECA) and in partnership with the International Organisation of La Francophonie
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 12-13 September 2013
Presentation by Mr. David Primack
Executive Director, International Lawyers and Economists Against Poverty
* This presentation is made available in the language and form in which it was received.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of UNCTAD.
Regional Meeting On Promoting Services
Sector Development And Trade-led
Growth In Africa
12-13 September 2013
UN Conference Centre, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
The role of partnerships, including
the promotion of coherence and
cooperation
David Primack
Executive Director
2
Overview
• Setting the problem  challenges for coherence
and cooperation on trade in services
• Development partner/donor support to increase
participation of African developing and least
developed countries in services trade
• ILEAP’s role in supporting increased
participation in services trade
• Going forward
3
Setting the problem
Why is it difficult to achieve coherence
and cooperation on trade in services?
… because achieving coherence and cooperation
face a number of the same challenges as
promoting service sector development itself…
▫ (irrespective of the stakeholder or partner)
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Challenges
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3.
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Services coverage is vast
160+ sectors
Diverse sets of stakeholders and sector dynamics
Absence of unified representation
Lack of quality, accessible data and information
Despite years of saying it, services is still poorly understood
(complexity is a ‘barrier to entry’)
‘Silo’ mentality
Tendency to focus on what you know, who you know and what
interests you
Quick to talk, slow to act
Services receives significant attention in speeches and
proclamations  in practise, ends up on cutting room floor
5
Development partner/donor support to
increase participation in services trade
Who are we talking about?
For example:
• Bilateral donors
▫ EC & Member States (e.g. Germany, UK, Sweden,
Denmark, Finland, etc.), Canada, US, …
• Development partners
▫ Multilateral agencies/IGOs
 UNCTAD, WB, WTO, ITC, UNDP, ComSec, OIF,
AfDB
▫ NGOs/Think tanks
 ILEAP, TRALAC, SAIIA
6
ILEAP’s role in supporting increased
participation in services trade
•Supporting beneficiaries
throughout sub-Saharan
Africa
Independent
economic & legal
advisory support
Recent results:
•WTO (LDC waiver)
•Intra-regional (EAC,
UEMOA, SADC)
Creation and
dissemination of
knowledge &
information
•EPA (ECOWAS +
CEMAC preparations)
Capacity
building
•Private sector (service
coalitions)
7
Translating negotiated outcomes into
meaningful development results (i)
 LDC services waiver
... enables WTO Members to provide LDC-specific
preferences on services
• 2010/2011 – ILEAP assisted the LDC Group (with
ACWL) to negotiate the services waiver
• 8th Ministerial Conference of the WTO (in Dec 2011)
adopted the waiver
 Looks good on paper, but… how to translate into
meaningful development results?
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Translating negotiated outcomes into
meaningful development results (ii)
• New joint initiative to assist LDCs to operationalize the
services waiver
• Research and analysis
▫ What existing/potential export capacity? How might preferences
help catalyse? [16 case studies]
▫ What impediments in key export markets (trade barriers and
other related constraints)? [5 case studies]
• Consensus-building
▫ How can LDCs seek preferences? [Brainstorming meeting]
▫ Which trading partners may be interested to provide what
preferences? [Bilateral negotiations]
• Series of activities leading up to and following MC9 in Bali
(see project documentation on tables)
9
Going forward:
Questions for discussion
10
Matching demand and supply
Q: Is donor/development partner support to
services sectors considered to adequately
address needs?
• Significant support already underway
• But needs for service sector development in Africa
are enormous  much more support is required
… potential for such support to catalyse services as an
engine to trade-led growth and reduced poverty in
Africa is equally enormous…
11
Improving technical assistance and
donor support
Q: What are the pre-conditions for technical assistance
and donor support to promote development through the
services sector?
• Strong domestic buy-in and engagement with diverse
stakeholders – government, private sector and civil society
▫ Essential for arriving at robust, informed decisions
▫ Key to underpin the efforts needed to implement decisions
• Calls for research and analysis to fill knowledge gaps,
strengthened consensus-building to arrive at informed decisions,
training and CB (alongside dissemination and outreach) to
strengthen stakeholder engagement
• Also requires scaling up of technical and financial resources
(AfT), both to implement and capture benefits from those
decisions
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Improving coherence & cooperation (i)
Q: Are domestic structures needed to coordinate
the receipt of services trade-related technical
assistance[/capacity building]?
• Yes… but how?
• One idea… services desk (continental/regional/national)
▫ In addition to substantive value-added through enhanced
coordination, could also help monitor and disseminate
information on technical assistance and capacity building
on trade in services
… buy-in will be essential, otherwise it will be ignored…
13
Improving coherence & cooperation (ii)
Q:Are coordination mechanisms among
donors[/development partners] necessary and
feasible?
• Yes… potential to greatly amplify impacts of individual
supports for service sector development
• But  endemic challenge, not just in services
• What can be done?
▫ Proactive sharing of information is key
 Role for donors/dev partners + recipients
▫ National/regional/continental options
▫ ‘Services desk’ to monitor assistance
▫ ‘Services network’ to monitor and make available
information on support activities (e.g. TWG)
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Thank you…
d.primack@ileap-jeicp.org
www.ileap-jeicp.org