African leader warns against ‘blind’ trade liberalisation

ANNA COX AFRICAN COUNTRIES must do more to maximise the benefits of trade for development, said the executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), KY Amoako. Addressing a three-day meeting in Kampala, Uganda recently, Amoako said that even though international action was vital to allow Africa to trade more successfully, domestic bottlenecks at home had to be addressed. Among the challenges were the need to strengthen trade capacity, find ways to replace lost income from lowered tariffs, and identify new sources of finance for trade. He also stressed the importance of regional integration for Africa, arguing that it would drive intra-African trade and stimulate export diversification. Intra-African trade currently accounts for only 10% of Africa's total trade. However Amoako warned African governments not to liberalise trade 'blindly' because, in many cases, he said, 'openness has not translated into growth.' Instead, he called for the adoption of dynamic trade policies going beyond protection and revenue maximisation and driven by strategic development objectives. On international trade negotiations, Amoako said there was now recognition that more effort and urgency were needed if 'the laudable objectives' of the Doha Round were to be achieved in the wake of the failure of the WTO talks in Cancun, Mexico, last year. He said that the recent offer by the EU trade and agriculture commissioners to eliminate EU export subsidies if the United States would do the same, had added momentum to the trade negotiating process.