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Symposium on WTO Trade Facilitation for African Countries Nairobi, Kenya November 13-15, 2012

Symposium on WTO Trade Facilitation for African Countries Nairobi, Kenya November 13-15, 2012 Session 8: Strengthening Africa's Role in the WTO Trade Facilitation Negotiations Lucas N. Saronga, Focal Point of WTO LDC Group GENEVA. A: SITUATION/CONTEXT

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Symposium on WTO Trade Facilitation for African Countries Nairobi, Kenya November 13-15, 2012

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  1. Symposium on WTO Trade Facilitation for African Countries Nairobi, Kenya November 13-15, 2012 Session 8: Strengthening Africa's Role in the WTO Trade Facilitation Negotiations Lucas N. Saronga, Focal Point of WTO LDC Group GENEVA

  2. A: SITUATION/CONTEXT • TF as a down payment on linking trade and development in Africa should consider: • About ¾ of LDCs are in Africa; • 3/5 of African countries are LDCs (33 out of 55 countries); • LDCs’ share in world trade in merchandise is 1%, • Exclude oil exports from LDCs the share is about 0.5%; • So when talking of TF as a win win for all, you are facilating how much for LDCs and for that matter in Africa?!!

  3. B: STRATEGY/WAY FORWARD FOR TF NEGOTIATIONS 1. For Africa, any outcome on TF must ensure both internal and external development balance • Internal Development Balance: • There should be a strong and integral linkage between the new TF rules/obligations under Section I of the negotiating text and the S&D and TACB rules under Section II; • The linkage should be reflected by ensuring that developing and LDC implementation of the new TF rules would be subject to the application of S&D flexibilities and the prior acquisition of implementation capacity through the provision of adequate TACB • External Development Balance: • The TF outcome should be balanced with strong outcomes in other areas of interest to developing and LDCs (such as having the LDC package)

  4. 2. Africa should condition acceptance of any new TF rules and obligations under Section I to: • The establishment of an operational mechanism for the provision of TACB from developed to developing and LDCs in the form of: • The establishment of a specific fund to which developed countries would contribute scalable and adequate funding commensurate to assessed funding needs to support TF-related TACB activities in developing and LDCs; OR • A matching mechanism under the WTO whereby developed country funders of TACB activities would notify the availability of funding to match specific TACB requests from developing and LDCs.

  5. 2. Africa should condition acceptance of any new TF rules and obligations under Section I to (Continued): • The establishment of a mechanism in which there would be funding support provided from developed to developing and LDCs to support the building of their implementation capacity, including: • In relation to the development of the required TF-related physical and administrative infrastructures (such as computerization, electrification of customs posts, technology transfer, transport infrastructure, etc.) • Having sufficient implementation flexibility through S&D provisions that give developing and LDCs the full flexibility to decide what new TF rules/obligations to apply and when these would be applied. • Transition periods should be pegged to the acquisition of implementation capacity and should be defined by the developing country rather than be arbitrarily set

  6. 3. Africa should seek to have a Periodic Implementation Review Mechanism in place as part of any TF outcome. This would require the body that oversees implementation of any TF agreement to undertake an overall assessment of the extent to which: • The implementation of the new TF rules/obligations are contributing to the overall sustainable economic development of developing and LDCs, including. • Impacts on imports/exports; • Balance of payments; • Customs revenue collection; and • Development of industrial sectors. • The implementation of the S&D and TACB provisions are facilitated and made easily accessible to developing and LDCs; • Adequate and predictable funding for TACB and TF-related infrastructure development activities are being provided by developed countries to support the development of implementation capacity in developing and LDCs, particularly in Africa; and • Implementation capacity is being developed in developing and LDCs.

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