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Background
CUTS-International, Nairobi in partnership with Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, held a regional seminar titled “Can Africa Trade her way out of Poverty? ” on 25th and 26th October 2004 in Naivasha, Kenya.
The seminar participants included trade and economic policy-makers scholars and civil society actors drawn from eight Sub-Saharan African countries (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, South Africa, Nigeria and Ghana) India and Vietnam. The overall objective of the seminar was to share lessons, ideas and experiences on trade and economic liberalisation and its impact on the poor. It also served as a platform for South-South dialogue on trade and development.
Summary of Discussions
The one issue on which there was unanimity was that trade liberalization alone will not reduce poverty. Trade should not be considered as an end in itself, but a means to reduce poverty.
Opening the discussions, Ambassador Peter Robleh of the United Nations Economic Commission For Africa (UNECA) observed that past trade arrangements have not resulted in considerable economic and social change in Africa. He said that Africa does not lack in resources but rules are stacked against them- citing the many existing barrier to exports, the huge amount spent on subsidising farmers in developed countries that threaten livelihoods of millions of poor farmers in Africa. He expressed guarded optimism adding that the answers to poverty in Africa lies in fair trade, not aid.
Trade policy should be sufficiently integrated in the National Development Strategy of Sub Saharan African (SSA) countries if gains from trade liberalization are to be channeled to poverty reduction. There is need for refocusing on policy coherence among the various national and international trade and development agreements which African countries undertake with national development goals especially poverty reduction objectives. If poverty is to be tackled through trade promotion then complementary policies and strategies must be put in place to ensure that there is fair distribution of the gains.
The seminar proposed a set of practical suggestions by which African countries can rationalize and develop coherence among the different trade arrangements, regional integration treaties with the national development plans and poverty reduction and growth strategies. Trade policy and practices should compliment and be linked to national development strategies.
According to an EU presentation, trade is a major component of international development. The presenter argued that no country has developed without trade but just trade liberalization alone will not bring in development. Trade openness should be part of a wider policy on development, which includes sound macro economic policy, sound social policy and also south-south cooperation.. Despite apprehensions raised by skeptics, EU argues that Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) will enhance competition and efficiency rather than crowd African markets with products from EU.
Several participants were of the view that African countries should not rush to embrace EPA’s before adequate preparations through developing productive capacity, regional integration and also impact assessment studies. The need for capacity building was highlighted, with strong views expressed on the inadequacies of existing efforts. South-South capacity building was suggested as an alternative to the conflict of interest arising from present situation.
The experiences of Vietnam, Zambia, Kenya and Nigeria provided lively discussions. The importance of an appraisal of the needs of the poor, how they can gain from liberalisation and what contributions they can make to the process was highlighted. The experience of Vietnam shows that economic planning and a comprehensive poverty reduction strategy, which is linked to all the key
economic development programmes of the government, supported by private and voluntary sector can speed up poverty reduction. In Kenya the absence of a national trade policy creates a lacunae in the development strategy. Nigeria relies almost totally on one raw material (oil) in its exports which led to neglecting of other productive sectors and consequently of a coherent trade policy. Zambia lacks a coherent national development strategy, which encompasses trade.
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