The shock of COVID-19 is definitely exposing those vulnerabilities.
A new World Trade Organization (WTO) report, Strengthening Africa’s capacity to trade, addresses the disruptions to trade due to the pandemic and outlines the ways the international body is working to encourage trade flows on the continent. As LDCs, countries get additional international support with development assistance and with trade, and 33 of the 46 LDCs today are in Africa.
What does the report say of African LDCs and global trade? What support are countries being given to best weather this COVID-19 storm?
Declines and setbacks
A March 2021 WTO forecast has trade likely to remain below pre-pandemic levels for some time, but predicts an increase of world merchandise trade to 8.0% in 2021, after falling 5.3% in 2020.
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KE, UNDP to provide SMEs a digital boost
Tue, 11 May 2021
Khmer Enterprise (KE) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) have formed a strategic partnership to give a boost to the operational development of the Kingdom s e-commerce sector and small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), according to a May 11 joint press release.
This new partnership between KE – a start-up ecosystem support arm under the Ministry of Economy and Finance – and the UNDP aims to strengthen and ensure the sustainable development of SMEs and e-commerce in the Kingdom, it said.
This will provide a springboard for SMEs to build their online presence, deliver a new range of products and services, and find the best avenues for international trade, it added.
Tourism, apparel and sustainable development strategies are covered in new series of policy briefs from the Enhanced Integrated Framework
International trade can be a powerful tool for least developed countries (LDCs) to reduce poverty and spur economic growth. But it is not a blanket solution.
Individual country contexts, government planning and prioritizing, the private sector situation and other particularities – not to mention consumer preferences and global trends – intermingle in spurring (or not) trade’s development. Being able to take advantage of the opportunities available, and to create one’s own, requires awareness and action, and the leveraging of targeted support in order to get trade working for LDC populations.
Ongoing strategies intracen.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from intracen.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Japan supports EIF to help poorest countries recover from COVID 19, expand trade capacity
Japan has contributed over USD 81,000 (approximately CHF 72,000) to the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) in 2021 to help least-developed countries (LDCs) use trade to combat the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The funding will help 46 least-developed countries (LDCs) across Africa, Asia and the Pacific tackle the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic by enhancing their capacity to trade. LDCs often rely on exporting one particular commodity or natural resource, making it more complicated for them to recover from a crisis. The EIF’s projects are aimed at helping these countries take advantage of the digitalisation of the economy, further integrate into global value chains and develop strategies for economic diversification.