Bridges Africa

Analysis and news on African trade and sustainable development
AGOA

AGOA Forum Ends Without Greater Clarity About the Scheme’s Future

17 August 2017
African and US officials, private sector representatives, and members of civil society organisations gathered last week in Lomé, Togo, for two days of discussions during the 16 th AGOA Forum. The forum addressed the implementation of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and considered ways...
2030 Sustainable Development Agenda

Agenda 2030: High-Level Forum Reviews Progress on Poverty Eradication Goal

28 July 2017
Ministers and top officials from UN member states signed off on a declaration last week aimed at advancing the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with a particular focus on the theme of “eradicating poverty and promoting prosperity in a changing world.” The declaration...
Africa

South Africa, Madagascar Sign Tripartite FTA

25 July 2017
Twenty out of a total of 26 have now signed the agreement establishing the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA), with Madagascar inking the document on 13 July 2017 in Antanarivo, the country’s capital city. Two days before, South Africa had signed the TFTA agreement during a meeting of the Tripartite...
Fisheries

WTO Members Prepare for Next Chapter in Fisheries Negotiations

20 July 2017
Negotiators have been examining an influx of new and updated proposals to establish WTO disciplines on harmful fisheries subsidies over the past week, as they prepare to enter the next stage of talks for a potential deal at the organisation’s ministerial conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina, later...
Aid for Trade

WTO, OECD Chiefs Press for Better Connectivity in Kicking Off "Aid for Trade" Review

13 July 2017
The biennial “Global Review of Aid for Trade” kicked off on Tuesday 11 July at WTO headquarters, with the heads of multiple international agencies calling for greater efforts to improve digital connectivity, lower trade costs, and improve infrastructure through the Aid for Trade initiative. The...
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

How Can Aid for Trade Help Advance the Sustainable Development Goals?

10 July 2017
Jorge Moreira da Silva
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development calls for increasing aid-for-trade support for developing countries, in particular least developed countries. How can this type of funding be fully leveraged in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals? Meeting at a special Summit at the...
Africa

Aid for Trade in Africa: What Are the Strategic Priorities?

10 July 2017
Lily Sommer, Heini Suominen, David Luke
Taking stock of aid for trade in Africa over the last decade, how can the targeting and delivery of this development assistance be improved to achieve the continent’s structural transformation, regional integration, and poverty reduction agendas? Aid for trade (AfT) is explicitly addressed in the...
Regional Integration

Regional Integration Imperatives and Aid for Trade in Africa

10 July 2017
Cheikh Tidiane Dieye
Aid for Trade (AfT) has already been shown to be a valuable means for developing trade in Africa. In what ways could a reorientation of these flows from a national to a regional level further increase the benefits that African economies can obtain from AfT? Aid-for-trade flows have evolved over the...
Gender

Aid for Trade and Gender: Lessons from African Women Entrepreneurs

10 July 2017
Vanessa Erogbogbo
Gender-focused aid for trade initiatives in Africa have the potential to considerably accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. This article sets out the case and highlights key actions required to deliver transformative change for women and for African economies. Aid for...
Standards

Can Aid for Trade Assist Firms in Developing Countries to Comply with Sustainability Standards?

10 July 2017
Jim Redden
Sustainability standards can help foster sustainable development in developing countries, but also have exclusionary effects. How can aid for trade assist businesses in the developing world to comply with an ever-increasing number of public and private standards? For a developing country exporter,...
Services

How Can Aid for Trade Facilitate Trade in Services?

10 July 2017
Ben Shepherd
Aid for trade has made important interventions in services sectors, but going forward, there needs to be more emphasis on regulatory reform and building productive capacity, rather than just infrastructure spending. The services economy is already large in developing countries, typically at least...
Aid for Trade

Publications and Resources

10 July 2017
Beyond Brexit: Four Steps to Make Britain a Global Leader on Trade for Development – Center for Global Development – January 2017 This paper looks at how the UK can, after Brexit, develop a world-leading trade for development policy. It uses a systematic assessment of how rich country trade...
Traditional Knowledge (TK)

WIPO Members Round Up IGC Work Programme with Talks on Traditional Cultural Expressions

22 June 2017
Members of the World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC) have now completed their work programme for the 2016/2017 biennium , approving updated draft articles in their...
Fisheries

WTO Negotiators Debate Scope, Application of Potential Fish Subsidies Deal

22 June 2017
Trade negotiators continued their work last week towards crafting new WTO disciplines on fisheries subsidies, examining two proposals and looking at options regarding the use of dispute settlement rules and notification obligations in a future deal. The meetings, held at the WTO’s Geneva...
Oceans

UN Ocean Conference Signs Off on "Call for Action" To Protect World’s Marine Resources

16 June 2017
The UN Ocean Conference drew to a close on Friday 9 June, with government leaders and representatives endorsing a “call for action” aimed at supporting international efforts to protect the world’s oceans and their resources – including by tackling fisheries subsidies that exacerbate overfishing and...
Africa

Looking at Trade from a Gender Perspective

13 June 2017
The potential of trade and trade policy to advance sustainable development objectives is reflected in the various trade-related commitments contained in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The persistence of significant gender-related constraints in African societies at large, however,...
Africa

The Case for Mainstreaming Gender in Trade Policy

13 June 2017
Simonetta Zarrilli
Is trade policy an effective instrument to narrow existing gender gaps? Can more gender-sensitive trade policies hinder the spread of the anti-globalisation backlash? This article attempts to provide answers to these questions with a focus on Africa. Trade policy is not gender neutral. The...
Kenya

Challenges and Opportunities in Kenya’s Macadamia Nuts Industry: A Gender Perspective

13 June 2017
Jane Maigua, Loise Maina, Charity Ndegwa
The macadamia nuts industry is a promising sector for Kenya’s economy, but because of gender-related constraints, men and women do not enjoy the same opportunities in the value chain. What are the challenges that women face, and how can they be tackled? Agriculture is the dominant sector in the...
Global Value Chains

The Gender Dimensions of Global Value Chains

13 June 2017
Penny Bamber, Cornelia Staritz
Policy makers are increasingly turning to integration and upgrading in global value chains (GVCs) as a means of driving development. How can they ensure that both men and women can access and benefit from GVCs? Picture this: A group of young women, dressed alike in trendy uniforms, step out from a...
Gender

Exploring the Trade and Gender Nexus: The Case of Manufacturing in COMESA Countries

13 June 2017
Nursel Aydiner Avsar, Mariangela Linoci
How did the setting up of export processing zones (EPZs) in COMESA countries affect women? How did tariff changes affect female employment in the manufacturing sector? The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) was formed in 1994 to replace the former Preferential Trade Area for...