IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/wtowps/ersd20219.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Africa's integration in the WTO multilateral trading system: Academic support and the role of WTO Chairs

Author

Listed:
  • Smeets, Maarten

Abstract

The Marrakesh Agreement establishing the WTO recognizes the need for positive efforts designed to ensure that developing countries and especially the least developed among them secure a share in the growth in international trade commensurate with the needs of their economic development.This article discusses how the WTO contributes to facilitating Africa's integration into the WTO multilateral trading system. It is argued that, while African countries are actively engaged in the work of the WTO, securing their economic and policy interests, some main challenges remain. These include the need to further diversify production, linking to the Global Value Chains and developing adequate infra-structures facilitating digital trade as a vehicle for economic growth. The WTO, in close collaboration with partner institutions, lends its support to Africa in overcoming some of these issues through various programs, all geared towards trade capacity building. It is argued that the work undertaken by WTO Chairs and academic institutions under the aegis of the WTO's Chairs Program (WCP) is of critical importance in providing the analytical underpinnings for the policy choices in support of a fuller integration in the multilateral trading system. Preparations are under way meeting all the conditions for this program to be significantly expanded and deepened in 2021 with a view of further strengthening its capacity to provide support to beneficiaries and especially LDCs, hence African countries, integrating in the multilateral trading system.

Suggested Citation

  • Smeets, Maarten, 2021. "Africa's integration in the WTO multilateral trading system: Academic support and the role of WTO Chairs," WTO Staff Working Papers ERSD-2021-9, World Trade Organization (WTO), Economic Research and Statistics Division.
  • Handle: RePEc:zbw:wtowps:ersd20219
    DOI: 10.30875/5717be76-en
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/231366/1/1750214601.pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.30875/5717be76-en?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Baldwin, Richard, 2011. "21st century regionalism: Filling the gap between 21st century trade and 20th century trade rules," WTO Staff Working Papers ERSD-2011-08, World Trade Organization (WTO), Economic Research and Statistics Division.
    2. Neufeld, Nora, 2014. "The long and winding road: How WTO members finally reached a trade facilitation agreement," WTO Staff Working Papers ERSD-2014-06, World Trade Organization (WTO), Economic Research and Statistics Division.
    3. Evdokia Moïsé & Silvia Sorescu, 2013. "Trade Facilitation Indicators: The Potential Impact of Trade Facilitation on Developing Countries' Trade," OECD Trade Policy Papers 144, OECD Publishing.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Beverelli, Cosimo & Ticku, Rohit, 2022. "Reducing tariff evasion: The role of trade facilitation," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 534-554.
    2. Bernard Hoekman, 2014. "The Bali Trade Facilitation Agreement and Rulemaking in the WTO: Milestone, Mistake or Mirage?," RSCAS Working Papers 2014/102, European University Institute.
    3. Bernard Hoekman, 2014. "The Bali Trade Facilitation Agreement and Rulemaking in the WTO: Milestone, Mistake or Mirage?," RSCAS Working Papers 2014/102, European University Institute.
    4. Kym Anderson, 2016. "Agricultural Trade, Policy Reforms, and Global Food Security," Palgrave Studies in Agricultural Economics and Food Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-137-46925-0, December.
    5. Russell Hillberry & Carlos Zurita, 2022. "Commitment behaviour in the World Trade Organization's Trade Facilitation Agreement," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(1), pages 36-75, January.
    6. Bryan Roberts & Fynnwin Prager & Charles Baschnagel & Adam Rose & Brett Shears, 2021. "The economic benefits of trade facilitation: U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Centers of Excellence and Expertise programme," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(2), pages 346-366, February.
    7. Sokolova, Maria V., 2016. "Exchange Rates, International Trade and Growth: Re-Evaluation of Undervaluation," Conference papers 332790, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    8. Alessandro Borin & Riccardo Cristadoro, 2014. "Foreign direct investment and multinational firms," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 243, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    9. Richard Baldwin, 2013. "Trade and Industrialization after Globalization's Second Unbundling: How Building and Joining a Supply Chain Are Different and Why It Matters," NBER Chapters, in: Globalization in an Age of Crisis: Multilateral Economic Cooperation in the Twenty-First Century, pages 165-212, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Shenyi Xu & Ganghui Lian & Miaoyuan Song & Aiting Xu, 2024. "Do global innovation networks influence the status of global value chains? Based on a patent cooperation network perspective," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-12, December.
    11. Mamta Kumari & Nalin Bharti, 2020. "What Drive Trade Costs? South Asia and Beyond," South Asia Economic Journal, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, vol. 21(2), pages 258-280, September.
    12. Kudzai Mataba & Faizel Ismail, 2021. "COVID-19 and trade facilitation in Southern Africa: Implications for the AfCFTA," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2021-67, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    13. Milena Kern & Jörg Paetzold & Hannes Winner, 2021. "Cutting red tape for trade in services," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(10), pages 2858-2886, October.
    14. Fontagné, Lionel & Foure, Jean, 2016. "Is Trade Facilitation a Free Lunch? A General Equilibrium Approach," Conference papers 332757, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    15. Bianka Dettmer, 2012. "The European Union's service directive: Contrasting ex ante estimates with empirical evidence," Jena Economics Research Papers 2012-019, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    16. Jaime DE MELO & Laurent WAGNER, 2016. "Aid for Trade and the Trade Facilitation Agreement: What they can do for LDCs," Working Papers P153, FERDI.
    17. Bullón, David & Mena, Tayutic & Meng, Bo & Sánchez, Natalia & Vargas, Henry & Inomata, Satoshi, 2015. "Using the input-output approach to measure participation in GVCs : the case of Costa Rica," IDE Discussion Papers 529, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO).
    18. Bernard Hoekman & Dominique Njinkeu, 2017. "Integrating Africa: Some Trade Policy Research Priorities and Challenges," RSCAS Working Papers 2017/43, European University Institute.
    19. Abdullah Alhassan & Mary E. Burfisher & Mr. Julian T Chow & Ding Ding & Fabio Di Vittorio & Dmitriy Kovtun & Arnold McIntyre & Ms. Inci Ötker & Marika Santoro & Lulu Shui & Karim Youssef, 2020. "Is the Whole Greater than the Sum of its Parts? Strengthening Caribbean Regional Integration," IMF Working Papers 2020/008, International Monetary Fund.
    20. Eric Tremolada Álvarez, 2018. "La Cooperación Internacional como alternativa a los unilateralismos. colección Ius Cogens n.° 6," Books, Universidad Externado de Colombia, Facultad de Derecho, number 1037.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    trade; capacity building; Africa; WTO; Global Value Chains; academic support;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F10 - International Economics - - Trade - - - General
    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations
    • F19 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Other
    • F53 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - International Agreements and Observance; International Organizations
    • F55 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - International Institutional Arrangements
    • F63 - International Economics - - Economic Impacts of Globalization - - - Economic Development
    • F68 - International Economics - - Economic Impacts of Globalization - - - Policy

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:wtowps:ersd20219. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/wtoerch.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.