Aid for Trade in Asia and the Pacific Conference
The findings of the Asian Development Bank’s Aid for Trade in Asia and the Pacific Report are hoped to better guide Asia and the Pacific to work better with key development partners in delivering its objectives.
A two day conference on the report was organised by ADB with the World Bank, Department of Foreign Affairs and The University of the South Pacific will end today at the University of the South Pacific’s Postgraduate Lecture Theatre, Faculty of Business and Economics Building.
ADB Vice-President for Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development Bambang Susantono, said: “This Aid for Trade report analyses how AfT can increase trade in services though regulatory reform and modern trade facilitation such as paperless trade.
“Lessons highlighted in the report will help policy makers target sectors with the greatest potential to create jobs and reduce poverty, and better identify areas for policy actions under the Aid for Trade Initiative
“Clearly, trade costs must be lowered further.
“This is key to integrating developing economies—especially lower-income countries—into the global economy. “Lowering costs will help draw in small and medium-sized enterprises and marginalised communities into global and regional trade and value chains.
He said to do this we must: -Accelerate trade facilitation, build the infrastructure to expand our capacity and improve the business climate to attract more investment.
-Enhance Regulatory reform to make it less cumbersome thus reduce costs. “Progress on these fronts is important for Asia and the Pacific because trade can create the jobs needed to meet employment targets under the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs.
“Aid for developing services—increasingly tradable as digital technology transforms business and logistics—is particularly important as the sector employs 60 per cent of the workforce globally, and 70 per cent of women workers.
For the island nations of the Pacific, Mr Susantono said the challenges to engagement in international trade are exponentially compounded by geography.
-The small size and isolation of sea-locked economies increase the costs of providing services and doing business.
-Their high exposure to climate change and natural disasters, and their narrow economic base, make them extremely vulnerable to natural and economic shocks most often beyond domestic control.
-Supply-side capacity and trade-related infrastructure constraints further impede access to markets and connections to global value chains, and greatly amplify the isolation.
He also noted aside from the physical infrastructure needed to trade efficiently, it is especially important for Pacific countries to continue improving the business environment and minimise barriers to services trade.
“Governments can make efforts to leverage sectors with the most potential to contribute to inclusive growth, trade flows, and to generate economy-wide spillovers. “For example, around 70 per cent of the total output in the Pacific is generated by services, such as tourism, which employs a large proportion of the workforce—ranging from about 10 per cent here in Fiji to almost 50 per cent in Palau with strong links with the rest of the economy.
“This can help the Pacific nations to overcome the challenge of geography, better connect with international trade flows and achieve inclusive growth.”
Permanent Secretary for Industry, Trade and Tourism Shaeen Ali summary:
In his opening remarks at the conference Permanent Secretary for Industry, Trade and Tourism said: “We need to better connect AfT stakeholders to policy instruments, such as development plans, trade agreements and financing tools.
“This would create a more systematic and strategic approach to channel AfT to improve the overall business environment and create the right conditions for greater trade and investment opportunities and outcomes.
Mr Ali said the Report highlights that there are perennial impediments to trade and investment for developing countries, especially in the Pacific.
“This includes lack of productive capacity, trade facilitation, well developed sanitary and phytosanitary measures, gender equality and as highlighted previously, environmental protection/climate change.
“Fiji and other countries in the Pacific, which are geographically challenged, demonstrate the important role enabling infrastructure and complimentary policy measures can play in improving trade performance.
“The report suggests that well-targeted interventions, co-ordination among implementing agencies and partnering institutions, can make a significant difference to the cost and quality of trade and to inclusive growth.
“I, therefore, urge all stakeholders present here today, to challenge old paradigms of AfT, discuss out-box-solutions for the Pacific, to be able to leap forward in terms trade integration, growth and development, through effective adoption of tools, such as digital commerce and connectivity.”
Aside from the physical infrastructure needed to trade efficiently, it is especially important for Pacific countries to continue improving the business environment and minimise barriers to services trade.