Regional Strategy
Regional Strategy
Through the Tripartite Task Force, COMESA, EAC & SADC have agreed to develop a common regional Aid for Trade Strategy, the implementation of which could be at least partly financed by the COMESA Fund. (The EAC development fund is in progress whereas work on SADC Aid for Trade is still at the development stage.)
The regional Aid for Trade strategy will focus on the development of coherent packages of interrelated:
· Investments and trade related infrastructures
· Trade facilitation instruments
· Trade regulatory measures
A regional strategy is necessary because for many countries, the solution to the growth in trade can lie outside their immediate jurisdiction and control. For example, if a country is land-locked, it will need to rely on the roads, railways and port systems of neighbouring countries in order to export its goods. Thus, one country may seek assistance to concession its railway system to one company, its neighbour (sharing the continuation of the railway) may be concessioned with different criteria to a rival company and the port facilities may be different yet again.
It is difficult to address productive capacity building at the regional level (since it is better dealt with at the national level) and the regional strategy will therefore focus upon trade-related infrastructure and trade related adjustments.
There are several infrastructure funds operating in Africa and even on a bilateral basis, investment in transport , electricity supply, irrigation schemes, dams etc is not new, however, the Fund will be unique in that it places emphasis on trade and integration objectives. It is designed to finance regional solutions to infrastructural constraints that are multi-sectoral and multimodal.