Pretoria - African countries must intensify efforts to diversify their economies so they can integrate into the global economy, says Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies.
Delivering South Africa’s country statement at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) 14 Conference in Nairobi, Kenya, the Minister said the conference comes at a time of a deepening global crisis, which includes countries on the African continent.
“The current circumstances require that we intensify our efforts to diversify our economies away from an over reliance on primary, unprocessed products, and move up the value chains through pursuing industrialisation.
“An integral component of this involves pursuing a development integration agenda on the African continent, which combines market integration, infrastructure and industrial development,” said the Minister on Wednesday.
The aim, said Minister Davies, is to create a larger regional market that supports diversification and industrialisation across the continent.
“Global negotiations and rules must provide a supportive framework for this agenda and not complicate it. This requires recognising that developing countries' efforts to transform their economies also need policy space,” he said.
Minister Davies said South Africa reiterates its commitment to the World Trade Organisation’s Doha Development Mandate. He said the 10th WTO Ministerial Conference held last year agreed to non-binding discussions on other possible issues for future negotiations.
“However, I want to stress that we did not agree to discard the WTO Doha Mandate in favour of a new mandate dealing with so called 21st century trade issues. While some of the matters raised in exploratory discussions do speak to important new realities, we insist that any subject must be addressed from a developmental perspective,” he said.
The Minister urged UNCTAD to continue playing an active role in assisting developing countries to understand profound developments underway in the world economy and issues arising from interdependence in the areas of trade, finance and investment, which affect the growth and development prospects of developing countries.
“The global economic, financial and trading systems remain unbalanced and the current economic crisis has had significant impacts on the ability of developing countries to implement measures to address the consequences of sustained economic turbulence,” said Minister Davies.
What is needed by African countries is an investment led strategy that will contribute to their economic transformation. “There is a need for investment policies that promote and attract investment that contributes to sustainable development. These must be complemented by targeted trade and investment promotion and facilitation measures that are aimed at channelling investment to the manufacturing sector,” said the Minister.
Minister Davies arrived in Kenya at the weekend to participate in the 14th UNCTAD conference and the World Investment Forum (WIF) 2016, which concludes on Friday.
The week-long meeting brings together Heads of State and Government, ministers and other prominent representatives of business, civil society and academia to tackle global trade and economic development issues. – SAnews.gov.za
