• by Isolda Agazzi (geneva)
• Tuesday, August 11, 2009
• Inter Press Service

How can an African country define its own policy without getting lost in dozens of treaties and international commitments and the jungle of studies prepared by foreign donors and so-called experts, compounded by policy interference by international financial institutions and governments in the North?

Badly hit by the economic crisis and the appreciation of the euro - and therefore of the franc CFA that is directly linked to it - Malian exports have recently become less competitive.

But, confident that rosier days are not far away, the government has decided to prepare itself for the aftermath of the crisis and asked the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) to help it formulate a national trade policy that seeks to connect trade liberalisation with developmental goals such as poverty eradication.

'It is the first time that we have drawn up a trade policy that also takes into consideration development issues,' noted Sanoko Abdullaye from Mali’s mission to the United Nations in Geneva.

According to UNCTAD’s Lisa Borgatti, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have given 'suggestions' over the past 20 years on how to create a trade policy at domestic, regional and international level based on liberalisation.

'We have tried to match it to the domestic developmental goals identified by the government itself, such as growth rates, sectors to be further developed and social policies to be implemented. We are not there to replace the government but to help it find its own way,' added Borgatti.

A workshop was held in Bamako to discuss the study prepared by UNCTAD. Abdullaye emphasised, 'that is not just one more study, but the study of studies'. One of its main suggestions is to develop the agricultural sector to transform primary goods into products with a higher value added.

A typical example is gold. It is Mali's main export but its social and employment impact is virtually nonexistent because it is extracted and exported to South Africa without any further transformation.

The development impact of cotton could be significant and Mali could not do without it, despite declining prices on the international market. The sector must therefore be further developed in an innovative way, for example by introducing organic cotton.

The study suggests continuing the privatisation of the Compagnie malienne pour le développement des textiles, the national cotton company.

Abdullaye explained that, 'to export commodities to external markets, even with a very low level of transformation, you need to satisfy numerous criteria and sanitary norms. If you want to manufacture them, it becomes more difficult, even for products like fruit juice or syrup.

'We are a landlocked country, but we have many agricultural possibilities such as fruit that you don’t find on outside markets.'

But in order to do so, basic infrastructure must be put in place. The study acknowledges that it remains one of the major constraints to economic integration. Access corridors to the sea are limited, the transport sector is inefficient and dominated by cartels, the road network is poor, and there is no 'cold chain' for transporting goods that have to be refrigerated.

Despite recent progress, telecommunications and energy also remain too costly. Eliminating transport bottlenecks is a major challenge and it requires cooperation with neighbouring transit countries, among other measures.

As a result, there is an urgent need to continue the reconstruction work on the Bamako – Dakar railway line and to eliminate unofficial payments on the roads.

The development of information and communication technologies should be another priority, together with sewage and education, support to the private sector and investment in human resources.

The government also foresees reforming the rice sector to 'recapture' the national market and even export rice to the region.

But this requires defining the system of land tenure for irrigated land, the establishment of suitable judicial structures and the 'continuation of efforts to combat market distortions at multilateral forums', an indirect reference to EU and U.S. subsidies.

Another sector that has potential for growth is beef, but this requires the establishment of a credible 'cold chain', the enhancement of transport conditions and supporting the federation of manufacturers of leathers goods.

The results of the workshop are being translated into a national policy that will help concretise the objectives defined by the government. 'Trade being a cross-cutting issue, it will help develop promising sectors like tourism, breeding, fishing and agriculture', added Abdullaye.

He acknowledged that these recommendations are now new, 'but it is the first time that trade enters into a strategic framework of poverty eradication. Up to now, we thought that trade was only about buying and selling. Yet, it is the engine of growth and it helps creating wealth to reduce poverty.'

It is a model that may be followed by other African countries. Niger has asked UNCTAD to help it prepare the same kind of study.

© Inter Press Service (2009) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service