ECA Publishes a New Book On Market Access

27 March 2007

The Trade Financing and Economic Development Division (TFED) of the Economic Commission for Africa has just published a book on market access challenges facing Africa and the way forward.

The publication is available only in French under the title: “Un meilleur accès aux marchés pour l’Afrique” with a foreword by the UN-Under Secretary General, and ECA’s Executive Secretary, Abdoulie Janneh.

The book places the access of Africa’s agricultural and non-agricultural products to global markets at the center of the debate on trade for development in the context of the Doha World Trade Organization development round. Its objective is to shed light on how better market access could help African countries achieve their development goals.

In this regard, the new publication highlights narrow market space as one of the major impediments to economic growth prospects and the push for greater economic diversification on the continent, by featuring the findings of a comparative study between market access constraints and trade-distorting measures such as domestic support, export subsidies, high tariffs and unduly strict quantitative procedures that are a detriment to African countries.

It also reviews various models for better market access and charts a set of rules and principles for the design of a market access scheme that addresses the concerns of African trade negotiators.

“Un meilleur accès aux marchés pour l’Afrique” is a collective effort coordinated by Mr. Hakim Ben Hammouda, director of TFED in collaboration with the French publishing House “Maisonneuve & Larose”. It’s a useful tool for trade experts and policy makers as well as non-expert audience.