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UNECE Africa's Digital Trade Regulatory Framework_ Unlocking Africa's Digital Potential

Africa’s Digital Trade Regulatory Framework: Unlocking Africa’s Digital Potential

Africa has some of the most rapidly growing markets and greatest entrepreneurial energy in the global economy. With the right policy frameworks – that focus on harmonized trade rules, data protection, cybersecurity, cloud computing and taxation – they can become ideal launching pads for future innovation. Over the past decades, the global spread of new technologies has helped lift over one billion people out of extreme poverty. The regulatory landscape across various policy areas needed to enable digital trade in Africa can be made more robust with a range of policy considerations along the following lines: Tariffs and taxes; Commit to open digital trade; Promote free flow and innovative uses of data; Enforce digital trade rules and secure systems ; Encourage movement to the cloud; Encourage entrepreneurship and start-ups; Competition.

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ECA ESCAP WTO EIF LDC5 regional consultations on trade elements of the Doha Programme of Action (DPoA)

LDC5 regional consultations on trade elements of the Doha Programme of Action (DPoA) – Main Takeaways

In March 2022, the international community adopted the Doha Programme of Action for LDCs for the decade 2022-2031. Trade is one of the DPoA’s six pillars. In January 2023, the WTO Secretariat and UN-OHRLLS, in cooperation with the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) and UN Regional Economic Commissions, organized two regional consultations on trade elements of the DPoA in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (17-18 January) and Siem Reap, Cambodia (30-31 January).

The regional consultations brought together nearly 100 senior trade officials from over 40 LDCs to exchange views on trade elements of the DPoA and evolving LDC priorities for the next decade. The discussions were structured around the DPoA’s trade targets, covering the topics of regional economic integration, digital trade, and trade support for LDCs. Options for ensuring smooth transitions from the LDC category were also discussed.

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The role of digitalisation in strengthening capacities of Micro, Small and Medium-Size Enterprises (MSMEs in Southern Africa to take advantage of the AfCFTA): ECA Sub-Regional Office for Southern Africa (SRO-SA) & ECA Digital Centre of Excellence

This study on the Role of Digitalisation in Strengthening Capacities of Micro, Small and Medium-size Enterprises (MSMEs) in Southern Africa to take Advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), probes into the network of three critical and connected themes: African MSMEs, Digital Ecosystems and AfCFTA. It lays out an understanding of the state of MSMEs within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and outlines how governments can create the right conditions for smaller enterprises to optimally participate in their respective national digital ecosystems in order to leverage the range of opportunities opening up for full regional and continental integration through AfCFTA. AfCFTA holds great promise as an umbrella for driving the next wave of Africa’s growth. Anchored on the prioritisation of intra-Africa trade, regional collaboration, industrialisation, and economic diversification, the free trade agreement, when successfully implemented, will consolidate the continent’s markets by developing regional and specific value-chains that avail new scalable opportunities to MSMEs and the private sector beyond what they currently have access to, but there is a major concern.

The role of digitalisation in strengthening capacities of Micro, Small and Medium-Size Enterprises (MSMEs in Southern Africa to take advantage of the AfCFTA): ECA Sub-Regional Office for Southern Africa (SRO-SA) & ECA Digital Centre of Excellence Read More »

ESCAP Digital trade regulatory review for Asia-Pacific, Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean

Digital trade regulatory review for Asia-Pacific, Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean

This report is part of the collaborative efforts between the three United Nations Regional Commissions (UNRCs): 21 (ESCAP), 28 (ECA), and 20 (ECLAC) under the ESCAP-ECA-ECLAC Digital Trade Regulatory Analysis Initiative. The report provides a preliminary step towards better understanding the digital trade policy environment within and between Asia-Pacific, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. The report presents an overview of the digital trade policy landscape in the three regions, based on the regulatory data collections in 2022 from 69 pilot economies in the three regions. The data collection and analysis are based on the ESCAP-ECA-ECLAC common framework of the Regional Digital Trade Regulatory Integration Index (RDTII) 2.0*. The report also proposes recommendations for enhancing digital trade integration within and between the three regions.

*Please see the RDTII Version 1.0: A Guide for information about the RDTII framework (The updated guide for RDTII Version 2.0 is forthcoming).

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