International Trade and Finance
Creating locally made products with international appeal
Africa is a continent bursting with brilliant minds and innovative ideas. Still young people face a barrage of challenges when starting and running their businesses. As a young entrepreneur my brand TiGA has faced some of these challenges and we’ve also had some success in dealing with them.
Bringing global finance to small businesses
Fledgling businesses in Francophone West Africa need nothing so much as access to financing in order to grow and thrive. Their problem in many cases is twofold: finding a knowledgeable affordable source while wading into unfamiliar loan and credit processes. Local banking procedures might be opaque or strewn with red tape while accountability and collateral demands create new headaches for managers struggling under their day-today workload.
Tear down this wall: Non-tariff measures and regional integration
There has been no more opportune political moment to advance regional integration than the one presented by the current crisis in the multilateral trading system. Rising trade tensions the backlash against trade in some corners of the developed world and the continuous attack on the multilateral trading system magnify a long-overdue need: establishing better regional integration especially in the south.
The road now less travelled
The global spread of the coronavirus pandemic has hit us all with incredible speed – and the tourism and hospitality sector is one most impacted.
Africa’s green opportunity
In 1967 one gigabyte of hard drive storage space cost US$ 1m. Today it’s around two US cents. Computer processing power has also increased exponentially: it doubles every two years. This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to technological progress in the 21st century.
Financing and promoting African investments
Much is made about poverty in Africa notwithstanding improvements in some countries in recent years in terms of GDP incomes exports middle class growth and a mix of health and social indicators. However even with some progress Africa is punching well below its weight when considering it is a continent of 1.2 billion people with vast resources. The success of many Africans abroad adds to the question of what has gone awry in Africa and what can be done to right the course.
Agenda from 7 October 2019
The digital disruption of international trade has already begun
Digital disruption is one of the hottest topics in the business community at the moment. From the boardrooms of the world’s largest companies to small co-working hubs filled with small businesses and startups there’s a growing sense that the internet is changing the world so quickly they must quickly understand how they can take advantage or risk losing their business.
The environment lies at the heart of GRASP
Managing environmental risks is a major theme of the Growth for Rural Advancement and Sustainable Progress (GRASP) programme in Pakistan worth $55 million and funded by the delegation of the European Union to Pakistan. Pakistan is ranked as one of the 10 nations most at risk from climate change. It faces multiple challenges from declining water availability and quality and extreme weather bringing floods and droughts.
Expanding tourism in Myanmar’s Kayah State and Tanintharyi region
Earlier this year the International Trade Centre (ITC) announced that it would be extending and expanding its support to Myanmar’s tourism sector as part of the fourth phase of the Dutchfunded Netherlands Trust Fund (NTF IV) programme. The four-year programme will be implemented in partnership with Myanmar’s Ministry of Commerce (MoC) and the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism (MoHT).
Maasai eco-lodge creates win-win for humans and animals alike
Tourists who visit the Laikipia district north of Mount Kenya between fertile highlands to the south and vast arid plains stretching north do not only come to experience our eco-lodge the Maasai hospitality and the stunning scenery they also come to see its wildlife.
Agenda upcoming events for 2021
The future of multilateralism
World leaders came together 75 years ago and created the United Nations and its related organizations to prevent the breakdown of global cooperation and the resulting chaos and carnage from happening again.
How digital skills can help tackle youth unemployment
Some 66.6 million young women and men are unemployed and 144.9 million young workers are employed but living in poverty according to the International Labour Organization (ILO). On the other hand research by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) points out that there will be tens of millions of jobs available for people with advanced digital skills in the coming years.
Small states, big trade challenges
Global trade is suffering due to a trade slowdown political changes that no doubt we have all been following and an increase in anti-globalization measures particularly those that inhibit trade.
Leading a rethink of tourism
Competing in a world of value chains
There is a saying in Ghana that ‘Ghana is cocoa and cocoa is Ghana’. Not only is Ghana the second-largest producer of cocoa in the world but cocoa is an integral part of the nation’s fabric. It is the country’s most important export accounting for 8% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP)_and 30% of export earnings. It also provides employment for approximately 4 million cocoa-farming households most of which are family-run on plots of less than 1.2 acres and suffer from food and income insecurity.
Bridging the digital divide
A century ago when pandemic influenza struck a war-torn world few multilateral institutions existed. Countries fought their common microbial enemy alone. Today an array of multilateral mechanisms exists to confront global public health emergencies and address their economic social and political effects. The global nature of the current pandemic requires a global response. Let us make sure we leverage existing multilateral mechanisms to help fight the virus and overcome the current crisis.
Taking a closer took: The impact of tech on trade
Digital technologies are rapidly changing every aspect of our societies and especially international trade where all these technologies are converging. From artificial intelligence (AI) and distributed ledger technology (DLT)* to 3D printing and 5G networks emerging technologies are no longer abstract ideas but daily realities of international trade.
Technology for all
The world of 2019 is very different than the world of 1995 when the World Trade Organization was established. The way we produce trade and consume been transformed by technology and efficiencies in transportation and global poverty has decreased.