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- Volume 2016, Issue 2, 2016
International Trade Forum - Volume 2016, Issue 2, 2016
Volume 2016, Issue 2, 2016
Published quarterly since 1964 in English, French and Spanish, the International Trade Forum focuses on trade promotion, export development and import methods, as part of its technical cooperation programme with developing countries and economies in transition.
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The faces behind the projects
Auteur: Matthew WilsonAt its very heart, trade-related assistance is about investing in four Ps: People, processes, policies and productivity. Behind every intervention, every project, every dollar spent, there is a human face.
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Why trade matters for better lives
Auteur: Erik SolheimOpenness to trade and investment is a key ingredient for generating economic growth and ultimately leads to better lives for men and women across the globe. We have seen it happen in many countries the past decades, for example in China and South Korea. Today Ethiopia is among the countries going through a similar experience.
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No country is an Island
Auteur: Neven MimicaAt a time of globalization and rapidly changing economies, the European Union (EU) can only be as strong as its partners, which is why well-founded trade relationships are of crucial importance. However, if we want to continue to alleviate poverty, eliminate hunger, improve working conditions and boost economic growth worldwide, we need to direct our focus to developing countries.
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Making e-commerce work for all
Auteur: Marcos VaenaThe rise of affordable and accessible technology has transformed consumer behaviour in recent years. Engaging in online transactions is today commonplace across the world. From checking your bank account balance to paying bills and ordering groceries, e-commerce has transformed the way consumers and businesses engage with each other. For the citizens of developed countries e-commerce is becoming business as usual. Online retail is estimated by the Centre for Retail Research to account for 13% of consumer spending in the United States of America, around 10% in Europe and much more in some countries. Business-to-business sales are estimated to be as much as fifteen times as large.
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Cross-border e-commerce helps SMEs reach global markets
Auteur: Shi DongweiJunpu is a small village of 3,000 residents in China’s southern province of Guangdong, which was very poor before the fast development of e-commerce in China. Today, more than two-thirds of the residents make their living on Taobao, China’s largest e-commerce site, selling local produces and other popular products to domestic and international customers through more than 3,000 online stores operated from the village. The village also has a ‘Taobao Academy’ providing training to aspiring young people who have just started their online businesses.
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Creating an inclusive digital economy is vital to achieving the SDGs
Auteur: Houlin ZhaoSince the birth of the World Wide Web in 1990 the world has witnessed the beginning of an extraordinary fourth wave of industrialization. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) from computers and smartphones to mobile apps, networked smart sensors, web-enabled drones and cars now pervade the personal and professional lives of those living in the industrialized world.
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Why labour-intensive business is the future of job creation
Auteur: Marianne HaahrThe battle against unemployment continues to rage and nowhere more so than in developing economies. There is good reason for that. For example, in Africa more youths will enter the labour market in the next 15 years than in the rest of the world combined. Systemic change is needed to reverse the trend of jobless growth by shifting focus from labour to resource productivity to re-design employment markets fit for the 21st century.
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Harnessing the forces of e-commerce for development
Auteur: Fabian StaechelinSince its creation 20 years ago eBay has been a significant force in promoting small businesses and entrepreneurship across the United States of America and Europe. Today there are 25 million active sellers on eBay, many of them making a living selling online. During a recent visit to Africa I had the chance to meet with two Rwandan-based eBay sellers and was able to experience first-hand how online trade creates sales opportunities.
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Digital economy unlocks doors for women entrepreneurs in Africa
Auteur: Jennifer FreedmanSawaSawa means ‘fine and dandy’ in Swahili and the women-led custom software-solutions provider bearing that name is doing ever-increasing business, thanks in large part to electronic commerce and the development of digital tools.
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Africa’s digital agriculture revolution
Auteur: Jarle HetlandDigital technologies can improve agriculture in Africa as they have potential to significantly raise productivity of smallholder farmers, Fabian Lange, associate research officer at the Kofi Annan Foundation, tells Jarle Hetland. As part of the organization’s Combatting Hunger Programme, which advocates for the transformation of African agriculture to ensure food and nutrition security, he has seen first-hand how going digital is transforming the continent.
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Three ways tech will unleash Africa’s economic potential
Auteur: Francis GatareThere is a clear understanding among Africa’s more rapidly developing economic players that technology must be brought centre stage in order to continue the pace of progress.
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How will digitalization change agriculture?
Auteur: Achim WalterDigitalization is fascinating. Just as we’ve been spellbound by our smartphones in recent years, watching funny videos and sharing pictures of adorable cats, in the future young farmers are likely to don digital glasses or consult devices that will help them analyse their work and make decisions.
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In line with going online: Using e-commerce to tap new markets
Auteur: Susanna PakTo sell more goods online, sell them in person. That’s what Syrian entrepreneur Rania Kinge did to expand her online market while offering handmade products ranging from bracelets and bags to scarves to soaps at a pop-up store in Geneva earlier this year.
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How the digital economy is improving women’s access to global markets
Auteur: Cynthia BaloghNo matter what city you are in these days you will notice people with their heads down, staring at their smartphones. One German municipality is installing warning lights in the pavement to keep distracted pedestrians from walking into oncoming trains. The safety hazard aside, what is striking is how much time people spend on their phones. Digital media and smartphones are everywhere, in every city, town and village across the globe. Consumers are connected everywhere so those institutions and businesses connecting with them are benefiting. Those that aren’t are left behind.
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Unlocking FDI development gains through facilitation
Auteur: James ZhanThe World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) holds enormous promise to gear up trade flows. WTO estimates suggest successful implementation of the TFA could reduce trade costs by 14%, which in turn could raise global goods exports by US$ 1 trillion a year – potentially boosting the world economy at a time of flagging growth. What is more, the body’s World Trade Report found that developing countries stand to capture more than half those gains, a ramification with significant implications for international development efforts.
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Sri Lanka sweetens its offerings of fruits, vegetables for export
Auteur: Susanna PakOn any given day, rain or shine, Ruwan Hemage tends to his farm in Loluwagoda, Sri Lanka, about 70 kilometres outside the capital city of Colombo. Hemage, his wife and two hired workers cultivate a variety of crops on the six-hectare farm including coconuts, bananas, papayas and ginger. The main focus, however, is on pineapples, which are intercropped with or grown in close proximity to coconuts to produce a greater yield on the land. About 90% of the pineapples are exported to the Middle East.
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