Focus on value, rather than volume, ITC head tells local exporters

MANILA, Philippines -  Focusing on the value of exports rather than simply their volume is a key means for developing countries (DCs) to survive and prosper in times of economic crisis, said Patricia R. Francis, executive director of the International Trade Centre (ITC).

A focus on value required long-term thinking, ensuring equity and inclusiveness, and being innovative in seeking new opportunities through diversification, Francis said.

“In a time of limited resources — financial, food and natural — it is essential to think “value” if we are to overcome the challenge of access to these scarce resources, and ultimately to address poverty,” she said.

She was addressing the opening session of the 44th annual meeting of ITC’s Joint Advisory Group (JAG), which brings representatives of its 192 member countries together to review the activities of the organization and to consider its future plans.

ITC is a joint agency of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). The session was also attended and addressed by UNCTAD secretary-general Supachai Panitchpakdi and WTO director-general Pascal Lamy.

Supachai suggested that in the year ahead, collaboration should focus on improving trade facilitation to enhance trade competitiveness; improving trade support institutions and the business environment; trade intelligence; the interface between environmental issues and trade policy, with a particular focus on the natural resource-based sectors, including organic food; improvement of supply chains; and the integration of regional and global value chains.

There was also a need to concentrate on obstacles facing African small and medium-sized enterprises in entering global value chains and on support to public-private dialogue on the implications of European partnership agreements, especially those concerning trade in services, competition policy and trade and investment.

Turning to Aid for Trade, Supachai said the initiative was critical for developing countries, and particularly least developed countries (LDCs), for the proper functioning of their productive and export capacities and long-term competitiveness. He welcomed ITC’s moves to filter all projects and programs through the Aid for Trade perspective and its concentration on the private sector.