This is the essence of ITC’s approach to export strategy. Although the organization does not have the capacity to implement this approach for every programme country, its methodology is in high demand. In 2011, in addition to working with individual sectors and countries, export strategy played an intrinsic role in a number of ITC’s large programmes including AAACP, PACT II, NTF II and EnACT. Placing export strategy at the forefront of large programmes demonstrates the ultimate goal of sustainable development through exports.

The export strategies prepared by countries with the advisory services of ITC are developed as global public goods. In 2011, ITC enhanced its support tools and literature in English and French to help countries develop their export strategies. Export strategy support systems were improved to better manage and monitor activities.

In 2011, ITC finalized two sector strategies in Tunisia related to processed food and services to enterprises, which led to an action plan to enhance the competitiveness of selected enterprises in these two subsectors.

Improved public-private dialogue was also a significant achievement in 2011 for the export strategy processes in Jamaica, Liberia, Uganda and Yemen. A key characteristic of ITC’s export strategy methodology is to ensure that trade forms an integral part of countries’ national development plans. In 2011, policymakers in Liberia and Yemen were better prepared to mainstream trade into national planning processes and other policies. TSIs in Jamaica also prepared new policy proposals resulting from the development of the country’s export strategy.

PACIR is a four-year programme in Côte d’Ivoire involving multiple partners and a budget of € 16 million funded by the EU. The objective is to strengthen the Ivorian economy with a view to integration under the Economic Partnership Agreement. ITC is engaged in two of the four specified outcomes of the programme: improvement of the business environment (ITC-led) and strengthened competitiveness of Ivorian SMEs (with UNIDO). Delayed because of the political unrest in the country, the programme was officially launched in November 2011, and initial outputs include mapping Ivorian TSIs to determine which should be involved in the design of a national export strategy and which would benefit institutional strengthening; training foreign-based Ivorian trade counsellors on trade information and foreign trade representation, to promote Ivorian exports and foreign direct investment; and orchestrating a study tour for lawyers from the Cour d’Arbitrage de Côte d’Ivoire at the Centre de Médiation et d’Arbitrage de Paris to enhance their mediation and arbitration skills.

Rather than simply produce a strategy document, partner institutions were enabled jointly to produce plans of action and implementation frameworks to accompany each of the regional and national sector strategies. In West Africa, the governance structure to ensure the implementation management of the regional cotton strategy was established by UEMOA. The implementation framework was recognized by the bodies of the UEMOA Commission as the lead institution for mobilizing resources for the implementation of the strategy and for providing effective support in the development of the cotton-textile-clothing industry in the region. Similar results were achieved in 2011 for the PACT II mango sector strategy in the ECOWAS region, and each of the sector strategies developed for the targeted agri-food industries under AAACP. This implementation management approach increases the feasibility of attaining results from the export strategy process.

The participatory approach to strategy development is challenging, even in the single country context. The COMESA experience with leather involved 15 countries, each with an existing leather sector. However, through collaboration between countries and across the private and public sectors, COMESA has chosen to position itself as a regional supplier of value-added leather products. Some 60% of the representatives in this participatory process came from the private sector, ensuring business buy-in, and national governments were represented by senior policymakers.

Implementation of this bold strategy will require significant coordination and collaboration between member states and at regional level. The region has already confirmed its strategy management and implementation mechanism team and built their capacity for this role.

The stalling of the Doha Development Agenda has coincided with a flood of parallel trade agreements, including arrangements to foster greater regional integration. In 2011, private-sector-led initiatives aimed at activating public-private consultation processes on policy issues at regional level intensified. The business sector in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) is more acutely aware of the business opportunities and threats associated with the region’s Free Trade Area (FTA) through a public-private dialogue event in the region and the drafting of a position paper on the challenges for the private sector stemming from the SADC FTA, along with policy recommendations to mitigate these challenges. Following a similar public-private dialogue event for the East African Community (EAC), participants initiated the design of a road map to address the challenges they prioritized from the implementation of the EAC Common Market Protocol. Case studies on the business implications of regional integration were also produced for the clothing and textiles sector in the Andean Community and for financial services in Central America. ITC’s advisory support services in regional integration are made possible thanks to Window I of the ITF.

Regional integration is a core thrust of PACT II. ITC supports the inclusion of the business voice in this policy process by establishing and strengthening private-sector apex bodies for public-private dialogue at the regional level. These bodies represent the regional private-sector voice and also increase private-sector awareness of the implications of regional integration. In 2011, the role of the COMESA Business Council as the apex privatesector body was fortified through increased membership, diversified funding and business linkages with other regional and international bodies. The organization secured funding from other donors in addition to its PACT II budget and was active in presenting the business voice through policy papers and public-private dialogue events. In the ECOWAS region, a formalized public-private dialogue mechanism is a step closer with the establishment of the Export Actors Platform (EAP) and the Trade Experts Network in 2011. The EAP led the identification of issues of immediate conc

ern for the private-sector relation to the implementation of the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme. 2011 also saw the establishment of three dedicated regional apex bodies in ECCAS — the Chamber of Commerce, Employers Association and Women Entrepreneurs Association. Leaders of these organizations are sensitized to the challenges and opportunities associated with business advocacy at a regional level and are in a better position to represent the concerns of their constituencies in this regard.

Increasing private-sector confidence in LDCs in the WTO accession process is a key objective of ITC, pursued thanks to funding from Window I of the ITF. The organization engages the private sector in this policy process through building awareness of the business implications of accession to the WTO, while ensuring that the private-sector voice makes an important contribution to the negotiations. In 2011, ITC assisted private-sector involvement in the accession processes of Ethiopia, Lao PDR and Samoa. In each of these countries, 2011 saw a marked improvement in private-sector confidence in WTO accession. Ethiopia envisages concluding its negotiations on WTO accession by 2015. The country used 2011 to assess the implications of financial-sector liberalization by studying the experience of other countries. Through the public-private dialogue mechanism, parties agreed to conclude that reform of financial services is necessary. In Lao PDR, sector associations have indicated that key sectors are now prepared for accession and have identified the need for WTO membership to strengthen domestic reform and to provide stability and direction to the regional integration process. ITC’s 2011 Joint Advisory Group (JAG) meeting included a panel session on Trade Capacity for WTO-Acceding LDCs. During this session, the former president of the Samoa Chamber of Commerce imparted her experience in gaining the understanding, confidence and ownership of the private sector in Samoa’s bid for accession. ITC’s support in this process was recognized by WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy in his official speech during the announcement of Samoa’s accession at the Eighth WTO Ministerial Conference in December.

ITC has also supported, to a smaller degree, public-private dialogue to support the Government of the Russian Federation in building stakeholders’ confidence in their accession to the WTO. Dialogue was held in Belarus and in the Chuvash Republic.

The key TSI leading this initiative, PITAD, has established a strategic partnership with WTI in Bern, Switzerland, enabling access to global experts in the field of trade policy. Future Pakistani trade policy specialists will have access to world-class training in trade policy development. In 2011, work commenced on the revision and upgrade of the PITAD core curriculum using a mentorship and coaching approach for PITAD master trainers and WTI experts. As a measure of early success, the WTI Executive Board approved co-accreditation of certain modules delivered by PITAD.