The more than 900 delegates attending the World Export Development Forum (WEDF) 2012 had a chance a to rate the sessions they attended and surveys show that the events plenary sessions were the most engaging.
On top came ‘Improving commodity supply chains for greater regional and global food security’. During this session, panellists argued that trade is not sufficient to deliver food security, but is indispensable in making food accessible and affordable. They also concluded that trade restrictions and other obstacles to trade, as well as lack of access to trade finance in agriculture, represent barriers to achieving food security.
Read full session report.The second-most popular session was ‘The Growth Markets’ Potential: what their emergence mean for the future’. Panellists agreed that growth in developed markets should not be expected for another five years, requiring developing countries to align with these new dynamics of globalization, and developing trade with other emerging markets instead. Currently South-South trade is largely in intermediate goods, while some final products are being exported to the North. This, however, means that the global economic downturn affects the countries that are well integrated within their own region. There was also agreement that the private sector needs to become more involved in trade development, alongside multilateral and bilateral technical assistance.
Read full session report. ‘Financing trade between emerging markets was the third-most popular session. During this it was heard that SMEs, which are the backbone of the economy in many emerging countries, are facing considerable difficulties in accessing finance for trade, especially long-term finance.
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But the breakout sessions, too proved popular, with ‘Good Practices in PPPs: Financing and operating infrastructure projects’ being the fourth-most popular session overall. During this session panellists set out the importance of projects being be awarded transparently through a competitive process. They also argued that financial guarantees reduce risk exposure of both the contracting agency and the private-sector counterpart.
Read full session report.WEDF hailed as informative and engaging