Historias

PACT II : improving regional trade for global gains (en)

12 noviembre 2012
ITC Noticias
Among the International Trade Centre’s largest programmes, PACT II is also a highly successful initiative.

Since its launch in 2008, the Programme for Building African Capacity for Trade (PACT II) has shown remarkable success.

PACT II is the backbone of the International Trade Centre’s (ITC) contribution to the Aid for Trade agenda in Africa. It has demonstrated the potential of a regional programme approach to provide practical solutions to trade integration and has started yielding concrete results at enterprise level, including for women entrepreneurs.

Led by ITC, PACT II was forged in a strategic partnership with three of Africa’s regional economic communities (RECs) – the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) – to support Africa’s regional integration. PACT II is funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

PACT II has since it was launched built the capacity of RECs, enabling them to better respond to the needs of the private sector in trade development. It has established regional trade-support networks, expanded pools of African experts, upgraded regional value chains, linked SMEs to markets and, through ACCESS! for African Businesswomen in International Trade, helped women become successful exporters.

A selection of PACT II achievements

  • 3 African RECs reinforced their trade development structures and leadership
  • 9 regional TSIs, private sector bodies and networks - of which 2 businesswomen’s networks - strengthened and engaged in regional trade support and policy dialogue
  • 203 African experts - of which 52 women - acquired trade development skills through training of trainers, coaching and e-learning
  • 3,162 SMEs and micro-producers - of which 2,651 women - improved their export capacity and access to new markets
  • 110 technical documents produced jointly with partner RECs and TSIs
  • 4 online trade information portals and e-learning platforms set-up
  • 114 events, capacity building workshops and business missions held in 29 countries
  • 44 Sub-Saharan countries - of which 30 LDCs - benefited directly or indirectly from PACT II regional and national interventions


Learn more about PACT II and its success stories in the recently published brochure ‘PACT II: Regional Trade for Global Gains’