Democratic Republic of the Congo (the)

<p>The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Trade Competitiveness and Market Access (ATCMA) Programme<span>&nbsp;</span>is part of a broader initiative under the ATCMA <span>&nbsp;</span>Programme, with other regional components such as the ECCAS ATCMA<span>&nbsp;</span>, the SADC ATCMA<span>&nbsp;</span> and the ECOWAS ATCMA<span>&nbsp;</span>. It is funded by the European Union (EU) and implemented by the International Trade Centre (ITC) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). The programme aims to enhance trade competitiveness and market access in Eastern and Southern Africa. In line with the AfCFTA, the programme focuses on improving regional competitiveness, integrating economies into continental and global value chains, and promoting sustainable trade between Africa and the EU.</p><p>Key objectives include supporting African countries in meeting international trade standards through improved testing, certification, and accreditation, while maximizing MSMEs&apos; export potential by addressing market access barriers, enhancing value addition, and promoting sustainability and technology transfer. The programme contributes to several Sustainable Development Goals, including economic growth, sustainable industrialization, responsible production, and gender equality.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The &quot;Ending child labour in supply chains: Addressing the root causes of child labour in supply chains through an area-based approach&quot; (CLEAR Supply Chains) project, co-funded by the European Union, brings together the International Labour Organization (ILO) as the leading UN agency, the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), the International Trade Centre (ITC) and the United Nations Children&rsquo;s Fund (UNICEF) to address jointly the root causes of child labour, with a primarily focus on the coffee supply chain.</p>

<p>This program aims to contribute to the liberalization of services in order to enhance competitiveness, promote sustainable economic growth, attract investment, create decent jobs, and benefit consumers in the Central African Region (ECCAS).</p><p>The Overall Objective of this programme is to contribute to increasing intra- regional, continental, and bilateral trade in services. The Specific Objective is to increase Services liberalisation and exports for selected service sectors at the multilateral, continental or regional level in line with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)</p><p>To achieve this objective, along with the ECCAS commission and its 11 Member States, the programme will focus on the 4 following outputs:</p><p>&bull;Output 1: Trade barriers in priority service sectors are analyzed, and related policies are properly defined.</p><p>&bull;Output 2: Support to ECCAS member states in the development of lists of specific commitments under the AfCFTA Protocol on Trade in Services.</p><p>&bull;Output 3: Awareness of exporT opportunities is strengthened for the private sector, particularly for women- and youth-led businesses</p><p>&bull;Output 4: Appropriate, harmonized, and transparent regulations for trade in services, incorporating social and climate-related provisions, are developed and made more accessible.</p><p><br></p>

<p>Le Programme pour la Comp&eacute;titivit&eacute; Commerciale et l&rsquo;Acc&egrave;s Aux March&eacute;s - Composante Afrique Centrale (ATCMA) est une initiative majeure visant &agrave; renforcer le commerce durable entre les pays d&apos;Afrique centrale et l&apos;Union europ&eacute;enne. Financ&eacute; par l&apos;UE et mis en oeuvre par l&apos;ITC et l&apos;ONUDI, ce programme de 48 mois vise &agrave; am&eacute;liorer l&apos;acc&egrave;s aux march&eacute;s pour certaines cha&icirc;nes de valeur et &agrave; accro&icirc;tre la comp&eacute;titivit&eacute; &agrave; l&apos;exportation des PME dans ces secteurs. Il cherche &eacute;galement &agrave; r&eacute;duire les obstacles commerciaux, &agrave; renforcer la conformit&eacute; aux normes de qualit&eacute;, et &agrave; promouvoir la valeur ajout&eacute;e et la diversification des exportations. En priorisant les entreprises dirig&eacute;es par des femmes et des jeunes, l&apos;ATCMA vise &agrave; promouvoir l&apos;inclusion &eacute;conomique et &agrave; encourager des pratiques commerciales durables. Avec un budget total de 26 millions d&apos;euros, l&apos;ITC et l&apos;ONUDI coordonneront la mise en &oelig;uvre avec divers partenaires africains pour maximiser l&apos;impact r&eacute;gional du programme.</p>

<p>ITC is currently implementing the micro-level pillar of the EU-ACP Business-friendly programme, which aims to support value chains through inclusive policies, investment promotion, and alliances. The program focuses on strengthening value chain governance and investment, as well as increasing the competitiveness of small farmers and MSMEs. A recently signed top-up agreement extends the implementation duration of the existing EU-ACP Business Friendly programme (B807) by 48 months, integrating additional funding and outputs into the existing initiative. The top-up aligns with the programme&apos;s objectives and will enhance access to value chain finance and sustainable investment. Three new outputs include enhancing access to agribusiness Value Chain finance and a Capacity Building Mechanism to support Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence, CSR &nbsp;and accompanying measure implementation, tailored to OACPS Member States. An initial six-month inception phase define the scope of intervention in the rum/sugar sector and advanced the selection of additional countries that will be included in the ongoing project across all value chains, namely coffee, cocoa, coconuts, cotton/fashion, kava, and rum/sugar sectors.</p>