There are several internal obstacles to African trade.

Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific resolutions

Preferential Trade Area for Eastern and Southern No longer in

ECA directed renewed attention to regional trade and trade facilitation. ECA organized an ad hoc expert group meeting on intra African trade in March 2005 in Addis Ababa.

There was a need to improve African intraregional trade, and also South South trade, in which Asia already played a major role.

Preferential Trade Area for Treaty for the Establishment of the Eastern and

Intra African trade is only about 11 per cent of total trade, the lowest among world regions however, it has doubled since 1980.

UNCTAD has assisted COMESA, SADC, SACU and other regional organizations in their efforts to liberalize trade in services in the context of economic integration and multilateral trade negotiations.

A number of external trade agreements have been negotiated in Africa.

While intraregional trade had grown in Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean, intra African trade had declined at a rate of 9 per cent during the first half of the 1990s.

Secondly, Africa needs trade.

The Resolution of Trade and Investment Disputes in Africa Conference sponsored by the Association of Arbitrators (Southern Africa) (Johannesburg, South Africa, 5 8 March 1997).

Regional economic cooperation within Africa and with other developing regions, including greater participation in the GSTP, could enhance trade and economic relations between developing regions.

C. Freeing trade and making it work for Africa

For the promotion of intra African trade, it organized an expert group meeting in March 2005 to discuss constraints on intraregional trade and measures for addressing them.

In connection with the latter, African Ministers of Trade requested UNCTAD to provide assistance to African countries wishing to accede to WTO through, among other things, the use of a UNDP project on capacity building for trade.

UNCTAD is providing assistance to Burundi to establish its strategies for legislation and the prudential regulation of its insurance sector.

Industrial Enterprises (MIEs) in the Eastern and Preferential Trade Area for Eastern and Southern

Efforts are being made at the regional level to implement decisions concerning the elimination of non tariff barriers in trade within the Common Market for East and Southern African States (COMESA).

The share of intraregional trade in Africa and among the Arab countries is still merely about 10 per cent of their respective trade.

In southern and eastern Africa, COMESA has embarked on several regional trade and transport facilitation initiatives, especially as regards transit trade.

This was intensified even further by limited intraregional trade and small domestic markets.

There are currently 21 Trade Points operating in Africa.

In particular, ECA and ECE jointly organized a capacity building workshop for the African Group on the World Trade Organization negotiations on trade facilitation in order to assist the effective participation of the landlocked and transit developing countries of Africa in trade facilitation negotiations.

Faced with weak demand in advanced countries, Asian economies are working to rebalance their sources of growth by shifting toward domestic and regional markets. As a result, growth in intra regional trade has outpaced overall trade growth, with intra Asian trade now accounting for more than half of the continent s total trade turnover.

Economic integration must be backed up by increased intra regional trade less than 4 of Africa s trade is between African countries, compared to over 70 in Europe and over 50 in Asia. The International Monetary Fund credits Asian intra regional trade as the main factor behind its recent export boom and strong economic growth.

(c) Conducting studies and making recommendations on issues of significant impact on regional cooperation and integration, including intra African trade, regional trade liberalization and payment arrangements

Addis Forum for African Trade and Investment

8. In the context of the UNDP project entitled Regional programme to promote trade and investment expansion in Africa (RAF 96 001), UNCTAD is proposing to organize subregional workshops in West, Southern and Eastern African countries for the exchange of experiences among African countries on effective trade financing schemes and training activities based on the prototype models for the establishment of EximBanks and other trade financing facilities developed by UNCTAD.

Protocol on Trade in the Southern African Development Community, Maseru, 24 August 1996

41. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) provided support and assistance to OAU and AEC for the Preparatory Meeting of Senior Officials and to the Meeting of African Ministers of Trade (Harare, 6 9 April 1998), held in preparation for the second World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference.

The representative of the Economic Commission for Africa expressed appreciation for the cooperation and collaboration that had developed between UNCTAD and ECA in providing and strengthening trade and trade related capacity building for African countries.

30. The TRAINFORTRADE activities in Africa are centred on trade with the European single market countries, commodities trading (including risk management) and national trade policies.

And African countries should liberalize trade among themselves.

Following the implementation of national trade policy seminars in Western and Central Africa, programme implementation has now started in Lusophone African countries.

South South and intra regional trade in particular would benefit from multilateral trade facilitation agreements.

UNCTAD supports the third round of negotiations in the context of the Global System of Trade Preferences among Developing Countries (GSTP), launched at UNCTAD XI, in which 14 African countries are participating.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has provided assistance to 16 African countries in the context of the joint International Trade Centre (ITC) UNCTAD World Trade Organization (WTO) integrated technical assistance programme to selected least developed and other African countries.

UNCTAD had been requested to analyse trade related questions of investment and incentives in the agricultural sector of African economies.

We all know that trade between African countries is among the most expensive in the world.

Both in Africa and the Arab region, intraregional trade remained mostly stagnant for decades representing some 10 per cent and 8 per cent, respectively, of their trade volume.

Advisory and technical support was provided during the initial stages of SADC apos s endeavour to elaborate a trade protocol to the SADC Treaty and assistance was provided to analyze and develop strategic action for SADC member States in view of the results of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations and the emerging international trading system.

In order to implement it, in March 1998 WTO, UNCTAD and ITC launched a common trust fund for technical assistance to Africa in the trade sector.

North South and South South trade Possible marginalization within the South

A mission to the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) was also organized to discuss investment chapters of free trade agreements.