A key to transform economies and meet the Millennium Development Goal to end poverty by 2015 is ensuring that trade becomes part of development policy, with a central role for women and small business.

Innovative approaches to reduce poverty through trade are bringing business, NGOs, government and aid agencies together in new ways.

Branding

Investing in trademarks, geographic indicators of origin and other intellectual property initiatives can help countries add value to a variety of commodities, manufactured goods and services. Brazil is seeking to protect its national drink cachaça by negotiating agreements with the WTO and the European Union on intellectual property rights and national indicators of origin. While only 500,000 litres of cachaça were exported in 1995, 20 million litres were exported to more than 60 countries in 2003 and sales are expected to rise to 38 million litres by 2010. (Source: Brazilian Cachaça Development Program)

Competing and selling: Dance with the Dragon

“Our industrial investors, we tell them, learn to dance with the Chinese, the Chinese Dragon, because they export so much. You have to face reality.”
Enrique Mantilla, President of the Argentinean Chamber of Exporters (CERA)

Reducing intra-regional barriers

Recent research by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development shows that the potential benefit from freer South–South trade may indeed be at least as large as the gains that developing countries can obtain from better access to rich countries’ markets (North–South trade). Intra-regional trade agreements in Latin America and the Caribbean, such as MERCOSUR or CARICOM, are fostering trade between neighbouring countries. For example, over the last 30 years, internal trade in the Andean common market grew five times faster than trade with outside partners. (Source: Oxfam)

Targeting entrepreneurs

“Our slogan in the Egyptian Business Women’s Association is: financial independence gives you the power of choice and voice. We have a marketing committee that goes to women entrepreneurs to see what products they have and what they need, such as product development, finishing and quality control. We bring them together into sectors — we have a very good sector for garments, textiles and jewellery. And we try to create marketing tools — brochures and CDs — and organize fairs locally, regionally and internationally. If they cannot be present, we make the contacts for them.”
Amany Asfour, President, Egyptian Business Women’s Association

Changing needs, changing role

“Despite favourable trade trends, competition continues to rise, and national trade bodies find themselves at the centre of national effort to ensure that their client enterprises, particularly small firms, become or remain globally competitive. This requires trade promotion organizations (TPOs) to be more proactive, to constantly seek ways of improving their customer relations management, establishing closer and longer-term relationships.

Joint solutions

“Some countries that participated in the Integrated Framework have told us, we have already been studied enough: now we need solutions. Part of the homework we need to do with ITC immediately is taking those diagnoses and seeing how we build programmes now to deliver services to countries.”
Kandeh K. Yumkella, Director-General, UNIDO