High-level Thematic Round Table 3 Structural Transformation as a Driver of Prosperity In Least Developed Countries
6 March 2023, Doha time: 2pm to 5pm
Thematic Roundtables Hall
Programme
2:00 – 2:08 Opening remarks by Co-Chairs
- E. Mr. Julius Maada Bio, President of Sierra Leone
- E. Mr. Narayan Kaji Shrestha Prakash, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Physical Infrastructure and Transportation, Nepal
2:08 – 2:20 Keynote address
- Andrés Rodriguez Pose, Professor of Economic Geography, London School of Economics
2:20 – 2:50 Presentations by high-level panelists
- E. Mr. Francisco André Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Portugal
- Thomas Östros, Vice-President, European Investment Bank (EIB)
- Somachi Chris-Asoluka, CEO Tony Elumelu Foundation
- Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, Executive Secretary, ESCAP
2:50 – 3:00 Interventions by lead discussants
- Pamela Coke-Hamilton, Executive Director, International Trade Centre
- Zo Randriamaro, Coordinator, Research and Support Center for Development Alternatives – Indian Ocean
3:00 – 4:45 Interactive debate among States and other relevant stakeholders
4:45 – 4:55 Response by Panelists
4:55 – 5:00 Closing remarks by Co-chairs
LDC5 Conference – High Level Thematic Roundtable 3:
« Structural Transformation as a Driver of Prosperity in LDCs »
Zo Randriamaro
Coordinator, Research and Support Center for Development Alternatives – Indian Ocean
Excellencies,
Distinguished participants to this Thematic Roundtable,
It is my honor and privilege to discuss with you the critical determinants for a truly transformative integration of African countries into regional and global value chains.
In this regard, I would like to draw your attention to two (2) imperatives that I believe are essential for the structural transformation of African economies.
1) The urgent need for a new alternative model of development that is truly inclusive and sustainable
The structural transformation of LDCs is not a simple technocratic process and must not be depoliticized, as the debates around the Doha Agenda for Action tend to do. We cannot avoid a break with the neoliberal development model that has led us to the current multidimensional crisis. As a great African futurist, Prof. Alioune Sall, has rightly put it, « the past of others should not be the future of Africa ».
LDCs must chart new pathways towards an endogenous growth model based on the development of Africa’s agricultural potential, not only to ensure that the vast majority of its population living in rural areas will really benefit from the growth model, but also because Africa can feed the world if she is effectively given the means to do so.
We must learn from the COVID-19 crisis and the consequences of the war in Ukraine, and break the chains of dependence on imports of essential goods, by inserting short/local production and marketing chains into our African alternative models of development.
In this perspective, we need to process and transform our raw materials locally, thus generating inclusive growth by creating value, knowledge, skills, and jobs for the 40 million young Africans who will enter the labor market in the coming years.
Ecological factors must be adequately taken into account in these alternative development models, by rethinking spatial planning and land-use policies in light of the critical impacts of climate change on the lives of African populations, and by preventing predatory and destructive practices by external and internal actors.
2) The equity imperative: moving from Free Trade to Fair Trade
Thus, urgent steps must be taken to protect Africa’s commons – notably land, forests, and water, including oceans – from extractivist development projects and new forms of imperialism hidden behind the green clothes of the fight against the climate crisis.
In addition, a radical transformation of the international trade system and its regulatory framework is needed, as these must stop reproducing the colonial pattern of insertion of African countries as providers of primary commodities in global trade.
In particular, it is important to resolve the problem of global value chains, which can no longer constitute chains of dependence for Africa, and which require a restructuring of inequitable trade relations with developed countries, in the framework of a renewed and more inclusive global partnership.
At the level of regional value chains, the establishment of the AfCFTA is not a win-win exercise for all participating countries, given the glaring inequalities among them in terms of productive capacities and levels of development.
For this process to effectively contribute to the structural transformation of African economies through regional integration, solidarity between developed and poor African countries must not remain a rhetorical matter, but must become an operating principle, as well as the democratisation of the trade regulation system in which regional economic communities must play a more important role.
At the national level, the defence of the general interest must be the main objective of the system of governance and regulation of trade, in accordance with the relational logic that prevails in African societies.
In conclusion, it will be up to the African LDCs themselves to construct their own vision of how to integrate into the global economy, as well as an adequate development model and governance system to achieve this vision.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION !
