15-17 November 2010
Counterpart: Commonwealth Secretariat, Small States Economic Development network
Objective/Description:
The organizers of the workshop were the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Small States Network for Economic Development, and the RMCE. The RMCE participated actively in the organization and funded part of the costs of the workshop. The workshop brought together experts in Competitiveness issues and senior public officials from African and Indian Ocean small states to deliberate on the challenges they face as small states in matters relating to competitiveness and to draw lessons from more mature institutions that could contribute to improvements in their institutional design and competitive advantage
Outcomes:
| Contribution to the recognition of the special importance that a national competitiveness strategy has for the development of small open economies in view of their high dependence on exports, their inherent vulnerabilities and the consequent need to build resilience. Identification and understanding of the role played by the various components of a national competitiveness strategy. Recognition of the importance of institutional and official support for competitiveness, including that offered by the Commonwealth Secretariat, COMESA and other international and regional institutions, as well as the assistance that can be provided by Government institutions in respect of finance, marketing, quality certification, institutional networking and export credit risk insurance amongst others. Identification of the important contribution that foreign direct investment (FDI) can bestow on a small state in its attempt to build and sustain competitiveness and economic development, and the importance of carefully appraising investment to ensure the provision of benefits to the host countries. Call upon the WTO to effectively recognise the special characteristics of small developing states so that multilateral trade arrangements are rendered more equitable thereby fostering the economic development of such states. On the role of the RMCE, the workshop aligns with one of the regional and economic core areas covered by the RMCE project, namely, vulnerabilities characteristics in small island and landlocked states. Equally important, the area of competitiveness is the step forward of the RMCE project on improving the ease of doing business |