Adesão à Europa e Política Europeia

Africa’s Challenges in International Trade and Regional Integration: What Role for Europe?, por  Peter Draper, Phil Alves and Nkululeko Khumalo

Africa’s challenges in trade and regional integration are throng, and well documented. This paper attempts to summarise them against the backdrop of Africa’s broader development priorities. It then explores the ‘demand-’ and ‘supply-side’ of Africa’s problems in trade, noting where and how the European Union may improve its efforts to assist. This wide-ranging discussion covers WTO negotiating dynamics, official development assistance, trade facilitation, standards, infrastructure, and so on. Although the vast amount of issues covered limits the amount of details offered on each area, it provides an important mapping of the problems under consideration. The paper closes by assessing the role of regional integration and Economic Partnership Agreements in achieving improvements in Africa’s trade and broader economic performance. Regional integration in Africa is beset with massive challenges; EPAs offer help in some areas but threaten nascent progress in many others.