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AFD (Agence Française de sovereign reasons. Then, I joi- makers, trade-support institu- gap should grow wider,
development) to set up a huge ned the International Trade tions and the private sector in because this leads to violence
development programme Centre (ITC) through a com- order to ensure international and global instability. And
aiming to assure the interna- petitive recruitment process. I competitiveness for small and then instability spreads.
tional competitiveness of was really delighted and medium enterprises". For this Therefore, it's important to
Senegalese SMEs. happy to join a United Nations to happen, we need a strong work together and ensure that
institution whose ambition is network of multipliers like there is a better distribution of
The second pillar was to ela- to boost the private sector to Trade support institutions, but wealth, capacity and resour-
borate a national export strate- better contribute to the before they become our multi- ces, a better transfer of tech-
gy: What were the competiti- Millennium Development pliers, we need to assess them nologies, etc. The poorest
ve and comparative advan- Goals (MDGs), targeting and build their capacities. should receive more through
tages of Senegal Exports? those who need it the most i.e. They can be chambers of better education and good
Where did it already have a SMEs and poor communities. commerce, women's associa- governance, and the rich
niche and opportunities? At tions, sectoral associations, should "mind the gap" of
the same time, we involved 0: You are the Director of private sector associations poverty, so that we arrive at a
the Senegalese private sector the Division of Business etc.,. The ultimate target is the middle ground. This is how I
in identifying success factors and Institutional Support. exporters, but the links perceive things. It is perhaps
and bottlenecks. What exactly does this through which we reach them, utopia, but that's why it is
entail? are the different trade-support important for me to be here to
The third pillar focussed on institutions. serve for development.
advocacy and role of the pri- This is the new name of the
vate sector in WTO negotia- Division that I head. It was 0: In these economically Q: Senegal and its neigh-
tions: I participated actively in formerly the Division of Trade tumultuous times, what bours are considered to
the Doha Round and echoed Support Services. ITC has do you consider the main be LDCs. What do you
the voice of Senegalese priva- gone through big changes challenges in order to get think are the main diffi-
te sector, but also I represen- over the last couple of years. the economy back on its culties hampering econo-
ted African LDC (Least deve- We have redesigned our port- feet? mic development in
loped Countries) . We mana- folio of services and redefined these countries?
ged to echo the voice of the the way we work with coun- I'm fundamentally convinced
African private sector on the tries. With the Paris that good governance is the In LDCs there are many diffi-
cotton question and other Declaration and the Aid-for- most important challenge: at culties, but I would say that
important issues. Trade Initiative, we were, I both the global and national the first one is that of creating
think, courageous enough to levels, but also at business and a conducive business environ-
The fourth pillar was internal recognize that if we do not individual levels as well. ment. By that I mean creating
trade (i.e. national consump- change the way we do things Perhaps I'm dreaming, but I an appropriate environment
tion). Being a liberal country, and better serve the beneficia- am convinced that good for private businesses to evol-
we should ensure transparen- ry countries, we might ending governance goes with transpa- ve on a sustainable basis,
cy in price-setting, rules of up losing our TRTA market rency, political stability, attracting FDI and empowe-
competition, market transpa- share in the future. These are democracy and conducive ring local exporters specifical-
rency.... It was not a question the main reasons behind the business environment. These ly SMEs and poor communi-
of price-fixing but more rea- changes, as well as the desire combined with a clear leaders- ties. Sometimes you need just
ching a level where there was to bring more impact to our hip and vision to set up appro- a little improvement to make a
a certain transparency in the work in the field. In this priate infrastructures to facili- huge difference by investing
domestic market. context, we thought it might tate and promote Trade natio- in People, that's what ITC
be best to remind ourselves nally, regionally and interna- does. But I would add that
It was four intensive years and that we are here to serve those tionally, can help reduce the good governance also has a
a very interesting and exciting who need us most -- the bene- development gap. At enterpri- key role to play. Fixed pro-
challenge to develop and pro- ficiary countries. Trade sup- se level, it's about setting up duction costs are extremely
mote Private sector on a sus- port services are simply the clear goals that one intends to high in our poor countries --
tainable basis. services that support trade -- reach, optimizing use of inter- access to basic services such
we are here to serve the coun- nal and external resources and as clean water and electricity
Then the 2007 elections came tries, so supporting businesses through rigorous monitoring, is a luxury in most of the
along and, since I was not a and institutions was the aim. making sure that we are doing LDCs and this is a huge chal-
politician, I left the govern- That's the reason why we the right things right. lenge. In some cases, it's
ment. I have kept good memo- changed the name of the divi- easier to import than to produ-
ries of the experience. I was sion. When I talk about good ce things locally, despite the
then asked to take charge of governance combined with fact that in Africa,we have the
the Senegalese Millennium What does this mean? We are transparency, I also think raw materials to do so. There
Challenge Account, which is a an institution based in Geneva about what I would call "fair are several other factors to
bilateral project funded by the and we do not have enough governance". Rich and explain this -- the production
United States aiming at deve- field offices. Our mission sta- powerful businesses should and supply side costs are
loping an industrial zone for tement indicates that : "ITC not ignore the poorest; there extremely high. For instance,
SMEs. Unfortunately the pro- promotes exports success with has to be fairness. Nobody has for the local producers to pro-
ject did not take place for partners, targeting policy- any interest that the poverty duce goods without confron-

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