This week saw Nairobi host the 10th Ministerial Conference (MC10) of the World Trade Organization (WTO). It was a very well-organized event with the main conference at KICC and side events held at nearby hotels around there. 
Downtown Nairobi was on lockdown with a roped off sections around the conference zones with extra security and only authorized pedestrians and cars allowed. There were about 3,000 delegates from 160 countries and with many varied expectations on outcomes from the week
I found myself spending more time at the TDS– Trade & Development Symposium. Many leading country delegates who were experts on various issues like trade negotiations, agriculture subsidies, government policy were invited and gave talks in specialize sessions after which there were Q&A sessions:
Here are some notable moments from the #TDSNairobi #MC10
- Brauner: #WTO rules of origin will be clarified so an LDC can source 75% of components and still own a final product
- Groning: Bangladesh has reduced poverty levels from 57% to 25% in two decades mainly due to garment exports
- @Erastus_Mwencha Govts should spend only 10% of time on AGOA & EU, and 90% on negotiating doing business within africa
- Lande: #CFTA Africa should negotiate as a bloc like EU and delay reciprocity with the US till AGOA expires in 2025
- Lande: African countries shouldn’t individually sign preferential deals with third countries – that will repeat Berlin 1878
- Olayiwola: Does ECOWAS need the CFTA when only 11% of its trade is within Africa? – Europe & Asia are larger markets
- Ngeno: #TFTA took long because of DFID & EU delays – so can member states fund the negotiations?
- @TradeMarkEastA Scanning outgoing containers for ivory adds to biz. export costs – and port corruption negates the effort
- @ShikwatiJames We are converting EAC into a huge supermarket instead of a huge factory
- Kanimba: Terms like LDC are artificial & meaningless. Ghana rebased to middle-income overnight but no citizen was richer
- Kanimba: Ghana did not, but governments should mandate supermarket in malls to reserve shelf space for indigenous products
- Kanimba: Without guaranteed prices for staple foods, we won’t get educated middle-class Africans into farming
- Lucy Muchoki: If we can’t work together (e.g. Tanzanians don’t trust Kenyans), inter-Africa trade will be a dream
- Lucy Muchoki: There’s no sensitization about trade. While there are thousands of AGOA products, Kenya does about 10
- @AartiShahAfrica The average case takes 3.8 years to clear in the Kenya judiciary — digital economy can speed that
- Ana Escobedo: Even if there are no national policies, reality is companies will negotiate local content with communities
- @ASteiner A historic agreement was signed in Paris, ending the fossil fuel era, and this affects everything WTO does
- Pengelly: Africa features in two large caucus; ACP bringing North-South and the LDC- 50 least developed countries
- David Stanton – @TradeMarkEastA is investing to reduce transit times through technology infrastructure and political will
- Karanja Kibicho: If you don’t tackle youth unemployment, you burden governments. Start with trade & markets for products
- Mark Eddo – @AMB_A_Mohammed worked day & night to ensure representatives of 163 countries and TDS came to Africa.
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