This initiative aims to help countries to find ways to increase African exports to Asia, a high priority for both African countries and for the Regional Bureau for Africa. By working exclusively with African institutions in order to build their capacities, improve understanding and create institutional memory regarding the constraints currently hindering African exports, this project seeks to improve African access to Asian markets on favourable terms. This initiative has thus far received $20,000 from core funds for the organization of the workshop. There is a pendingrequest for $200,000 more to complete the project.



After preparing an initial concept note, the Regional South-South Unit for Africa established a network of six African academic institutions, two from each subregion of the continent: the Faculty of Law, University of Douala, Cameroon; Institute of Statistics, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire; Jomo Kenyata University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya; the University of Pretoria, South Africa; the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa; and Makerere University, Uganda. These institutions have the task of conducting detailed studies of key African products, such as cotton, textiles, coffee, cocoa, timber and, to a lesser extent, minerals. They are examining the exporting constraints and potential solutions from the perspective of both exporters and importers. When funds are available, the African faculty will travel to Asia to confer with their Asian counterparts.

A two-day workshop was held at the UNDP Regional Service Centre in Johannesburg in February 2007. At the workshop, the participants from the six institutions worked together with two trade specialists from the Regional Service Centre macroeconomic team to establish a methodology and propose a framework and time table to guide their research.