Elijah Mukubonda
Recently, Cabinet approved the Draft National Trade Policy, which aims to contribute towards Namibia’s economic diversification by promoting and stimulating a competitive trade sector to increase export of goods and services.
The National Trade Policy is developed to guide Namibia’s trade relations with the rest
of the world and formulated within the scope of Vision 2030 – the country’s policy framework for long-term national development, aspiring to take Namibia into a developed country status.
The policy is shaped by the country’s international and regional trade agreements, particularly the World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreements, the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) Agreement, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) and the Agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), amongst others. The policy recognises the role of trade in promoting the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and it is Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The National Trade Policy further focuses on both trade in goods and services. The latter, including digital trade, has become the most dynamic part of global trade; an essential input into the production of goods and services; an avenue for export diversification; and a significant contributor to inclusive growth, job creation and poverty alleviation. The development of services trade policies is vital in exploring new sources of efficiency improvements across all sectors of the economy.
Domestic trade, which is the exchange of goods and services within the boundaries of a country, can spur local production that meets basic needs and acts as a springboard to international trade. The National Trade Policy commits to the improvement of an enabling business environment for domestic trade and investment, particularly the promotion of local and regional development as centres of trade and investment, creating opportunities to equal participation through entrepreneurial development; nurturing the private sector to compete locally and globally, and giving close attention to the informal sector and economically disadvantaged groups in society.
The National Trade Policy recognises that the smallness of Namibia’s domestic market, high levels of income inequality and unemployment impose limitations for trade policy, especially as relating to import-substitution trade strategies. There is strong evidence to suggest that an export-orientation strategy within the context of establishing a better balance between imports and exports, while encouraging domestic demand is an appropriate policy orientation. Hence, the national trade policy prioritises the diversification of domestic economic activity, exports and markets, broadly based on strategic interventions and actions in the following areas:
· Improving capacity for diversification and value addition in production of goods and services.
· Diversification and increasing Namibia’s exports of goods and services.
· Consolidation and diversification of export markets for Namibia’s goods and services.
· Enhancing the National Quality and Standards Infrastructure.
· Attracting domestic and foreign direct investment in value addition production and services, including participation in regional value chains (RVCs) and global value chains (GVCs).
· Enhancing trade facilitation and related reforms and logistics, including strengthening Namibia’s position as a regional trade, transport, and logistics hub.
· Increasing availability of affordable trade finance, including access to credit and insurance facilities.
· Enhancing the trade competitiveness of micro, small and medium size enterprises (MSMEs), women, youth and persons with disabilities owned or led enterprises.
· Fostering an inclusive and competitive domestic business environment for trade in goods and services.
· Enhancing a legal and institutional framework for the management of trade in goods and services.
· Increasing institutional and technical capacity for national trade policy management.
The National Trade Policy seeks to improve policy coherence across all Offices/ Ministries/ Agencies (OMAs) dealing with the above-prioritised strategic intervention areas to create synergies towards industrialisation, export and investment promotion for sustainable trade development. Coherence is also recognized in terms of cross-cutting issues related to gender, youth, environment, labour, intellectual property, technology transfer and innovation as well as advancement of digital transformation, including e-commerce.
Conclusively, the National Trade Policy lays a framework for guiding Namibia’s participation in international trade; maximizing the benefits from regional and global markets, and minimising the costs of openness to trade through deliberate strategic interventions and utilization of feasible policy instruments and measures on trade in goods and services.
The policy recognises that the fundamental challenge to trade performance in Namibia is grounded in structural constraints to growth as result of a narrow industrial base driven by extraction and limited processing of natural resources rather than by high value-added and diversified productive capacities. This requires more domestic and foreign direct investment (FDI) to spur productive diversification into new economic activities, including the required levels of skills, expertise. Namibia should further build the capabilities of government agencies to support effective implementation and management of strategic initiatives in the prioritised industrial and trade-related areas, including public-private dialogue and partnerships.
The National Trade Policy is a dynamic and flexible document, which will be subjected to a review after 5 years, to take into account emerging national priorities and developments in regional and global markets.
* Elijah Mukubonda is the chief information officer at the trade and industrialisation ministry.