Latest content: Trade and economy

The Commonwealth Secretary-General, Rt Hon Patricia Scotland KC, has advocated for increased international support for Least Developed Countries (LDCs) at a UN conference in Doha, Qatar this week.

On International Women’s Day, the Commonwealth Secretariat and the International Trade Centre (ITC) jointly hosted a discussion on ‘Bridging the digital gap for women-led businesses in developing economies’.

If all 46 countries categorised as “Least Developed” by the UN achieve annual GDP growth of at least 7%, their combined GDP could almost double – between 2022 and 2031 – going from USD $1.1 trillion to more than USD $2.25 trillion.

This week, the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Connectivity Agenda team together with the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU) hosted a Workshop on ‘Effective Legal Frameworks for Building the Digital Economy’ in Bridgetown, Barbados.

Senior Trade Officials from across the Commonwealth met virtually on 17 and 18 January 2023 to discuss plans for the 2023 Commonwealth Trade Ministers Meeting (CTMM) to be held in June.

The Commonwealth Secretary-General yesterday called for an unprecedented level of international co-operation to reach timely and orderly resolutions to the interlocking crises of environmental breakdown, economic insecurity and rising inequality.

Senior officials from Eastern and Southern Africa have received hands-on training to manage their public debt using the Commonwealth’s new debt management system.

Work by the Commonwealth Secretariat to support Fiji’s Reserve Bank in digitising its paper-based certificates of securities, such as government bonds, will benefit investors, making it easier for them to own, safekeep and trade in the country’s financial market, valued at about $6 billion.

A workshop, hosted by the Commonwealth Secretariat and the International Institute for investment Treaties, has trained Cameroonian government officials to attract foreign capital by better negotiating investment agreements.

This week, recognising the importance of manufacturing to development, economic growth and job creation, the Commonwealth Connectivity Agenda launched 'A Policymaker’s Guide to Manufacturing 4.0' and a pilot implementation program on digital industrial development in Mauritius.

The Commonwealth Secretariat, Trade Competitiveness Section in collaboration with the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), the Pakistan Institute of Trade and Development (PITAD), and the Government of Pakistan’s Ministry of Commerce, held a two-day training workshop on the Cost-Benefit Analysis of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) from 7-8 November 2022 in Islamabad, Pakistan.

At COP27, Commonwealth Secretary-General, the Rt Hon Patricia Scotland KC, launched a new Commonwealth policy guide to help governments build a more productive and sustainable agricultural sector.

This blog about the new policy guide 'The State of Digital Agriculture in the Commonwealth' is written by Benjamin Kwasi Addom, Adviser on Agriculture & Fisheries Trade Policy, The Commonwealth Connectivity Agenda.

New Commonwealth policy guide demonstrates how governments can leverage digital tools to revolutionise the agricultural sector

Over 130 people attended a Commonwealth Secretariat webinar on recording and managing risk-free interest rates.

As part of the ongoing 2022 Commonwealth Games Business & Tourism Programme (BATP), the United Kingdom’s Department for International Trade (DIT) is hosting a series of market awareness webinars targeting both businesses new to exporting and experienced exporters, particularly small and medium enterprises (SMEs), seeking new market opportunities.

Today Commonwealth Finance Ministers met on the margins of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) meetings in Washington DC for the Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting 2022 (CFMM) to address emerging economic issues facing the global economy and Commonwealth countries.

At their annual meeting held today in Washington DC, Commonwealth Central Bank Governors came together to discuss strategies to best work together to tackle inflation at a time when the global economy is facing excessive inflationary pressures driven by geopolitical tensions, coupled with the disruption in supply chain.

A blog by: Akeem Rahaman, Economic Advisor, Sophie Brain, Research Officer, and James Gregory, Research Officer work in the Economic Policy and Small States Directorate of the Commonwealth Secretariat.