Under the project “Pan-African e-Commerce Initiative – Boosting African Digital Trade in Africa N.A.” (PeCI), International Economics alongside Consortium Partner, GOPA Consulting, is providing technical to boost African digital trade in Africa, specifically to improve the framework conditions for companies in selected African countries to participate in cross-border e-commerce.
Africa’s ambitions are growing, through the vision of a pan-Africa common market. However, despite the open markets for African goods and services, African companies lack the essential prerequisites to participate in cross-border electronic trade. The priority countries Rwanda and Kenya do not yet have any national implementation strategies for the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) with corresponding indicators. There is also no regional implementation strategy for the United Nations 2030 Agenda for the EAC.
Our methodological approach consists in the implementation of measures at pan-African, regional and country levels to improve the conditions for companies from the selected African countries to participate in cross-border e-commerce. The target groups are owners and employees of SMEs, including SMEs run by women, as well as users of e-commerce platforms in selected African countries, initially in the EAC.
The assignment will be undertaken in a phase-based approach, covering these different areas of the project:
Phase I: The Inception Phase will set the stage for the overall process of the project.
Phase II: The implementation phase will have different activities depending on the work packages namely:
Africa’s trade competitiveness continues to be limited by both domestic factors and global trade barriers. Non-tariff measures, unaffordable intra-continental transport costs, poor connectivity in general, and weak infrastructure (from energy, water to roads) will remain some of Africa’s leading challenges over the next years. With the accelerating digitalising of the global economy, cross-border e-commerce has the potential to significantly contribute to the Continent’s ambitions. At International Economics, we can assist governments and the private sector players in the design of policies and strategies to promote e-commerce.
