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During the past years, Global Value Chain has become one of the hot topics in trade policy. While statisticians are developing new methods on calculating value-added in the different production phases, there is less clear guidance for governments in developing countries how to maximize benefits of their economies and societies from the global value chain. Increasing the value for Africa continues to be a major challenge. Thus, this session will focus on the following questions:

• Does higher participation in global chains lead automatically to higher gains?
• What could allow small and medium sized African enterprises to thrive in terms of their own market expansion?
• What institutional environment is needed on the domestic and regional level to upgrade the innovation capacity in African countries?
• Which policy strategies can lead to benefits for the entire society?

Speakers

• Hubert Schillinger, Director, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Geneva office (FES)
• Marwa Joël Kisiri, Head, ACP Geneva Office
• Rashmi Banga, Unit of Economic Cooperation & Integration Among Developing Countries, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
• Genzeb Akele, Senior Director, Value Chains, Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA), Ethiopia
• Susanne Fricke, economist, Friedrich-Schiller-University, Jena, Germany
• Susan Wanyoto Bingi, Independent Consultant and Partner at TRAC (Trade Capacity) Associates, Uganda