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The African continent is endowed immense natural resource. Between 2002 and 2012, oil, metals and other mineral exports accounted for more than two-third of export growth in Africa; crude oil alone accounted for more than 50 per cent of Africa’s merchandise exports in 2012. Despite increase in the share of exports in the world market, the contribution the world’s trade remains at 2.6 per cent of total world share. This shows that Africa is integrated wrongly in the global value chains as a supplier of raw materials to the developed countries. Indeed, Africa’s labour force added 91 million people but only 37 million jobs were created in wage earnings over the past 10 years. Almost one half of Africans (48 per cent) are in extreme poverty; almost three quarters of the youth population is poor, as 72 per cent of them live on less than 2 dollars a day; the percentage of working people is very high at 46.5 per cent. The questions to be answered in this session will be the following: How can African enterprises be integrated in the global value chains valuable for creating employment opportunities? What lessons can Africa learn from experiences to leverage decent employment and livelihood opportunities for its youthful population within a framework of World Trade? How can equity and trade justice be integrated into the world trade to offer opportunities for African small scale producers? How can business community and multilateral companies leverage their investments to create decent employment and promote inclusive growth in Africa?

Speakers

• Atsango Chesoni, Executive Director and Secretary to the board, Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC)
• Yash Tandon, International Political Economist, Oxford, U.K. and former Executive Director, South Centre
• Isabelle Ramdoo-Deputy, Head of Program, Economic Transformation and Trade, European Centre for Development Policy and Management (ECDPM)
• Jane Nalunga, Country Director, Southern and Eastern Africa Trade Information and Negotiations Institute, (SEATINI), Uganda
• Sylvester Bagooro, Program Coordinator, Africa Trade Network and Political Economy Unit Program Officer, Third World Network (TWN)
• Guillermo Valles, Director, Division on International Trade in Goods and Services and Commodities, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)