The surprise devaluation of the Ethiopian birr on August 31, 2010 was apparently undertaken to boost export performance and bring about structural change in the economy. This was a bold and important move because it indicates recognition by the Ethiopian government that its policy setting had been a factor in inhibiting Ethiopia’s external performance and industrial development.
Developing country members of the WTO benefit from special and differential treatment, a flexible application of WTO principles and rules according to their developmental needs and capacities. However, there has been widespread criticism that special and differential treatment is not granted to acceding countries – almost all of which today belong to the group of developing countries. If anything, it is argued, these countries receive an “inverse” special and differential treatment as a result of which they are compelled to offer further reaching liberalisation commitments than WTO members themselves.
The project "Fostering the Development of PPP Models in the COMESA Region" helped COMESA Members improve infrastructure service provision though the increased and more systematic use of public private partnership (PPP) arrangements. The project’s four key objectives were to:
This Desktop Study provides an overview of relevant good practice for a legal and institutional enabling environment for PPPs in infrastructure sectors in COMESA. It also begins to consider how a regional approach can contribute to the growth of infrastructure PPPs (including those of a crossborder nature), as well as the sharing of knowledge across Member Countries, and the building of capacity within them. The adoption at a regional level of common principles for the development of PPP projects and similar mechanisms for their implementation could also contribute to the emergence of domestic private investors in the COMESA region.
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