World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the World Bank have completed the pilot phase of their joint project, “Digital Trade for Africa” with the publication of digital trade assessments for Nigeria and five other African countries, including Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya and Rwanda.
Started in 2023, the project aims to help African countries fully harness the benefits of digital trade and strengthen their development prospects.
The Director General, Johanna Hill, noted that the Digital Trade for Africa (DTA) project had come a long way since the joint World Bank-WTO policy note presented to African officials in July 2023.
The note called for the creation of an enabling regulatory environment for digital trade.
She recalled that the project’s official launch in February last year initiated full-fledged pilot Digital Trade Reviews in six countries to identify possible policy actions.
Stressing the project’s value in fitting into broader WTO discussions on e-commerce, she said delegations had encouraged partnerships with relevant institutions to address the digital divide, including through gap analysis and digital trade readiness assessments.
