
The Aid for Trade Initiative for Arab States is a collaborative program raising trade capacities aimed at changing and enhancing economic development in Arab States. It is the strong foundation needed to enhance the export-readiness and overall trade performance of its member states, which cover the aspects of infrastructure and skills as well as trade regulations. AFTIAS plays a very significant role in addressing regional trade problems by involving international organizations, banks, and UN agencies. This collaboration brings together financial resources, technical capabilities, and strategic direction to ensure that trade initiatives in the Arab world lead to sustainable growth and improved market access.
The program focuses on cooperation in trade as a vital ingredient for regional economic stability. AFTIAS seeks to equip the Arab world with better tools to compete on a global scale. Highly collaborative working with its partners in IsDB and ITFC, AFTIAS makes sure that any trading initiative is akin to the needs of the Arab world, due to the intended reduction of economic disparities, whereby its ability to improve access to international markets is enhanced. This report analyzes the contributions of AFTIAS’ major partners including International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation and their concerted efforts in trade development.
The Islamic Development Bank‘s role as an AFTIAS partner is vital for offering financial and technical assistance for the execution of trade projects across the Arab world. Being a multilateral development bank, it plays a very important role in financing trade-related projects with the aim of developing infrastructure, perfecting the regulations on trade, and enhancing economic capacities. IsDB’s participation in AFTIAS is more inclined to boost cooperation in trade between the Arab countries and ensure that the trade systems existing in these nations adhere to global practices.
In addition, Islamic Development Bank and AFTIAS have a cooperative capacity building program, aimed at improving the skill sets of local exporters and trade officials. Such programs included capacity building on standards compliance in international trade and greatly contributed to improving the competitive ability of Arab exporters. Ensuring that these traders meet international requirements enhances Arab nations’ access to broader markets and export performance.
International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation, which is a member of the IsDB Group, promotes the development of trade. ITFC aims to enhance trade cooperation among the Islamic countries by offering trade finance and technical cooperation. ITFC has focused on SMEs in the Arab countries, mainly in agriculture, manufacturing, and services sectors due to participation in AFTIAS.
It contributes in a number of ways toward financing programs that provide much needed liquidity for trade sectors of SMEs. For instance, Jordan and Morocco received working capital support from ITFC, enabling those countries to increase production levels and achieve much-needed international demand. Hence, ITFC contributes directly toward the economic growth of participating countries with an increase in export volumes, which eventually creates jobs.
In addition, International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation has collaborated with AFTIAS in implementing programmes to improve trade competitiveness. For instance, ITFC played a key role in modernizing the national procedures in customs services in Jordan by partnering with the government in implementing electronic systems that reduced customs clearance time by almost 40%. But this improvement did not only make it efficient to trade but also maximized the compliance with international trade standards, which brought greater integration into global markets. This is a success that shows ITFC’s strategic approach to fostering growth in trade through interventional and financial support.
The contribution of UN Agencies to AFTIAS Aid for Trade initiatives is extremely important for the success of such initiatives. The UNDP, UNIDO, and UNCTAD have enabled AFTIAS to draw on a much greater wealth of technical expertise and global experience in trade development which otherwise might not be within its real domain or access.
One of the areas where UN agencies and AFTIAS have been most cooperative is in sustainable trade practices. For example, UNDP has collaborated with AFTIAS on designing programs so that sustainability is consciously built into the processes of trade to ensure that means of economic growth do not end up in causing environmental degradation. In countries such as Tunisia and Algeria, UNDP has provided technical support for green technologies and sustainable production techniques among the exporters that fulfill the requirements of international standards, which have improved access to markets in environmentally friendly markets.
AFTIAS collaborative work has been guided by UNIDO in developing capacities in industries essential to trade. UNIDO’s input has been in training and technical assistance to these Arab countries for strengthening production abilities, with a focus on manufacturing and agriculture. This leads to better quality products that enhance competitiveness in the international market. The other contribution that AFTIAS has had from UNCTAD is in reforms of the trade data system and capacity building for governments on the administration of policies in trade.
Partnership facilitated many of AFTIAS’s desirable achievements that impacted trade in the Arab world with long-term effects. Better trade infrastructure and logistics is one of them and facilitated the smooth running of the trade with efficiency. For instance, the collaboration between AFTIAS and IsDB in Egypt led to the implementation of state-of-the-art trade technologies that reduced export clearance time by about 30%. Such increased efficiency has gauged the local exporters’ confidence and allowed them to considerably scale up their international trade operations, thereby highly boosting the export economy in Egypt.
AFTIAS’s success in achieving SMEs in Morocco is another story of success. The technical aid offered by ITFC enhanced the capacity of local businesses to accomplish international trade standards of new markets into Europe and Asia. Throughout the three years of the program, agricultural exports from Morocco doubled, showing that the optimal effect from this program was instantaneous. It also showed influence in growth very clearly. All these programs can be achieved through the cooperative efforts between AFTIAS, IsDB, ITFC, and UN agencies’ continued assistance.
This modernization of customs procedures resulted in a clearance time decrease of 40% in Jordan, an achievement that ITFC has acquired through its cooperation with AFTIAS. Increased compliance led to faster trade, generating government revenues. The use of more modern technologies related to the processes of trade makes Jordan a more attractive destination for international trade partnerships, and therefore it heightens its role in global markets.
There are a number of issues, despite the numerous successes in AFTIAS, continue to affect its capability to sustain and expand the cooperation in trade across the Arab region. Among them is the level of infrastructure development that differs from one region to the other. In most countries, it becomes easy to find some systems that support the trade, while others are still grappling with archaic infrastructures as well as limited access to trade technology. AFTIAS and its partners aim to address these disparities through targeted investments in the trade infrastructure and capacity building of the country.
The hope for cooperation through AFTIAS is bright for the future. The collaborative efforts being made with IsDB, ITFC, and UN agencies will further consolidate trade capacities of the region. Continued investments in infrastructure and capacity building will put Arab nations in a more favorable position to participate in global trade and lead towards sustainable economic growth with improving living standards across the regions.