Special Advisory Services

The Special Advisory Services Division (SASD) assists in four main areas; Debt Management, Economic and Legal Services, Enterprise and Agriculture, and Trade.

Debt management

The Debt Management Section offers an integrated programme of assistance on debt management, with the benefit of its own debt recording and management software (CS-DRMS). Available in English and French, this is in use in some 50 countries, including seven non-Commonwealth states, where governments are able to manage debt and foreign reserves more effectively, and to evaluate new borrowings in a scientific manner. In addition, the section provides advisory services aimed at building institutional capacity in the debt field.

>> CS-DRMS

Economic and legal

The Economic and Legal Section provides technical assistance that focuses on reform of regulatory environments in Commonwealth countries to encourage increased investment, private-sector development and export growth, with particular emphasis on trade and the financial and natural resources sectors such as maritime, mining and petroleum and the development of capital markets. The services delivered include review and evaluation of government policies and regulatory arrangements to diagnose barriers to investment; identifying suitable legislative, administrative and institutional reforms, as well as preparation of legislation, licences and contracts; promoting international best practice and the implementation of multilateral trade agreements. The section also provides assistance with the preparation and conduct of maritime boundary delimitation negotiations.

Enterprise and agriculture

The Enterprise and Agriculture Section aims to strengthen agricultural and enterprise competitiveness, particularly at the level of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). To this end, it assists with sectoral strategy and policy formulation and building institutional capacity to enhance competitive advantage. Current examples include work with SMEs in agro-processing, assistance to improve compliance with sanitary and phytosanitary standards and strategy development for coastal fisheries.

Trade

The Trade Section focuses on helping member countries to improve their export competitiveness through export and sectoral strategy development, through trade promotion and facilitation and through better compliance with international rules and standards. The underlying rationale is to assist members to derive greater benefit from the opportunities and challenges provided by globalisation. Currently the section is active in the areas of national export strategies, tourism and services strategies and with customs valuation.