• Commonwealth:
• Supporting Pro-Poor Policies

Supporting Pro-Poor Policies

One of the Commonwealth Secretariat's strategic goals is to support pro-poor policies for economic growth and sustainable development in member countries.

Our Key Areas:

• Economic and Legal Advice;
• Trade;
• Enterprise and Agriculture; and
• Debt Management.

The Economic and Legal Section

Provides assistance with the development of policies, laws and regulatory arrangements that foster private sector development;

• Provides advice on international trade laws and strengthen institutional frameworks addressing the legal aspects of international trade;
• Provides assistance with the development of policies, laws and regulatory arrangements for the oil, gas and minerals sectors and the negotiation of related investment agreements, with particular emphasis on attracting investment in exploration;
• Assists with the development of maritime areas legislation and with the preparation for and conduct of maritime boundary delimitation negotiations;

The Trade Section aims to improve the export competitiveness of member states through capacity building in promotion and facilitation. In pursuing these objectives, the Trade Section focuses on the following areas in providing technical assistance:
Capacity building and institutional strengthening in trade policy implementation;

• Market Development;
• Export and Sectoral Strategies; and
• Compliance with international standards.

In Enterprise and Agriculture, interventions have focused on:

• Promoting small and medium-scale enterprises and entrepreneurship, through capacity building and development programmes;
• Advising Governments on enhancing enterprise competitiveness, including through Information Communication Technology (ICT);
• Recommending appropriate industrial policies and technologies.
• Analysing and formulating policies and strategies;
• Assisting in meeting international obligations in agricultural trade.

The Debt Management Section works specifically on:

• Strengthening the institutional framework of debt management;
• Providing the Commonwealth Secretariat's debt recording and management systems (CS-DRMS);
• Assisting in recording various types of debt;
• Building capacity in debt management;
• Providing policy advice and assistance with debt analysis;
• Adding value through strategic partnerships.