Officials responsible for promoting exports share experiences

Officials from 13 Commonwealth countries who are responsible for promoting exports including sugar, bananas, tea, coffee and fish began a three-day workshop in London, UK, on 26 May 2009.

They shared experiences on what works and what doesn't in the design, delivery and implementation of national export strategies, and identified ways of improving how they do their work.

At the opening of the workshop José Maurel, Director of Special Advisory Services at the Commonwealth Secretariat, explained that a recent evaluation of the Secretariat’s work on establishing national export strategies concluded that the process has improved dialogue between the private and public sectors, but that challenges remain.

“The overall conclusion from the evaluation was that the national export strategy project had a good strike rate of success,” Mr Maurel said.

He added: “Through interactions during this workshop, we hope to gain better understanding of how we can best support activities that are likely to benefit the poor.”