Vanuatu:Stakeholders meet to discuss first Industrial Policy

Stakeholders meet to discuss Vanuatu’s first ever Industrial Policy

21 September 2011, Vila - Senior government trade and commerce officials and private sector stakeholders gathered in Vanuatu today to discuss and finalize the country’s first ever national industrial policy.

In opening the Vanuatu Public Policy Stakeholders Consultation, George Borugu, Acting Director General for the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Tourism urged participants to contribute and agree to the policy objectives and strategies of the National Industrial Policy which will guide government policies and programmes relevant to industrial development as well as the planning process of Vanuatu’s Department of Industry.

The objective of the consultation is to enhance the contribution of the manufacturing sector to inclusive growth and employment generation; improve economic diversification and domestic value added through enhancing the productivity, competitiveness and the capacity of manufacturing sector to move up the value chain; enhance linkages and spillovers among economic sectors; create an enabling environment for the private sector as the main engine for economic growth and enhance its productivity, capacity utilization and trade capacity; contribute to the improvement of the merchandise trade balance and balance of payments through enhancing Vanuatu’s exports, based on the country’s comparative advantage. With main focus on the manufacturing industries, the policy consultation process started in mid-2011 in Port Vila and Santo with key relevant public institutions and stakeholder industries in the private sector.

According to Ahmed Moustafa, UNDP Pacific Regional Macro Economic & Poverty Reduction Advisor and Project Manager, “the challenges facing the manufacturing sector in Vanuatu are multi-faceted and cross-cut several sectors and subsectors within and around production chains. Effectively addressing such challenges, therefore, requires working closely with all relevant ministries, departments and stakeholders to design and implement multi-dimensional integrated solution packages.”

“Reaping the gains from trade, therefore, necessitates enhancing the capacity of the productive sectors, where markup and income elasticity of demand are higher, price elasticity of demand is lower and international markets are relatively more predictable and stable,” said Mr Moustafa. “Manufacturing is the only way to increase value added exports and better terms of trade.”

The National Industrial Policy draws on Vanuatu’s Priority Action Agenda which provides a long-term national vision for “an educated, healthy and wealthy Vanuatu” and emphasizes on economic sectors in Vanuatu, particularly the industrial sector, to be an intrinsic component of the backbone of the country’s economy.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Pacific Centre provided financial and technical assistance to formulate in collaboration with the Department of Industry and Commerce, Vanuatu’s national industrial policy.

ENDS

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