* Economic Affairs Officer, Commodities Branch, Division on International Trade in Goods and Services, and Commodities (DITC), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Palais Des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland.The international community has recognized that horizontal and vertical diversification by commodity dependent developing countries is a priority for their development and invited the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) to provide assistance to developing countries in this respect. Starting from 2000, UNCTAD is embarking upon a two-year Project on Capacity Building for Diversification and Commodity-Based Development. In charge of the Project is UNCTAD's Commodities Branch of the Division on International Trade in Goods and Services and Commodities (DITC).
The Project's objectives are: i) to promote the horizontal, vertical and geographical diversification of production and trade structures; ii) to improve governments' capacities to formulate focused, effective and sequenced policies in this respect; iii) to increase the competence of enterprises in adapting their business strategies and supplies to the Post-Uruguay Round trading framework; and iv) to strengthen positive linkages between the commodity sector and the rest of the economy.
Within the framework of the Project the following activities will be carried out:
a) Preparation of policy oriented studies on export diversification strategies of governments and enterprises, and on development implications of diversification for the exchange of experiences and capacity building.The workshops will be organized in the four developing regions, namely Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Pacific. These workshops, where not only regional experiences but also those from other regions will be discussed, will provide the framework for national as well as regional or sub-regional capacity building programmes. The regional workshops then will be followed by national workshops expected to be held in 10 countries covering developing regions. The national workshops will bring together the government, the enterprise sector, civil society and relevant international organizations to make proposals on enterprise strategies as well as the most efficient and cost-effective government policies and measures, including those aimed at improving physical and human capacities to promote diversification and to ensure that the disadvantaged segments of the society benefit from diversification, taking into account administrative requirements, sustainability concerns and the social and human context.b) Regional workshops for enterprises and government officials, focusing on export diversification strategies of governments and enterprises, and on development implications of diversification.
The regional workshops for Asia and the Pacific will be organized by UNCTAD in close cooperation with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). The workshop for Asia is tentatively scheduled for the first half of 2001 to be held in Bangkok.
