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Dr Gift Mugano
Zimbabwe is in dire need of growing and diversifying its exports so that it can generate sufficient liquidity to propel the economy. The real challenge for Zimbabwe is how the country can come up with a proper framework aimed at driving exports.

In as much we have other frameworks enunciated in the National Trade Policy, we need framework in the form of an integrated national export strategy. Against this background, I found it fit to showcase the South African Integrated National Export Strategy (INES) so that we can draw lessons from the same.

• South Africa sometime around 2014 came up with an INES which was responding to the country’s declining exports to world share. The INES was developed with a motto:
• “Excellence into Emerging & Traditional Markets: A strategic framework and action plan to grow and diversify South Africa’s exports”
• In driving this motto, the following national targets were set:
• South Africa to grow in total exports by 6 percent per annum in volume as determined in the NDP;
• Exports of manufactured products to grow by 7 percent per annum (double in 10 years) in value;
• Exports of manufactured products to constitute 40 percent of total manufacturing output by 2030 in value;
• Exports of services to constitute 40 percent of total services supplied by 2030 in value; and
• South Africa to capture 1 percent of total world exports by 2030 in value.

To achieve these goals, the INES was built on six strategic pillars as follows:

Strategic Pillar 1: Improving the Export Environment & International Competitiveness

The INES framework is based upon the “four gear concept” that is utilised in the International Trade Centre (ITC) process tool “The ITC Secrets of Strategy Template”, that is:

• Border – in issues that impact production efficiency and export management competency;
• Border issues that relate to trade facilitation and transaction;
• Border – Out issues that determine market growth and success; and
• Development issues that place emphasis on the developmental impacts of the export sector and its synchronicity with national development goals.

The range of issues that affect South Africa’s ability to complete in international markets include the following critical elements:

• Problem Statement: Promoting the National Export Vision;
• Aligning macro-initiatives: eliminating anti-export bias and ensuring policies, such as trade, fiscal, competition, labour markets, and exchange rates, support a productive investment;
• Reducing trade-related costs: improving back bone services and inputs such as energy, telecommunications, transport and logistics, and customs; and
• Overcoming market failures: facilitation of economic players, linkages and spill overs, industry clusters and Special Economic Zones (SEZs), export promotion and innovation mechanism.

In order to achieve strategic pillar 1, action plans developed to improve the business environment are:

• Development of a legislative framework which would give weight and substance to the implementation of the INES, that is, Proposed National Export Development & Promotion Act 2016;
• Promoting the national export vision &targets: ensure leadership and support for the strategy;
• President’s State of the Nation Address (President to announce targets and broader implementation measures to parliament);
• Identify &strengthen current and develop potential comparative advantages: identify sectors in which SA has a comparative advantage;
• Strengthen institutional support for these sectors – develop a matrix management system to ensure linkages between enterprise development & empowerment programmes on the one hand and export promotion and development programmes on the other hand;
• Extensive exercise on Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) at a country and provincial basis;
• Policy co-ordination across government – alignment of macro-initiatives (reducing input costs, improving productivity, improving quality, improving innovation);
• Deeper engagement & collaboration to effect changes to introduce a more coherent support framework – Port Tariffs, Exporters Database, Trade Facilitation, Exchange Rate Volatility, Anti-Export Bias, Rebates, Collaboration, Cost of Logistics, Export Clustering, SEZs (combined with export promotion mechanisms); and
• Conduct extensive exercise on calculating the anti-export bias and effective rates of protectionism.

Strategic Pillar 2: Strengthening the National Export Institutional Framework Through Concerted Stakeholder Alignment

This pillar is being implemented through the strengthening of the institutional framework, institutional approach to implementation and actions plans.

(a) Strengthening the Institutional Framework

The effective implementation of the INES requires commitment from a broad range of stakeholders who are involved in the export sector and supporting exporters, that is:

• The current exporter development landscape in South Africa is extensive but very fragmented;
• Weakness include: duplication of services provided; lack of alignment; inadequate communication between stakeholders; poor direction of exporters to appropriate support mechanisms; lack of information; lack of a financial sustainability model for some of the institutions in the support framework; limited capacity in export councils; and weak coordination, and
• The institutional approach to implementing the INES needs to take this current framework into consideration.

(b) Institutional Approach to Implementation

The following institutional implementation approach is under use:

• The Department for Trade and Industry (DTI) directs, co-ordinates and monitors the overall strategy implementation;
• The various elements of the strategy are devolved across the network of private and public national, provincial and local organisations that have experience and expertise;
• Understanding of the roles and responsibilities of the different organisations involved as well as ongoing strengthening of their capacity;
• There is ongoing work on streamlining activities and consolidation.
• The action plan involved:
• Streamline and strengthen the current architecture and strengthen the Export Council model through the clustering option addressed by National Export Development Programme (NEDP);
• DTI to ensure that work across all three spheres of government is mutually reinforcing and contributes to the targets of the INES;
• Establish an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) to ensure that there is improved oversight over the work that departments would undertake to support exports.
• An overarching body to ensure that legislation is effected by unlocking bottlenecks in the growth of exports – chaired by the President;
• Establish the National Exporter Advisory Council (NEAC), an advisory body on export-related matters – chaired by the DTI Minister;
• Establish a National Export Forum, an advocacy and lobbying body delivering the needs of its members to government;
• Encourage the formation of Local and Metropolitan Export Forums with the Local Economic Development (LED) as secretariat;
• Provincial Export Forums with the province as secretariat;
• Establish a national system of Trade Promotion Organisations (TPO’s);
• Devolve additional activities to export councils and existing TPOs;
• Pursue Alignment and Excellence;
• Trade and Investment South Africa (TISA), a division under DTI, is focusing on achieving improved alignment, increased coordination, overall framework effectiveness and efficiency; and strong oversight through improved monitoring and evaluation;
• TISA to play a key role in actively supporting the institutional deepening, capacity building and client orientation in all export organisations;
• Establish clearer linkages to services provided by private-sector organisations and companies, such as banks, insurers, freight forwarders, chambers of commerce, packing consultants, education and training institutions, etc.

To be continued

•  Dr Mugano is an Author and Expert in Trade and Competitiveness. He is a Research Associate at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and a Senior Lecturer at the Zimbabwe Ezekiel Guti University. Feedback: Email: [email protected], Cell: +263 772 541 209. Disclaimer: This article was extracted from the South African Integrated National Export Strategy.