The African Free Trade Agreement: under which conditions will it succeed?

The end of supply chain is the natural corollary of the sustained price fall of virtually all commodities observed over the past many months. If it appears premature to state exactly what is the impact of this deconsolidation in the commodities value chain, it is believed that the strategic role of physical trading is strengthening. Under such circumstances, the industrial strategies of developing countries and commodity exporters may have to evolve and, in priority, foster optimizi ...

Trade negotiators rarely get to celebrate a victory. The United States, for example, has been negotiating over 15 bilateral free trade agreements, with none concluded since the Korea-US agreement was finalized at the end of 2010. This makes the recently finalized Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)agreement between the United States and 11 other countries all the more remarkable. But the TPP still faces major hurdles, not least a divisive ratification debate in the U.S. Congress, which ...

The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership was initiated with the aim to build a space of shared prosperity and security among all the countries in the region. The achievement of this objective, however, continues to be challenged by several geopolitical, economic and social factors. In such a context, there is now a greater urgency to adapt the approach and the instruments, thus allowing Euro-Mediterranean partners to seize opportunities towards an effective area of shared stability and pr ...

International trade has become a pervasive feature of our lives, yet it remains controversial and resisted across the world. High and rising income inequality, which is often blamed on international trade, especially trade with China, is one reason. But the main driver of inequality is new technology, not international trade. Although trade interacts with new technology in ways that often lead to higher inequality, trade and technology also lie at the root of economic advance. So th ...

Le présent article examine les efforts déployés par la Chine pour s’assurer l’accès à des ressources naturelles provenant de l’étranger en quantités toujours plus importantes. Dans sa quête de ressources nécessaires pour alimenter son économie, la Chine cherche-t-elle à encourager le développement des marchés internationaux ou plutôt à s’approvisionner en ressources de façon plus mercantiliste ? L’attitude variable de la Chine sur un large éventail de marchés des ressources suggère ...

OCP Policy Center holds in its arsenal a wide array of different resources aimed at creating a knowledge sharing platform that constructively dissects key economic, international relations and strategic issues. To achieve this objective, research initiatives, training programs and sessions, as well as conferences and seminars are put in place, thus offering an appropriate open debate platform to stimulate new analytical approaches.  Within this range of activities, OCP Policy Cente ...

Plusieurs facteurs bien connus sont à l’origine de l’effondrement des cours du brut depuis juin 2014. Face à une offre pétrolière excédentaire avec l’essor des pétroles de schiste américains, le ralentissement de la croissance économique des pays émergents, notamment des pays à forte intensité énergétique comme le Brésil, la Chine ou la Russie se traduit par une consommation pétrolière mondiale, toujours en croissance, mais à un rythme moindre que les années précédentes. A ces évolu ...