Analysis of Agri-Food Trade Structures
To Promote Agri-Food Trade Networks
In the Islamic Countries
98
processors.100 The government officials consulted think these, among others, will yield better
outcomes if expanded in a wider set of countries and could qualify for intra-OIC collaboration
efforts.
The Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) and the OIC-TPS are the only regional agreements that
includes the whole African region and all OIC countries. The CFTA negotiations concluded in
March 2018 and is not yet operational; some protocols and schedules of liberalization are still
to be negotiated. 101 Building from lessons arising from the lack of a continental framework for
trade among African countries this was proposed as a possible framework for structuring
collaboration of Cameroon and its OIC neighbors. Such collaboration could take place in the
framework of the OIC Business Preference System, namely the Framework Agreement on the
TPS among the Member States (TPS-OIC). This system has been difficult to put into practice in
Cameroon and other African countries. Various commitments made by member countries under
different regional or international trade agreements complicate efforts to cooperate in COMCEC
under the TPS-OIC. 102
Implementing these OIC trade regimes requires a sustained focus on consolidating various
bilateral trade accords between member countries. Investments in institutional and human
capacity are needed to help less developed member countries hire and retain the right experts,
develop appropriate trade strategies, negotiate trade agreements, and implement their
outcomes. Also, training of policymakers and other key actors could be enhanced by intra OIC
knowledge sharing initiatives that promote South-South learning. Such efforts could consist of
mentoring programs that connect experienced practitioners and junior experts. This could
entail establishing a collaborative partnership with local research institutions that have
established effective relationships with national governments and/or regional economic
communities. Stakeholders suggested collaboration could also be entertained in the framework
of a collaborative training program being developed between the ECCAS Secretariat and the
Economic Policy Management Program at the University of Yaoundé. This program destined for
all ECCAS members and beyond would offer tailor-made courses on trade and regional
integration and development issues for experts of the public and private sectors.
Another lesson is failure to design and implement trade policy because of weak human and
institutional capacity. It was proposed that one lesson to draw would be to give coordinated
attention to this among OIC members. Collaboration could therefore aim at capacity building in
addressing market entry restrictions that Cameroonian and other African OIC producers face in
non-African OIC markets. This could entail helping overcome the real and perceived problems
associated with agri-food products from Cameroon. The problems relate to the modes of
production and marketing channels. Collaboration could be on two fronts. First, to ensure
compliance to product andmarket-specific quality and standards fromCameroon. Secondwould
be a focus on actions on destination markets with attention to collecting and disseminating
market intelligence in order to enhance the image of Cameroonian products, assistance in
understanding and complying with production and business practices in destination markets.
100 Ibid., pp.5
101 African Union . (2018). Continental Free Trade Area. Available at
102 COMCEC. (2012). Making Cooperation Work COMCEC Strategy For Building An Interdependent Islamic World. Ankara:
COMCEC.