Promoting regional value chains in North Africa

Abstract

The increasing importance of global value chains in the management and coordination of production and trade relations between countries was one of the major changes witnessed over the last two decades. This trend led to greater production fragmentation, growing inter-country trade exchange as well as a change in production governance, mainly in developing countries. In the 1960s and 1970s, North African countries started diversifying their economies using import-substitution strategies (Morocco, Tunisia) or heavy industrialization strategies (Algeria and Egypt). This effort was maintained –to varying degrees– in the 1980-1990s. Despite North African countries’ diversification efforts, their share in the global manufactured product market remains insignificant, accounting for slightly over 1% between 1975 and 2008, while the share of Eastern Asian countries jumped from 1.7% to 20%. Improving North African countries’ integration in GVCs will require strengthening regional integration an important tool to provide collective and efficient responses to these challenges and help North Africa become more dynamic and the driving force of Africa’s transformation process.