Global services forum: focus on sector vital to developing economies

BEIJING: Research and trends in the global economy indicate that developing countries cannot develop without expanding and deepening their service sectors, spheres of economic activity that range from energy, to telecommunications, to such knowledge- and skills-based work as engineering and computer programing.

The UNCTAD Global Services Forum (GSF), which took place in Beijing on May 28 and 29, brought together government leaders, including Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and other Heads of State, to discuss how to boost developing-country service capacities.

A debate focussed on harnessing the services sector to spur broad-based economic growth that can significantly reduce poverty and enhance the inclusiveness of economic progress. Services made up 66 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP) in 2011, but only 51 percent of the GDPs of developing nations.

In industrialised nations, they accounted for 74 percent, showing that a major gap must still be closed. In 2012, services exports amounted to $ 4.4 trillion worldwide, an increase of 1.2 percent from 2011, a year that had registered a robust 11 percent growth from the year before.

Just over 30 percent of such exports came from developing countries. While these exports have been growing, the dominant position of developed countries in services trade makes it clear that poorer nations must make up ground. And services exports provide resilience too - they were affected less by the global recession, and they recovered more fully from it.

The GSF took place concurrently with the second China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS), which was held from May 28 to June 1. The GSF has been organised by UNCTAD in cooperation with the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China and the People's Government of Beijing Municipality.

The timing of the GSF was opportune, as it coincided with several other global gatherings that considered development strategies as the finish date for the United Nations Millennium Development Goals approaches.

UNCTAD, based on its own research and on the results of the Millennium Development Goals campaign, has been recommending that international efforts to spur economic progress and reduce poverty in poor nations should place greater emphasis on expanding such countries' productive capacities - that is, the ability of their economies to produce marketable goods and services of greater variety, value and complexity.

Healthy and growing services sectors are vital for expanding productive capacity, and UNCTAD contends that productive improvements are the most effective and durable method for increasing employment and reducing poverty.

The Forum's events included the May 29 CIFTIS-GSF Leaders' Summit which featured addresses by Premier Li Keqiang, other Heads of State, and by UNCTAD Secretary-General Supachai Panitchpakdi on behalf of United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who sent a written message to the Summit.

The Forum Summit took place on May 29, with the participation of numerous government ministers from around the world. These high-level debates were preceded on May 28 by four panel sessions featuring experts from government, the business world, and academia.

The panel sessions discussed services and job creation; services and value adding; the building of supply and export capacity, including by outsourcing services; and creating and promoting partnerships, with a focus on creative services.

The aim of the GSF was to raise awareness of the importance of the services sector for developing-country economies, and to advance the development agenda as it relates to services. Another intention was to give experts and government and business leaders the opportunity to strengthen and expand networks of cooperation and knowledge-sharing, as they search for innovative policies, new partnerships and 'best-fit' practices.

A Services Vision Council was set up during the Forum. The Council is composed of senior representatives of the private and public sectors, and will meet once a year. It will provide guidance on the preparation of future GSF sessions, and willl offer government leaders, business executives, and academics an informal and flexible framework to discuss topical issues relating to services.

During the course of the GSF, UNCTAD launched the now-completed Services Policy Review (SPR) of Lesotho. UNCTAD carries out SPRs at the request of developing-country governments. Work is being initiated on a ninth SPR, which will focus on Bangladesh. SPRs systematically assess the economic, regulatory, institutional, and trade policy environments characterising national services sectors and offer recommendations on how to expand services and harness them to create jobs and raise living standards.