Trade isn't enough

Related pages: Trade Matters homepage | Millennium Development Goal 8: Aid, trade, growth and global partnership

Trade may be the single most potent tool in the fight against poverty, but it won’t work in isolation.

The UK Government believes that rich country barriers to global trade are indefensible. But even if they came down tomorrow, Africa’s entrepreneurs – from small farmers to giant corporations – still face serious challenges which make trade difficult.

If the power keeps going off, you can’t produce. Bad roads stop you getting your goods to market. Poor telecommunications mean you can’t talk to suppliers or customers.

Conflict destroys lives, property and work. Corruption means wasting profits on bribing officials. If you can’t get capital to kick-start a business, enterprise won’t happen. And without basic necessities like food, clean water, healthcare, housing and education, you don’t have healthy, alert, trainable workers.

This case study is part of Trade Matters

Other links to stories about overcoming trade constraints

• UK to give £100 million a year to help poor countries trade their way out of poverty (Nov, 2005)
• Changing customs to build Lesotho's future

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