CASE STUDIES FROM AFRICA

Competitiveness Issues
services sectors and
services regulations in
target markets
c. Most developing countries
prefer to concentrate their
efforts on promoting
manufacturing industry
rather than services
2. Travel and Tourism
competitiveness
(consumption abroad)
a. Poor access and quality of
physical infrastructure
b. Low quality of the
education system and
labour force with
competences in travel
services
c. Low level of tourism
competitiveness
3. Competitiveness in
establishing commercial
presence abroad
a. Lack of funding and
promotion for facilitating
investment abroad
b. Lack of market access,
existence of burdensome
and discriminatory
barriers to the
establishment of
commercial presence in
target economies
4. Competitiveness in the
presence of natural persons
a. Impact of visa-related
issues and discriminatory
treatment of foreign
service providers
b. Lack of quality of the
domestic human capital
to satisfy the needs of the
target markets
c. Lack of skills and
competences of the
domestic labour force in
order to strengthen the
Solutions
c. Establish international credibility (with enterprises)
Promote the ‘country brand’ to generate visibility
Promote the use of international standards
Promote country capacity as provider of mode 4 services through
awareness programs, televised advertisements, participation in
trade fairs, and Internet advertising, which highlight the quality,
reliability, skills, and competences of the country’s labour force
Sign agreements with host countries for the recognition of
qualifications
d. Support market access (with enterprises)
Create financing programs specifically dedicated to supporting
enterprises with limited financial capacity to export cultural
services
Accelerate liberalisation commitments in order to help domestic
enterprises access potential target markets
Reinforce APEX as a one-stop shop to provide information to
cultural service exporters on regulations, taxation system, and
statistics regarding potential target markets
Carry out in-depth market research on the capacity of the domestic
market as well as on target markets to identify potential promising
niches and establish priorities and interests to defend at the
negotiating table
Negotiate bilateral agreements to reduce barriers to either the
movement of natural persons or the establishment of Burkinabe
cultural services’ commercial presence abroad
e. Improve the quality and supply of human capital (with enterprises)
Support the education system to guarantee greater access to tertiary
education and achieve a better teaching level
Attract diaspora back in the domestic market through incentives for
the creation of new cultural services export-oriented companies
Introduce changes in teaching courses to support the needs of the
cultural services industry
Promote foreign language proficiency
Support greater collaboration between training schools, institutions,
and the private sector, also with introduction of cultural services
specific courses
Introduce training courses specialised in tourism, health care, and
education
Promote foreign languages proficiency (English and other
languages of target markets) to increase range and quantity of
foreign consumers
Develop local training programs for the specific skills required in
the target markets
f. Improve infrastructure (with enterprises)
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