News from Islands
Services sector represents almost 70 pct of Cape Verde's GDP
Praia, Cape Verde, 7 Oct – The services sector accounts for 70 percent of Cape Verde’s gross domestic product (GDP), the Cape Verdean secretary of state for Foreign Affairs, Jorge Borges said Wednesday in Praia.
According to Cape Verdean news agency Inforpress, the secretary of State was speaking at the opening of a regional seminar on trade in services, promoted by the Directorate General for Industry and Trade (DGIC), in partnership with the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
“This sector in Cape Verde accounts for 70 percent of GDP, which does not happen in many other countries, so we have some experience to offer in the areas of banking, telecommunications and electronic governance, a sector in which we have made significant advances," he noted.
According to Borges, the balance of services shows a surplus of 129 million euros and thus, on an African regional services and economies should be integrated in order to create complementarities, both in terms of tourism and transport.
On a national level, he added, the government was preparing legislation adapted for the services area, with a view to integrate policies in order to make investment easier and improve competitiveness in the sector.
The seminar is attended by representatives of 22 African states and a representative of the WTO, an organisation that Cape Verde joined two years ago in order to improve its knowledge of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)negotiations as part of the Doha Development Agenda (DDA).
Source: macauhub
