Trade, Commerce & Manufacturing Sector 2017/18 – 2020/21 Plan.

The Trade, Commerce and Manufacturing Strategy is a national policy with a multi-sectoral approach. Its vision is to provide trade, commerce and manufacturing for enhanced growth and development. The TCM-SP has been an integral part of the Samoa Strategy for Development 2012-2016 to ensure “Boosting of Productivity for Sustainable Development” and features measures to revitalise exports and support the agriculture and manufacturing sectors. The TCM SP is also linked to relevant regional and international policies and regulatory frameworks and obligations. The value chain approach streamlined the activities of the TCM-SP to be more direct and precise in implementation. In light of this, the TCM-SP eventuated to encompass four pillars: Pillar 1. Industrial Supply and Productivity; Pillar 2. Processing and Value Addition; Pillar 3. Market Access; and Pillar 4. Sector Support and Planning Framework. The MTEF for the Trade, Commerce & Manufacturing Sector Plan 2017/18-2020/21 (TCMSP) has brought together financial and expenditure planning data and attempted to estimate total planned expenditures from all sources of finance available, primarily the TCMSP, annual budget estimates, corporate plans and feedback key stakeholders. These inputs have been used to generate the first estimates of expenditure over the period Financial Year 2017/18 – 2020/21.
The plan will be implemented through four pillars as follow: 1. Improve industrial supply and productivity; 2. Increase processing activities and value-addition; 3. Enhance market access and visibility for Samoan goods and services; and 4. Strengthen sector coordination, planning and support.
The improvement of industrial supply and productivity include the improvement of productivity of key industries, the increase of processing activities and value-addition, and provision of consistent quality and quantity of primary sector supply.
The increase in processing activities and value addition involves improved quality assurance standards for key processing industries, increase in the number of value-added products, and establishment of quality standards for key services. The market access on the other hand will be enhanced through a reduced cost of doing business, improved access to various private sector support schemes, improved trade balance, and increased labour mobility in foreign markets. Finally, the strengthening in sector coordination, planning and support will require coherent sector planning and policy formulation, accurate and timely sector statistics for planning, Strengthened capacity of sector implementing agencies; and Integration of cross-cutting issues into the sector. Cross-cutting issues that will be integrated into the sector are the risks related to climate change because climate change plays a significant role in the sector given its influence on agricultural production and business as a whole. Relevant initiatives need to be addressed to ensure resilience of both farming and retail businesses in adapting to, or mitigating the risks associated with, climate change. Also, focus will be shown on the role of female entrepreneurship to reflect progress in ensuring sustainable development goals in the sector.
A monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework will be developed. Annual sector reviews are considered essential to ensure opportunities and challenges are addressed and priorities updated. The Sector Steering Committee bears the overall responsibility for the monitoring and evaluation of implementation of the Strategy although other Core agencies must provide timely and accurate statistics for monitoring the performance of the sector.