Harnessing the Commonwealth Advantage in Global Value Chains

This paper examines the participation of 43 Commonwealth countries in global value chains (GVCs). It shows that Commonwealth member countries' participation in GVCs increased between 1995–2015, but that it was primarily with non-Commonwealth countries. It finds that three main regional clusters connect Commonwealth value chains in Africa, Asia-Pacific and Europe, and deep regional trade agreement membership impacts on GVC participation. It also finds that while open economies, such as Singapore, tend to import value-added inputs from the G20 countries, smaller Commonwealth countries were relatively more reliant on other Commonwealth members for inputs for domestic industries. It recommends that targeted measures and an enabling business environment are required, and that additional support for developing countries will facilitate participation at the lower end of the value chain.