Set up and Operationalize a National Competitiveness Monitoring Body (CI0010)

Current Situation or problem/question to be addressed/having to be resolved: This lack does not foster transparency in developments of competitiveness factors and thus makes the government action ineffective in terms of improvement of the competitiveness of the economy. Main purpose: The Ivorian Authorities decided to establish a company competitiveness Monitoring body with a view to make the reference indicators on developments of competitiveness available and assess the competitive position of Côte d'Ivoire; Brief description of the commitment: The purpose of the competitiveness Monitoring body is to: -define the indicators of the competitiveness of enterprises in Côte d'Ivoire -Collect data and information; -analyze variances and changes -ensure the centralization , the processing, the analysis and the competitiveness data control; -ensure the provision of information on Côte d'Ivoire's competitiveness indicators; -carry out necessary studies to enable the government to provide appropriate solutions to Private Sector's request in line with competitiveness; -propose to the government measures to strengthen the competitiveness of the Ivorian economy; OGP challenges addressed by the commitment: Increase in public integrity; Relevance: - Access to information -Civil Society participation -Improvement of the transparency in the competitiveness factors and government effectiveness in competitiveness reform formulation; -Promotion of new technologies and digital technology in governance by means of a national dashboard on competitiveness indicators. -Creation of a Monitoring body to enable all the stakeholders (public administrations, private sector, civil society) to access information about competitiveness indicators. -Online posting of information through a national dashboard on competitiveness. -Inclusive participation of the stakeholders of which the private sector and civil society will run the Monitoring body and make reform proposals to Government. Ambition: -transparency in competitiveness factors and government effectiveness in reform formulation for competitiveness are enhanced; -the Government will have a tool to provide it with necessary analysis elements for decision-making in line with private sector's request about enterprises competitiveness.

10. National competitiveness monitoring body

Commitment Text:

Set up and operationalize a national competitiveness monitoring body

Brief description of the commitment: The purpose of the competitiveness Monitoring body is to:

- Define the indicators of the competitiveness of enterprises in Côte d’Ivoire ;

- Collect data and information;

- Analyze variances and changes;

- Ensure the centralization, the processing, the analysis and the competitiveness data control;

- Ensure the provision of information on Côte d’Ivoire ’s competitiveness indicators;

- Carry out necessary studies to enable the government to provide appropriate solutions to Private Sector’s request in line with competitiveness;

- Propose to the government measures to strengthen the competitiveness of the Ivorian economy.

Quantifiable and verifiable stages on implementing this commitment.

Drafting of the technical note on the Monitoring body/Benchmarking on competitiveness Monitoring bodies in the world

10.1. Preparation of a draft decree on competitiveness Monitoring body

10.2. Adoption of the decree on the Monitoring body

10.3. The work of the ad hoc Committee on the definition of the operational framework of the Monitoring body on competitiveness/feasibility study

10.4. Establishment and initial operation of the Monitoring body

Editorial Note: Milestones 10.1 and 10.2 were completed prior to the implementation period. The report will focus on those milestones that were implemented during the period under review.

Responsible institution: the Minister for Economy and Finance.

Supporting institutions: Committee for the concertation of the private sector. (CCESP)

Start date: March 2016

End date: June 2017

Context and Objectives

The Ivorian authorities have decided to create a monitoring body for business competitiveness. The government anticipates that the body will create benchmarks for the evolution of competitiveness and to assess the competitiveness of Côte d’Ivoire. The Committee for the Concertation of the Private Sector (CCESP), a platform to manage relations between government and the private sector, proposed this initiative. The CCESP has authority to make proposals linked to questions of competitiveness and to the improvement of the business environment. Since 2014, the Ivorian market has been opening up, hence the necessity for the government to have such a body.1 According to the CCESP, in the current context of globalization, it is essential to look at competition, to improve policies, and to oversee certain indicators. There was, therefore, a need for the private sector to be able to respond, in terms of standards and organization, to the multinationals. They had to adapt to the opening up of markets.

Competitiveness is rated based on World Economic Forum methods. Côte d’Ivoire, according to CCESP representatives, faces constraints linked to (i) human capital (the labor force is not developed, especially in the secondary sector), (ii) high energy costs, despite satisfactory quality, and (iii) logistics, transport, and infrastructure.2 Because certain areas of growth have begun to recede and the private sector to stagnate, the government believes that having indicators will contribute to growth.

As confirmed by CCESP representatives, civil society should initially have been a full member of the monitoring body, but their participation is not mentioned in the decree as it is drafted.3 Even if civil society could be involved via the distribution of reports and the mobilization of data, the CCESP representatives feel that this commitment should come from internal government reform. Therefore, it does not fall within the scope of the OGP analysis.4 The CCESP feels that civil society should be associated, but this would be a political decision.5

The potential impact of this commitment is minor. The creation of the monitoring body will facilitate the use of indicators that could help advise the government. These indicators should then enable them to see stumbling blocks to the competitiveness of businesses. Thus, the government could enact policies to remedy the shortcomings. Nonetheless, such measures and benchmarks have their limits, particularly in terms of methodology. In addition, the capacity for action and the impact of such a monitoring body is by definition linked to the government’s willingness to act on relevant public policies. This essential link should be better clarified.

Completion

This commitment as it is drafted was not started on 30 June 2017. It does not, therefore, fall within the time frame, as the date for completion of milestone implementation was December 2017.

10.1 Adoption of the monitoring body decree: This milestone had not been started in the first year of implementation. The decree for the creation, granting, organization, and functioning of the National Monitor on the Competitiveness of Business has since been adopted. This progress will be reflected in the end-of-term report.

10.2 Work by the ad hoc committee to define the operational framework for the monitoring body on the competitiveness of business/feasibility study: This milestone has not been completed. As CCESP representatives6 and civil society7 have confirmed, by 30 June the monitoring body was not established or operational.

10.3 Implementation and launching of the monitoring body’s activities: This milestone has not started. As confirmed by CCESP representatives8 and civil society,9 the body is neither established nor functional.

Next Steps

The IRM researcher does not recommend the pursuit of this commitment, as it is drafted, in the next action plan. This commitment is not appropriate within the OGP framework.

1 Ismael Coulibaly, Georges Copre, and Serge Esso, Committee for the Concertation of the Private Sector, Ministry of Economy and Finance, interview by the IRM researcher, 16 February 2018.

2 Ibid.

3 Ibid.

4 Ibid.

5 Ibid.

6 Ibid.

7 Civil society platform representative, interview by IRM researcher, Month 2018, followed by phone and email exchanges. 8 Ismael Coulibaly, Georges Copre, and Serge Esso, Committee for the Concertation of the Private Sector), Ministry of Economy and Finance, interview by IRM researcher, 16 February 2018.

9 Civil society platform representative, interview by IRM researcher, Month 2018, followed by phone and email exchanges.

Commitment 10: Set up and operationalize a national competitiveness monitoring body

Brief Description of the commitment:

The purpose of the competitiveness Monitoring body is to:

- define the indicators of the competitiveness of enterprises in Côte d’Ivoire;

- collect data and information;

- analyze variances and changes;

- ensure the centralization, the processing, the analysis and the competitiveness data control;

- ensure the provision of information on Côte d’Ivoire’s competitiveness indicators;

- Carry out necessary studies to enable the government to provide appropriate solutions to Private Sector’s request in line with competitiveness;

- propose to the government measures to strengthen the competitiveness of the Ivoirian economy.

Verifiable and measurable steps to achieve the commitment

10.1. Drafting of the technical note on the Monitoring body/Benchmarking on competitiveness Monitoring bodies in the world

10.2. Preparation of a draft decree on competitiveness Monitoring body

10.3. Adoption of the decree on the Monitoring body

10.4. The work of the ad hoc Committee on the definition of the operational framework of the Monitoring body on competitiveness/feasibility study

10.5. Establishment and initial operation of the Monitoring body

Editorial Note: In the action plan, the government completed Milestones 10.1 and 10.2 prior to the commitment implementation period. This evaluation will therefore focus on the remaining three milestones.

Responsible Institution(s): Ministry in charge of Economy and Finance, under the authority of Prime Minister

Supporting Institution(s): Government/Private Sector Concert Committee (CCESP)

Start Date: March 2016 End Date: June 2017

Action Plan is available here:

Commitment Aim:

This commitment aims to ensure the availability of indicators on the evolution of competitiveness that enable an assessment of Côte d’Ivoire’s competitive position. If implemented, a monitoring body (the “observatory”) will create indicators that can instruct the government on key challenges to business competitiveness so that the government can then remedy deficiencies.

Status

Midterm: Not Started

The government did not start the implementation of this commitment by midterm. The decree on the creation, attribution, organization and functioning of the National Business Competitiveness Observatory had not been adopted during the first year of implementation. As a result, the observatory was neither established nor operational. For more information, please see the 2016−2018 IRM midterm report. ^[53]

End of term: Limited

The decree on the creation, attribution, organization and functioning of the National Business Competitiveness Observatory was adopted on 4 October 2017 (Milestone 10.1, which is therefore complete). The government did not provide it to the IRM researcher, who could not find it online. Nevertheless, the researcher found several articles discussing the adoption of the decree. ^[54] The government did not provide any evidence on the operation of the observatory (Milestone 10.2). ^[55]

The government contact for OGP, Mrs. Chantal Angoua, ^[56] indicated that the government held an operationalization seminar on 4 October 2018. The IRM researcher found some articles related to another operationalization seminar held earlier on 27 September 2018, ^[57] but as the implementation period ended on 30 August 2018, these fell outside of the period under consideration.

However, since the observatory was not yet operational by the end of the implementation period, the IRM assessed Milestone 10.3 (implementation and start of observatory activities) as not yet started. This resulted in overall limited completion of this commitment. Moreover, representatives of the State and Private Sector Consultation Committee (Comité de Concertation de l’État et du Secteur Privé – CCESP) ^[58] explained that the inclusion of civil society, which was initially supposed to be a full member of the observatory, is not mentioned in the decree.

Did It Open Government?

Access to information: Did Not Change

Civic participation: Did Not Change

Public accountability: Did Not Change

This commitment recognizes the importance of competition for businesses. However, due to limited implementation, the commitment did not result in more information being disclosed, participation opportunities, or making the government more accountable to the public. In addition, since this commitment is coded as being of unclear relevance to OGP values, it is doubtful it would make government more accountable to the public, even if fully implemented.

Carried Forward?

The commitment was not carried into the new national action plan for 2018−2020.