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tralac’s Daily News Selection
The selection: Wednesday, 24 August 2016
Looking ahead: the First African Forum for National Trade Facilitation Committees (UNCTAD)
UNCTAD will organize the first African Forum for National Trade Facilitation Committees from 17-21 October in Addis Ababa. The meeting aims at: (i) bringing the opportunity to NTFCs all over the African continent to share best practices; (ii) providing a platform to discuss existing challenges and opportunities for the future growth of NTFCs; (iii) empowering the leaders of African NTFCs. The event will also hold parallel sessions on the particular role of the private sector and Customs in the NTFC.
African Union Commission: financial report and audited financial statements for the year ended 31st December 2014 (pdf)
Kumi Naidoo: African Civil Society Initiative, background
SADC Summit updates:
SADC reviews Secretariat organisational structure (SARDC): The Southern African Development Community is reviewing its organisational structure to ensure that it adequately responds to new and emerging issues in the region’s revised development blueprint. “Through a competitive selection process Ernst & Young was engaged in April 2016 to undertake the SADC Secretariat Organisational Structure and Infrastructure Review,” Mufaya told journalists on the sidelines of the meeting of SADC Standing Committee of Senior Officials ahead of the 36th Summit of SADC Heads of State and Government set for 30-31 August. He said the consultants commenced work in April and “their first draft report will be considered by Council (of Ministers)”, which will meet prior to the 36th Summit of SADC Heads of State and Government.
SADC Standing Committee of Senior Officials (SARDC): Outgoing chairperson of the SADC Standing Committee of Senior Officials, Dr Taufila Nyamadzabo concurred, saying deeper regional integration in southern Africa hinges on the implementation of agreed decisions. “It is important that we increase the pace of implementation and monitoring of our regional activities, programmes and projects,” said Nyamadzabo, who is the Secretary for Economic and Financial Policy in Botswana. Incoming chairperson of the SADC Standing Committee of Senior Officials, Bertram Stewart – the Principal Secretary for Economic Planning and Development in Swaziland – pledged to strengthen the push towards implementation of regional strategies.
Regional strategic action plan on integrated water resources development and management (2016-2020) (pdf): The RSAP IV is the implementation plan for the water component of the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan, a blue print of SADC programmes. It is also a strategic plan to implement the water chapter of the Regional Infrastructure Development Master Plan (RIDMP). To effectively respond to the region’s challenges, the RSAP IV proposes a suit of participatory and delivery approaches to water and services such a nexus approaches, indigenous knowledge-based solutions, disaster risk management-based systems, climate resilience building, blending both built and ecological infrastructural solutions, ground-surface water integrated planning and development and others. [Calming the waters: why we need to better integrate climate and water policy]
About E918bn for PIDA plan (Swazi Observer): Representative of the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency and the AUC, Abdou Rahman Mboob, said achieving the 2020 milestones requires acceleration on the PIDA implementation. He said the 2016 work-plan for the PIDA CAP would continue to support the Central Corridor and would continue to replicate the acceleration methodology on the SADC Beira and North South Corridors. “This event, we attend today is thus an important step in the replication process,” he said referring to the consultation workshop. However, he said while fast-tracking the implementation was critical, it was equally important to note that infrastructure development requires sustained efforts from all stakeholders to maintain the momentum of implementation, while sustaining the momentum required political will, necessary policy, legal and regulatory environment to facilitate private sector participation and investments. Mboob was speaking during the private sector consultation or pre-market workshop which marked the first day of the Southern African Development Community industrialisation week.
Dr JK Kikwete’s public lecture at UNISWA: ‘Upscaling regional economic integration and development’ (pdf)
The SADC Statistics Yearbook 2014 was released yesterday: the excel version can be accessed here
African Drought Conference (15-19 August, Windhoek): presentations can be downloaded here
COMESA region losing over Sh3tr due to non-tariff barriers (CapitalFM)
The COMESA region is losing close to Sh3 trillion annually due to non-tariff barriers. Director, Trade and Customs and Monetary Affairs at COMESA Francis Mangeni says trade in the region stands at Sh1 trillion despite having a potential of Sh4.2 trillion annually or even more. Some of the non-tariff barriers in the region include lengthy customs procedures and administrative requirements, road blocks, technical standards, government participation in trade, lack of physical infrastructure among others. “COMESA has a potential trade of $42billion annually but at the moment what we are trading is even shamefully low. There is need for country member states to look into these issues, because sometimes we deal with one, then there arises other three non tariff barriers,” Mangeni said during a COMESA forum to address the matter.
Nakumatt joins big firms in COMESA deal to help small suppliers (The Star)
Kenya's giant retailer Nakumatt is among several companies that have signed a pact to buy more local goods from small scale farmers to improve market access for SMEs in agribusiness. Nakumatt on Friday signed a deal with the Comesa Business Council to source more goods from certified suppliers in the region under the Local Sourcing for Partnerships project by the regional lobby group. Several other firms also signed the deal in a bid to diversify their supply sources.The Comesa Business Council will consequently train interested agro-food suppliers on global standards and connecting them with the firms which operate in six Comesa states -Zambia, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia and Malawi.
@mdbrauch: Pleased to be in Zambia with @IISD_ELP to facilitate COMESA meeting on inclusive and sustainable Industrialization
EALA urges Council of Ministers to re-establish climate change unit
With the passage of the Resolution, the Council of Ministers is now expected to make tangible proposals on how to secure the work undertaken or yet to be done under the EAC Climate Change Programme including the possibility of creating a budget line for the same. Within the next four months, the Council is to table before the Assembly a comprehensive report on the background to the establishment of the EAC Climate Change Programme circumstances that led to the shutting of the unit and possible negative impacts the Community may suffer. [EALA wants tougher wildlife laws to fight against poaching]
IGAD Institutional Strengthening Action Plan and Peace and Security Joint Programme and Financing Agreement: coordination group meeting
Zambia's Trade Policy Review: minutes of the meeting, 21 and 23 June (WTO)
Regarding existing trade policies, one important area was Zambia’s tariff regime. At the last TPR, Members had encouraged Zambia to improve its binding commitments by increasing their coverage and reducing the gap between bound and applied rates. It seemed that not much had changed since then, except for the migration to HS 2012. Besides, Zambia still had difficulty fully implementing the Customs Valuation Agreement, and still imposed export taxes, some of which aimed at promoting local value addition. That said, Members were pleased to know that Zambia had already ratified the Trade Facilitation Agreement and had notified all its Categories A, B and C commitments. Thanks to the authorities’ efforts, all customs declarations could also be conducted electronically now, which made clearance simpler and faster. In addition, Zambia had amended or had enacted a number of trade-related laws over the period under review.
Mauritius: trade deficit widens 7.1% in June (pdf, Statistics Mauritius)
Mauritius said on Monday its trade deficit widened 7.1% to 6.21 billion rupees in June from the same period a year earlier, hit by a dip in exports of machinery and transport equipment. Exports fell 15% to 7.37 billion rupees, the government's statistics office said in a statement. France was the main destination for Mauritius's exports, followed by the United States and Britain.
Hike tax, price of cigarettes to reduce smoking - experts (New Times)
Organised by the World Health Organisation, the two-day meeting in Kigali aims at raising awareness of the role of tax and price measures in meeting public health objectives, and improving the understanding of the participating countries on the development of effective tobacco tax policies. Participants are also expected to share best practices from model countries on effective tobacco tax policies and identify specific challenges to tax policy change and recommend areas of technical assistance to overcome the challenges. The meeting attracted more than 50 participants from select African countries, including Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, and hosts Rwanda. Also in attendance are different WHO tobacco taxation experts.
Ethiopia: an agrarian economy in transition (Brookings)
Ethiopia has experienced rapid economic growth since 2005, with gross domestic product (GDP) growing at an average rate of 10.5 per cent per annum in real terms for the period between 2004-05 and 2012-13. This makes Ethiopia one of the fastest growing countries in the world. The rapid economic growth has a multifaceted effect on a number of social, economic, and political domains. Considering 2015 is the year the first Growth and Transformation Plan - the country’s comprehensive five-year development plan with targets aligned to the aim of achieving middle-income status by the mid-2020s - ends, it is a good time to explore the pattern of economic growth in Ethiopia and the relevant growth opportunities and challenges. [The analysts: Yared Seid, Alemayehu Seyoum Taffesse, Seid Nuru Ali] [Brookings: Oil price projections help shape African economic diversification efforts]
The future of financial infrastructure: an ambitious look at how blockchain can reshape financial services (WEF, Deloitte)
Blockchain will fundamentally alter the way financial institutions do business around the world, according to a new World Economic Forum report, The future of financial infrastructure. However, the effects will be hidden, coming from new processes and architecture based on blockchain rather than radical fintech innovation or new currencies such as bitcoin. The report focused on nine individual uses of blockchain across six separate activities in financial services – insurance, payments, market provisioning, investment management, capital raising, and depositing and lending – to build a picture of how processes in each could be transformed by the technology. It also considers how other emerging technologies in the industry, such as biometrics, cloud computing, cognitive computing, machine learning, quantum computing and robotics, will combine with blockchain to drive further transformation.
Sub-Saharan Africa: tackling the headwinds after the economic turnaround (pdf, Commerzbank)
The new Commerzbank study offers a macroeconomic outlook for the region, explores targeted case studies for selected countries, and sets out a 'growth agenda' for the future of Africa's foreign trade, industry, agriculture, labour and finance markets. The new report marks Commerzbank's third edition of its Sub-Saharan Africa study, building on the success of 'Renaissance in Sub-Saharan Africa' released in 2014, and a first edition produced in 2012.
Holland’s rose growers face increasing competition from Africa and India (DutchNews)
Two thirds of the roses sold in Europe are grown in Kenya and Ethiopia, and India is becoming increasingly important as well, according to Dutch flower cooperative FloraHolland. Uganda, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania and South Africa are also developing rose growing industries, FloraHolland, which is monitoring worldwide developments in the rose industry, said. The amount of land devoted to growing roses in Europe has shrunk 27% over the past five years. [Ethiopia's horticulture export revenues soar by 10.7% in 2015-2016]
ONE launches 2016 Africa DATA Report: health financing, outcomes, and inequality
Mozambique aims to reconcile with new-look IMF team - but key hurdle remains (Zitamar)
Namibia, Zambia in joint HIV fight at border posts (Global Times)
Zimbabwe: SA retailers' woes (Financial Mail)
On Brexit and its impact on Africa: Edward George (head of research at Ecobank) in conversation with Hogan Lovells' Africa Practice
Jaindi Kisero: 'The politics behind lucrative Chinese infrastructure deals' (Daily Nation)
India-Africa entrepreneur incubation centre to open in September (The Chronicle)
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