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tralac’s Daily News Selection
The selection: Monday, 5 September 2016
Today, in Kigali: the Global African Investment Summit. A preview; an interview with TGAIS programme director, Amanda Basi. Twitter updates: #TGAIS
Today, in Arusha: the EAC Council of Ministers meets in preparation for the EAC Summit, starting 8 Sept. A preview.
Betty Maina: ‘The EPA has been hammered out over 12 years; it safeguards all our interests’ (The EastAfrican)
I would like to respond to this critique. Firstly, the EPAs are not a unilateral decision by the European Union unlike its predecessor – the Lome Convention or the other much touted alternatives available – Everything But Arms (EBA) for Least Developed Countries and the generalised System of Preference (GSP) and GSP+. The EAC-EU EPA has been negotiated and agreed to by the EAC’s best trade negotiators over a period of 14 years! The negotiations were arduous and thorough. The EAC partner states, following a decision of the Heads of State Summit in 2007, have been negotiating the EPA as one bloc, in order to safeguard the Customs Union. As negotiations progressed, the technical teams paid close attentions to concerns raised by stakeholders including local industry and smallholder farmers. So, what has the EAC negotiated for itself? [Focus shifts to Magufuli in Kenya bid to secure trade deal with EU]
Anzetse Were: ‘Address emerging trends in EAC industries’ (Business Daily)
Last week I attended and made a presentation at a roundtable on manufacturing in Kenya hosted by the Overseas Development Institute. The roundtable was under ODI’s Supporting Economic Transformation Programme, which is supported by DFID. As part of the roundtable I developed a paper on manufacturing in Kenya and thought it would be useful to share some insights I unearthed during my research on manufacturing in East Africa:
Kenya: New local ownership rules hit Chinese contractors hardest (Business Daily)
Chinese contractors are the biggest casualty of new industry rules requiring foreign firms to cede at least 30% stake to local investors in all construction projects undertaken in Kenya. The National Construction Authority set 1 August 2016 as the commencement date for the ownership regulations that compel foreign contractors to form joint ventures with locals who must control at least a third of the value of the deal. The new rules apply to all new projects involving foreign firms, the agency said, warning that those who fail to comply risk being debarred and have their names expunged from the register of contractors. Chinese firms dominate the list of Kenya’s 60 top-tier foreign-owned contractors that are classified as Category 1. Other big foreign contractors in Kenya are largely from Japan, India, Dubai and a few from Europe.
African Ministerial Conference on Ocean Economies and Climate Change: communiqué
We, the Ministers and representatives of the participating countries: Call on...: African countries to promote sustainable resource use practices in a transparent manner and ratify the FAO Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate IUU Fishing; African countries to implement their NDCs, in particular the actions designed to foster the resilience of oceans and coastal areas; International organizations to help African countries refine their NDCs to include oceans and coastal areas among their priority targets: [View all presentations, documentation]
Graziano da Silva: ‘Bringing the blue world into the green economy’ (FAO)
The FAO Director-General underscored the disproportionate impacts on Small Island Developing States, saying: "For SIDS countries, this has become a fight for survival." For this reason, FAO has been urging governments to sign on to the international Port State Measures Agreement that recently entered in to force and will play a key role in combatting illegal fishing and improving fisheries management. Currently, however, only 13 out of 34 SIDS countries are party to the agreement, of which only nine countries are in Africa, Graziano da Silva stressed as he urged governments to consider taking immediate action to implement the treaty. “At next 'Our Ocean’ Conference (15-16 Sept, Washington DC), I would like to present publicly the list of countries that have ratified the PSMA,” he said.
Related: Kenya: Uhuru signs bill regulating fisheries industry, Anthony Kleven: China’s fishing fleet plundering African waters, African Ambassadors meet in preparation for COP22
From the Indian Ocean Conference (1 Sept, in Singapore): SL’s Premier, Ranil Wickremesinghe: ‘Global power transition and the Indian Ocean’, ’India committed to building IORA’: Jaishankar
ECOWAS PPDU to validate study on Dakar–Lagos Corridor (ECOWAS)
The ECOWAS Infrastructure Preparation and Development Unit will validate the Draft Final Report for the study on the Dakar-Lagos Corridor missing links through a validation workshop involving experts from ECOWAS Member States and other stakeholders, 6-7 Sept, in Monrovia. The specific objectives of the study are to establish a complete inventory of the corridor missing links inhibiting the motorability of the corridor with the aim of focusing resources on the rehabilitation of the road corridor which supports regional and inter-regional traffic flow and promotes trade within the sub-region. The study will also determine an appropriate engineering solution for the upgrading of the entire corridor. The study will also undertake an economic, social and environmental appraisal for the consideration of various investment options. [The Abidjan-Lagos Corridor: an interview with Mamady Souaré]
Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique: Port Techobanine Heavy Haul Rail Project update (The Chronicle)
Ministers representing the three governments have signed a Memorandum of Understanding committing themselves to the Port Techobanine Heavy Haul Rail Project. Dr Gumbo said each government is expected to contribute about $200 million to the project and due to its magnitude, the Government would engage the business sector in public private partnerships. “It is hoped and anticipated that the project will provide improved distribution of regional traffic among corridors in Southern Africa, increase regional integration and international cooperation and provide for fast implementation of a fundamental regional transportation network,” he said. Dr Gumbo said the deal would ensure easy access to ports in Mozambique which will decongest the South African ones. He said the country is facilitating the transportation of fuel from Mozambique to Botswana and if the project succeeds it will ensure cheaper passage of goods.
Ban haulage trucks: Zimra (The Chronicle)
The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority has urged the Government to consider banning long-haul road freight as it causes congestion at the country’s border posts and damages the road network. Zimra official Mr Robert Mangwiro, who was speaking on behalf of acting Commissioner-General Mr Happias Kuzvinzwa, said despite the implementation of the one-stop border system at border posts such as Chirundu, long queues of haulage trucks were still common. “Eliminating or reducing the number of haulage trucks on the road will help decongest our borders,” he said. “It will also be critical in boosting the role of the National Railways of Zimbabwe giving it significant business.” His sentiments were backed by the chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Transport, Dexter Nduna.
Zimbabwe: The battle to keep imports in check (Sunday Mail)
There has been demonstrable success in the import restrictions. In July, there were no recorded statistics for bottled water, aerated water, jams, ice cream, edible ice and fruit jellies imports. A month earlier, imports of the same items had gobbled more than US$75 000. Similarly, there is no record of human hair, fresh cheese and yoghurt imports in the same month. Experts say as local industry recovers, there is need to tighten import restrictions to ensure that only critical goods find their way onto the local market. To enhance its re-industrialisation programme, Government is also mobilising fresh low-cost funding through the Distressed Industries and Marginalised Areas Fund (Dimaf) and the Zimbabwe Economic Trade Revival Facility. Following the positive impact of the $40 million Dimaf facility which helped revive the fortunes of companies such as Cairns Holdings, there is strong belief in Government that a bigger and more accessible facility could help re-position a number of firms. Added Minister Bimha: “Without Dimaf we wouldn’t have survived this far. SI64 is still in its infancy as far as the support of local industry is concerned."
South Africa commences with new livestock import conditions (Bernama)
SA's Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has approved four facilities to receive cattle, sheep and goats intended for direct slaughter and feedlot purposes, Namibia Press Agency reported. SA implemented new livestock import regulations for Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland, as gazetted and announced by SA's minister of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries, Senzeni Zokwana on 27 May. "We expect that this development will bring relief to the farming community and exporters as the new permit reduces the need for compulsory pre-export Brucella testing and double tuberculosis testing," Acting Permanent Secretary in Namibia's Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry Sophy Kasheeta said.
Migration and development: a role for the World Bank Group
Ahead of the UNGA's Summit on 'Large movements of refugees and migrants' (19 Sept), and the Leaders’ Summit (20 Sept), the World Bank Group has released a paper Migration and Development: A Role for the World Bank Group (pdf). The objectives of the paper are (i) to describe three major drivers of international migration; (ii) to highlight the benefits and costs associated with global labor mobility in both sending and receiving countries; (iii) to sketch the global architecture for governance of migration; and (iv) to suggest areas in which the Bank could design context-specific solutions to migration problems.
Extract: In Sub-Saharan Africa, intraregional migration is larger (67%) than migration to other regions. The equivalent figure for Europe and Central Asia is 54%. Major destination countries within Africa are South Africa, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Kenya, and Ethiopia. Intraregional migration is also significant in the Middle East and North Africa (34%) and in East Asia and Pacific (23%).
Australia-Africa trade value hits $5.7bn (Financial Watch)
“[This] week, Perth is hosting the first Australia-Africa Week. The week is built around the nucleus of the Africa Down Under mining conference and brings together a range of events. These include the Australia-Africa Universities Network Forum, the Africa Oil, Energy and Gas Conference, and the Australia-Africa Technology and Infrastructure Conference.” Australian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Paul Lehmann, said at least 12 ministers of mining from Africa would participate in the event including Nigeria’s Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Kayode Fayemi. Lehmann said Australian companies had an estimated 23 billion dollars invested in extractive projects in Africa. He added that there were more than 200 Australian companies with about 700 projects in 35 countries in the African region.
South Africa’s trade with the Philippines up by 18% between 2015 and the year to June 2016. Now totalling $231m (@martinslabber)
ECOWAS to sensitize Nigerian media on international trade agreements, EPA
South Sudan submits documents today to officially join EAC (Daily News)
Rwanda satisfied with Dar port performance (Daily News)
‘Open sky’ policy to ease travel and boost EA tourism (Daily Nation)
Why did the EAC Secretariat shut the peace and security department? (New Times)
Africa scorecard on domestic financing for health (AU)
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