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tralac’s Daily News Selection
The selection: Wednesday, 21 September 2016
On Day 1 of UNGA’s annual general debate: Southern African leaders underline importance of regional efforts for sustainable development; Africa will share lessons through Global Goals centre, says Kagame (New Times); longform summary of statements
The US-Africa Business Forum meets today in Washington. Chatham House’s Alex Vines penned this analyis: Trade not aid: Obama’s Africa legacy
The USABF is meeting at an opportune moment for both African states and American businesses. Many African leaders, confronted by slower growth rates, are once again reappraising their international partnerships. Diversification is the preferred strategy for many, and the US is clearly part of the calculation for most (although South Africa is increasingly hostile to the US and seems to be pulling in the opposite direction). At the same time, the longstanding pattern of US corporate investment being limited to extractives – and some broader engagement in South Africa − is changing. Major players in corporate America, such as Blackstone, General Electric and Johnson and Johnson are developing long-term investment strategies across the continent, complementing Exxon’s and Chevron’s many decades of engagement. Other companies are testing the waters, assessing whether investing in Africa is profitable and possible given tightening US and European regulatory regimes. [Barack Obama’s final UN speech: full text]
More than Sh101 billion in Power Africa commitments finalised (Business Daily)
The latest deals were finalized around a US-Africa business forum on the sidelines of annual UN meetings in New York this week, USAID chief Gayle Smith said in an interview with Reuters. Smith said the deals covered funding for regional infrastructure facilities, risk insurance and renewable power projects in Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Tanzania. To date, Power Africa has mobilized more than $52bn in additional commitments, of which $40bn is from private companies, according to USAID, which coordinates the program. Power Africa is tracking more than 500 deals, and 40 transaction advisers working across Africa have identified 60,000 megawatts of potential deals, Smith said. [EAC Heads of State and CEOs roundtable: a push for direct US flights]
President’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa, 2016-2018: 16 new appointments
US Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker has announced the appointment of 23 private sector leaders to the second President’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa. PAC-DBIA members – representing small, medium, and large companies from a variety of industry sectors – advise the President, through the Secretary of Commerce, on ways to strengthen commercial engagement between the United States and Africa. [Mike Bloomberg: Africa could be the great economic success of this century, David Pilling: ‘Africa Rising: a long view may bear proponents out’]
Dangote named co-chair of US-Africa centre (Punch)
The US Chamber of Commerce, in a show of commitment to collaboration by the business communities in the US and across Africa, has named Aliko Dangote as the co-chair of its US-Africa Business Center. A statement by the chamber on Tuesday stated that Dangote would serve alongside President and Chief Executive Officer of General Electric Africa, Jay Ireland, as a leader for the US-Africa Business Center Board of Directors. “We are honoured to have Aliko Dangote on board to help guide the business communities’ efforts in pursuit of a new era of unprecedented growth between the US and Africa,” the President of the US-Africa Business Center, Scott Eisner, said.
Kenya: House okays EU trade pact ahead of deadline (Business Daily)
Parliament unanimously endorsed Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), sending yet another strong signal of Kenya’s resolve to conclude the decade-old negotiations with Europe. On Tuesday, Mr Mohamed hailed Parliament for ratifying the agreement saying that Kenya’s interests are were now safeguarded. He said Kenya could not risk its EU markets and face a Sh10 billion-a-year tax on exports.
AU’s Transport sector development programme: 2nd validation workshop begins today.
Delegates from West Africa participate in week-long EAC visit: explore strategic partnership on trade facilitation and regional integration (TMEA)
Trade, Customs and Infrastructure departments and the Borderless Alliance participated in a 5-day study tour in East Africa, from 12-16 September. Organized by the Accelerating Trade in West Africa project in collaboration with the TradeMark East Africa and the support of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Denmark and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the aims of the tour were to showcase TradeMark East Africa supported East African initiatives in the field of Trade, Transport and Trade Facilitation that could inform a set of initial projects in the ECOWAS/UEMOA region that would be undertaken in partnership with regional commissions, national agencies, the private sector and civil society organisations.
Pursuant to the study tour, West African delegates expressed their appreciation of the projects and interventions of TradeMark East Africa in the region indicating their wish for similar support and structures to facilitate trade in West Africa specifically expressing the following desires: (i) that the proposed interventions be aligned with the development objectives of the regional communities, ECOWAS and UEMOA as is the case in the EAC; (ii) that pending the conclusion on the establishment of a formal structure in West Africa, the commencement of some interventions be initiated. Calling on the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Denmark and the Kingdom of the Netherlands as existing development partners supporting the ATWA Initiative as well as the TradeMark East Africa, the West African delegates expressed an urgent desire for the commencement of the following interventions:
Accelerating Trade in West Africa: summary of Stage 1 report (pdf, ATWA)
Collaboration with the proposed regional transport & facilitation observatory: A project with which ATWA could collaborate with (and potentially support) in Stage 2 and Stage 3 at an early stage would the proposed Regional Transport and Facilitation Observatory which has been agreed by ECOWAS and UEMOA but which has not yet been established. In East Africa, TMEA has established a strategic collaboration wit observatory of the Northern Corridor Transit Transport Coordination Authority (NCTTCA) in Mombasa, Kenya. The West Africa region is in great need for timely and reliable information on trade flows, transport infrastructure, corridor performance and trends. The information presented in this Stage 1 main report may give the impression that there is extensive data on the performance and features of key corridors. However, it took the ATWA project team however several months to gather and compare this information from various sources, and some of it is several years old. Most corridor data has been collected by one-off studies by different organizations for different purposes, at different times, making the data difficult to compare, and often difficult to interpret, confusing and contradictory. [Note: More ATWA reports will be uploaded in the near future]
A profile of major West African corridors (pdf): The Dakar to Niamey corridor mainly serves international traffic between Dakar and Mali. The two other countries, namely Burkina Faso and Niamey, are mainly served by the ports located on the Abidjan-Lagos corridor. Due to the long distance, it is unlikely in the foreseeable future that sizeable volumes of traffic will be conveyed on this corridor between Mali and Niger. The Abidjan-Lagos corridor does not serve any land-locked country. Ports along the corridor mainly serve their domestic market together with bordering land-locked countries. As such traffic within the corridor is currently quite limited. This corridor will however grow as regional trade improves between the countries within the corridor. Finally, the Douala-N’Djamena/Bangui corridor is currently the only corridor enabling Chad and Central African Republic to have access to the sea. Corridor volumes are low compared to other corridors due to the limited market the corridor serves. This corridor however remains essential for both Chad and Central African Republic.
Apparent strengths and weaknesses of existing corridor management groups: Abidjan-Lagos Corridor (pdf). ALCO started off as a single issue corridor entity, with a high level of recognition. At the same time, it has a significant local level reach through NGOs. More recently, initiatives have started to broaden the range of issues tackled by ALCO, to include trade facilitation measures. These developments serve to underscore the importance of having a broad perspective on cross border issues as they relate to transit movements. The ALCO experience also brings to the fore the important contribution that donor funding can make to the initial establishment of multi-state corridor initiatives. It is not always the case that all countries would be willing to fund corridor based initiatives right from the beginning, before some of the benefits have been demonstrated. [Note: Extracted from Annexure A]
Nigeria: Customs enlightens Chinese community on import, export laws (Nigeria Maritime News)
The Nigeria Customs Service recently held a sensitization and enlightenment seminar to help the Chinese community in Lagos understand clearly, Nigeria’s import/export trade laws and guidelines. This came on the request by the Consul General of the Peoples Republic of China, Lagos Consulate, Mr Chao Xiaoliang.
Transport and transit facilitation programme: Eastern and Southern Africa Region (SADC)
The purpose of this technical assistance contract is to develop and implement harmonised road transport policies, laws, regulations and standards for efficient cross border road transport and transit networks, transport and logistics services, systems and procedures in the Eastern and Southern Africa region. This includes the following key results areas: (i) implementation in the beneficiary countries of the Vehicle Overload Control Management Strategy; (ii) implementation in the beneficiary countries of the harmonized Vehicle regulations and standards; (iii) preconditions for an operation common transport registration and management system implemented; (iv) efficiency of regional transport corridors enhanced.
SADC staff not accountable enough – consultants (Sunday Standard)
A report by Ernst and Young consultants has found that the SADC secretariat in Gaborone has not been able to fully play its role as a ‘think tank.’ According to the core functions of the Secretariat as listed in the “SADC capacity Development Framework 2008”, one of its roles is to act as a ‘think tank’ with the capacity to strategically advise and guide Member States on the implementation of the SADC common agenda. Minutes of the recent meeting of the Council of Ministers that was held in Swaziland show that consultants at Ernst and Young who were engaged by the secretariat found that the secretariat does not account to Member States of the regional bloc. The minutes also state that Secretariat does not operate as a coordinated organisation, but instead as fragmented system of separate Directorates and Units mapped on the pillars of Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan.
South Africa: Border agency wrinkles nearly all ironed out, says Home Affairs (Business Day)
Home Affairs director-general Mkuseli Apleni told Parliament’s home affairs committee on Tuesday that the department was close to ironing out its differences with other departments over the contentious Border Management Authority Bill. "SARS and Home Affairs are still engaging on the bill. We have found points of agreement. There will be a split of the customs law enforcement for Home Affairs and the revenue collection will remain with SARS. This is still under discussion with SARS," Apleni said. He pointed out that the bill was subjected to a Nedlac consultation process, where many of the areas of concern that departments had recently brought before the committee were not even raised as points of disagreement.
Forever Young? Social policies for a changing population in Southern Africa (World Bank)
The study illustrates how social policies designed to fit with evolving demographic structures are likely to lead to wealthier and more productive future generations, fostering growth and equity. But the reverse also holds: ill-tailored social policies can hold back countries’ development and heighten intergenerational tensions. Chapter 2 presents evidence on demographic trends in Southern Africa. Chapter 3 explains the report’s conceptual framework and how demography can be an opportunity or a curse, depending on the policy environment. Chapter 4 studies the five countries’ labor markets and documents challenges that a growing active labor force is likely to generate. Chapter 5looks at the likely impacts of changing demographics on social sectors.
Malabo Declaration biennial reporting process (AU)
This meeting (21-24 Sept) will bring together CAADP focal points and M&E experts from ministries of agriculture from member states and RECs, AUC, NPCA and technical partners to: (i) inform on the modalities and process for the validation of the report at national, regional and continental level; (ii) discuss and agree on the RECs engagement in coordinating Member States during the Biennial Reporting exercise; (iii) discuss and agree on the mode of engagement and ToRs on support from the technical working groups; (iv) discuss and agree on the roadmap and structure of the regional training workshops to prepare countries for the reporting exercise.
Andrew Norton: ‘Automation will end the dream of rapid economic growth for poorer countries’
SA rand firming good for Zimbabwe
Kenya and Somalia plan free visa pact
Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan sign final contracts on Nile dam
UNCTAD’s High-level conversation: empowering SMEs through e-trade and investment facilitation
Macroprudential policies to reduce risk of crises: IMF-FSB-BIS paper for G20 examines country experiences, lessons
Nancy Alexander, Aldo Caliari: ‘Some highlights of the 2016 China-led G20 Summit’ (pdf, HBS)
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