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tralac’s Daily News Selection
The selection: Monday, 17 October 2016
Starting tomorrow, in Accra: the 2016 ReSAKSS Annual Conference
SADC Regional Poverty Observatory: EOIs for impact evaluation
Extraordinary Summit of the Assembly of the AU on Maritime Security, Safety and Development: statement by AUC Chairperson
BRICS Summit updates:
The Goa Declaration: We commend our Customs administrations on the establishment of the Customs Cooperation Committee of BRICS,and on exploring means of further enhancing collaboration in the future, including those aimed at creating legal basis for customs cooperation and facilitating procedures of customs control. We note the signing of the Regulations on Customs Cooperation Committee of the BRICS in line with the undertaking in the Strategy for BRICS Economic Partnership to strengthen interaction among Customs Administrations. We reaffirm our commitment towards a globally fair and modern tax system and welcome the progress made on effective and widespread implementation of the internationally agreed standards. We support the implementation of the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Project with due regard to the national realities of the countries. We encourage countries and International Organisations to assist developing economies in building their tax capacity.
Sustainable investment opportunities in Africa: prospects for BRICS (Export-Import Bank of India): This study envisages identifying areas of sustainable, responsible and impact investments in this remarkably huge African continent. The study also appreciates the existence of a dual need in Africa. On the one hand, investments are required in an area which are its strengths, namely in minerals and agriculture, but there is a need is to establish forward and backward linkages so that there is value addition, and the local community benefits. This study briefly highlights the existing investments in Africa by the BRICS economies in areas like mining, agriculture and agro processing, solar and healthcare. The Study surmises that sustainable and sustained investment in these sectors over a medium to long term horizon would not only induce better infrastructure, but also generate jobs for the young Africa. BRICS economies would also significantly benefit out of such investments. [Related: BRICS Development Bank: to lend $2.5bn next year, expand staff to 300 over next three years, PM Modi doubles intra-BRICS trade target to $500bn by 2020, BRICS Business Council finalises report: 14 major recommendations, BRICS business leaders seek ‘angel investor network’]
COMESA Summit updates:
Secretary General’s statement at 36th Meeting of the Council of Ministers: Your Secretariat has done a study which has established that although intra COMESA trade is low, there is a potential of intra trade worth $82.3bn based on 2014 statistics. The paradox is that these products are produced and exported to the rest of the world and at the same time imported from the rest of the world into the region. The products include, textiles, wooden furniture, horticulture, house hold items, confectioneries, hides and skins, foot wear and leather products, sugar confectioneries, tobacco and precious metals. The study has shown the member States with the highest potential in producing and exporting the products whose total value is approximately ten times that of existing trade. The same study has identified transport and logistics challenges that have to be addressed to make the region competitive. Of fundamental importance to the COMESA agenda of “inclusive and sustainable industrialization” is the absence within the region of cross border production networks which would result in intra industry trade between and among firms. In Europe intra – industry trade approximately accounts for 45% of trade, whilst in Asia is it slightly above 34%. We all have heard of “factory Asia”. These production networks do not happen automatically but are a result of clear micro, macro and institutional policies. It is against this background that I would urge member States to expeditiously review the current rules of origin and conclude negotiations and implement the COMESA Common Investment Area Agreement.
COMESA Free Trade Area: annual assessment of benefits, challenges to be published: COMESA Secretariat will publish annual assessments of the benefits and challenges of COMESA Free Trade Area for consideration by the Member States. The assessment will cover trade in goods and services, logistics and trade facilitation, as well as industrialization and infrastructure development which contribute to boosting intra-regional trade. This was one of the decisions made by the 36th COMESA Council of Ministers meeting in Antananarivo 14-15 October 2016. The Council asked Member States that are not in the FTA to take definitive steps to join it to create an integrated internal market. Currently, 15 out of the 19 member States are participating in the FTA. They include Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. [Medium Term Strategic Plan for 2016–2020 approved]
EAC Common Market Update: tracking Kenya’s compliance to the EAC Common Market Protocol (pdf, EA Trade & Investment Hub)
Kenyans pay higher for South African goods on stronger Rand (Business Daily)
The South African rand’s 14.5% exchange rate gain to the dollar this year compared to a one per cent gain for the Kenya shilling is exposing local importers of SA goods to higher costs. At the same time, the rand has appreciated by 16.8% in exchange rate to the shilling year-to-date, with one rand now the equivalent of Sh7.10 compared to Sh6.08 in January. The stronger rand means that Kenyan importers have to fork out more in dollars to purchase goods from Africa’s most industrialised state with Kenya counting South Africa as its largest source of imports on the continent. On a positive note, however, the other large source of Kenyan imports in Africa - Egypt - has seen its currency weaken to the dollar by 12% this year, meaning that Kenyans are paying less for Egyptian goods.
Botswana: Govt seeks to break impasse with SA retailers (Mmegi)
The Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry says it is working to resolve the impasse with South African retailers over trade licences for business lines reserved for citizens. Speaking at a Stanbic Bank stakeholder engagement on Botswana consumer sector, Chief commercial officer for the citizen economic empowerment, Banusi Mbaakanyi, said government is still negotiating with some foreign-owned retailers who continue to refuse to accept locally produced goods in their shops. “The ministry is currently data-basing all firms ready to supply the retail markets to see if there are local companies that are capable of supplying the malls,” she said.
Spain: Partnership agreement between EU and SADC rejected (FreshPlaza)
The Joint Parliamentary Group has presented a non-legislative motion at the Parliament, urging the Government not to ratify the Economic Partnership Agreement between the EU and the Southern African Development Community, as it would harm the Spanish citrus sector. Consequently, the Joint Group fears a reduction to the prices received by Valencian producers and that the economic vulnerability of agriculture in this region will increase. In this context, they ask to ensure that all imports from South Africa arriving in Europe "meet the same requirements" as Valencian citrus when the latter is to be exported.
Row over US pork sold in SA gets sticky (Fin24)
The SA Pork Producers’ Organisation and the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries are at odds over the processes involved to allow US pork shoulder cuts into the country. At the centre of this clash is an agreement signed in January as a side letter to the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which gives South Africa duty-free benefits to trade with the United States. Sappo CEO Simon Streicher alleged the side letter allows the US to bypass the Veterinary Procedural Notice route for pork shoulder cuts. However, the DAFF dismissed Sappo’s interpretation of the side letter relating to VPN. "This side letter does not allow the bypassing of the VPN route as alleged by Sappo," Bomikazi Molapo, spokesperson for Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, told Fin24.
SA-led consortium plans to invest Sh193bn in Lapsset (Business Daily)
A consortium of international investors led by the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA) is ready to invest Sh193 billion ($1.9bn) in the Lamu Port South Sudan Ethiopia transport corridor (Lapsset) project, State House has said. In what could lift the fortunes of the mega infrastructure project whose progress has been slowed down by insufficient funding, the investors are interested in putting up three berths at the Lamu Port and financing the construction of the 537-kilometre Lamu-Garissa-Isiolo road.
New EU-UNCTAD agreement to help Central Africa cut its trade costs
UNCTAD is set to support Central African countries cut the costs of their cross-border trade, after signing a three-year €380,000 ($420,000) deal with the European Union in Brussels on Friday. The project will run for three years, starting in January 2017. The funding was announced after a session of three EU-Africa Caribbean Pacific Joint Parliamentary Assembly committees, and signed by Mr. Reiter and Denis Redonnet, head of the strategy division in the Directorate General for Trade in the European Commission.
Implementing the Trade Facilitation Agreement: from vision to reality (pdf, WTO)
The paper chronicles the path from the conclusion of the talks at the 2013 Bali Ministerial Conference to the present day as we prepare for the Agreement to take effect. It reviews the state of the ratification process, analyses implementation schedules and outlines work still to be done. The study shows that the emerging application of the TFA, like its negotiation, has once again confounded the sceptics – who first doubted that a TF Agreement would see the light of day and then questioned if it would ever be put into practice. While plenty remains to be done to implement the TFA across the full WTO membership, its entry into force is set to happen – a valedictory moment. [The analyst: Nora Neufeld]
Tanzania: Smuggling in border areas reported to be on the rise (The Citizen)
The government says it is deeply concerned by the rising cases of smuggling of contraband goods across the Tanzania-Kenya border where about 360 illegal (panya) routes have been identified. The deputy minister for Home Affairs, Mr Hamad Masauni, said during a recent visit here that the crime posed a threat to the country’s economy and security, adding that most of the goods being transacted are not taxed. The Rombo District Commissioner, Ms Agnes Hokororo, told the deputy minister that out of the 65 markings on the 100 kilometre long border between the district and Kenya had been dismantled, making it difficult for the authorities to know the exact borderline. She cited the border marks near the Rongai forest on the northern slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro, saying at least 20 concrete slabs marking the border will have to be fixed, to replace the ones that had been pulled down.
Zimbabwe: Zimra incapacitated to stop smuggling — industry (NewsDay)
Industry has raised concern over the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority’s capacity to stamp out smuggling at ports of entry, amid claims its officials were incapacitated to deal with of duty and rules of origin issues. This came out at a Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries roundtable briefing on business and economic matters in Bulawayo on Wednesday. First to raise the issue was the Zimbabwe Textile Manufacturers’ Association vice-president, Freedom Dube, who said smugglers were declaring blankets as woven fabric to avoid paying duty, something Zimra officials were failing to detect. Dube said they had tried several times to engage Zimra over the issue, but with no luck. Zimra was also grilled for failing to administer the rules of origin, which are laws, regulations and administrative rulings applied by the government to determine the origin or source of imported goods. This, industry said, has resulted in the abuse of SADC and COMESA trading certificates by countries outside the region.
South Africa: Annual State of Cross-Border Operations Report 2 (pdf, CBRTA)
The Cross-Border Operations Report serves to inform the Cross-Border Road Transport Agency political principal (Minister of Transport), the Department of Transport (DOT) and other key national (public and private) stakeholders of challenges and developments that impact on the cross-border road transport industry. This report also provides a package of solutions that can be implemented to overcome cross-border constraints. It is anticipated that by providing this information key stakeholders will be able to consider some of the solutions that can be deployed towards enhancing efficiency and productivity of the cross-border road transport industry, thus enabling the industry to play a strategic role in economic growth and development. [CBRTA Resource Centre]
South Africa: Status and collaboration at harbours and participation in protecting the ocean economy (PMG)
The Committee was given insight into the relationship between the Border Management Authority and Operation Phakisa. The Border Management Authority might not be in existence as yet but a relationship was established. The mandate of Operation Phakisa was on ocean governance to unleash the socio-economic potential of the oceans whilst the mandate of the Border Management Authority was on border law enforcement. The modus operandi of Operation Phakisa was to have a coordinated approach whereas the Border Management Authority followed an integrated approach. The Border Management Authority was a national public entity which would take over the functions that some of the departments had. Operation Phakisa was not an organ of state but rather an integrated and coordinated governance initiative. [South Africa’s Border Management Amendment Bill: minutes, evidence from recent parliamentary hearings: 20 September, 14 September, 13 September]
New Partnership for Africa’s Development: UNGA debate summary, documentation
Pledging to support an Africa that was stable, prosperous and at peace with itself, speakers warned the General Assembly that poor infrastructure and trade barriers still hampered the continent’s development, while challenges such as “brain drain” and terrorism threatened to reverse significant gains made since the turn of the millennium. Indeed, a decade and a half into the African Union’s “New Partnership on Africa’s Development”, many delegates said more robust international cooperation was needed to help the continent achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and overcome the lingering effects of centuries of colonial exploitation. Peter Thomson, President of the General Assembly, opening the meeting, said that while Africa’s growth remained strong, unfavourable global conditions, such as volatile commodity prices, limited economic diversification and high levels of debt, risked undermining hard-fought development gains. [Note: Available for download (i) NEPAD - the 14th consolidated progress report on implementation and international support; (ii) Biennial report of the review of the implementation of the commitments made toward Africa’s development; (iii) Causes of conflict and the promotion of durable peace and sustainable development in Africa]
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