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tralac’s Daily News Selection
The selection: Monday, 31 October 2016
South Africa’s September trade data will be released later today
Pointers: A two-day EAC Regional Integration Conference starts today in Arusha, as does Global Trade Development Week 7.0, in Dubai, on the theme ‘The global future of AEO, customs and trade’
From the 4th Meeting of the Tripartite Council of Ministers in Nairobi: "The Ministers considered progress made, and provided guidance on outstanding issues towards the operationalization of the Tripartite Free Trade Area"
Remarks by Dr Stergomena Lawrence Tax (SADC Executive Secretary, Chairperson of the Tripartite Task Force) to the Tripartite Council of Ministers:
Significant progress has also been made on outstanding issues on rules of origin, where Member/Partner States have agreed on most of the applicable definitions and rules, which were unresolved during your meeting in June 2015. With the understanding reached, the Annex on Rules of Origin will be submitted for legal scrubbing, and will provide an interim arrangement to determine origin and confer the necessary preferential treatment on goods originating from the Tripartite Member/Partner States as soon as the Agreement enters into force. It is nonetheless important to note that sectors such as Textiles and Clothing, which could boost manufacturing, expand industrial activity and job opportunities in the Tripartite, remain on the list of unfinished business. Efforts must therefore be made by the negotiators to expedite the remaining work, in order to ensure a comprehensive, fully functional and beneficial Tripartite trade regime.
Regarding tariff negotiations, although no offers have been finalized so far, it is encouraging to note that there is high level of commitment by Member/Partner States to complete negotiations on tariff offers. While acknowledging that progress has been inordinately slower than expected, with the renewed vigor, there is hope that the Tripartite Free Trade Area will soon be operational. At the stage now reached, dedicated efforts must be placed on the finalization of exchange of offers, signing and ratification of the TFTA Agreement, and in doing so operationalize the TFTA.
Why Magufuli’s visit to Kenya is crucial (Daily Nation)
Tanzania’s President John Magufuli’s state visit to Kenya (today) is a high stakes affair for both countries with Nairobi expected to roll out the red carpet as it seeks to reset relations with Dar es Salaam. Top on the agenda will be trade relations between the two neighbours. A series of high-profile incidents have strained ties between the countries since Dr Magufuli came to power last year.
EALA team impressed by harmonisation of laws in Rwanda (New Times)
Shortly before he left Kigali on Friday, Martin Ngoga, who led the team from EALA’s Committee on Legal, Rules and Privileges, told Sunday Times that the progress in Rwanda is partly explained by the prevailing political will to get things done. While Ngoga and his team were in Kigali, other members of the committee were in other Partner States conducting the same exercise and, he said, the task ahead now is for them to put notes together with their colleagues “for deliberations and then determine the way forward.” In a report adopted by EALA in March, the Committee cited challenges including lack of monitoring mechanisms to ensure Partner States comply with the adopted approximation proposals, frequent changes in the membership of the Task Force, and conflicting commitments by members. More than 600 laws need to be harmonised to facilitate the EAC realize its common market goals. [Lack of common policy delays use of clean fuel in East Africa]
Kenya Economic Update: Beyond resilience – increasing public investment efficiency
While Kenya is set for further medium-term growth, the report recommends (pdf) reforming the systemic weaknesses of the country’s Public Investment Management system, to see stronger growth. PIM is currently characterized by low execution and cost escalation of infrastructure projects. “There is also urgent need to streamline the process of land acquisition, compensation and resettlement which lead to significant delays and cost escalation in the design and execution of public infrastructure projects,” said Sheila Kamunyori, World Bank urban specialist one of the co-authors of the report. In addition to complex, long-term PIM reform recommendations, the report recommends several quick, high-priority actions that can help achieve higher levels of growth, such as:
EU tops Tanzania’s trading partner list (Daily News)
The EU has maintained its position as Tanzania’s largest trading partner, with $2bn over 4trn/-) trade volume last year, a new report has revealed. According to European Investment in Tanzania: how European investment contributes to industrialisation and development in Tanzania 2016 (pdf), European companies account for 68% of the total FDI in Tanzania. Launching the report in Dar es Salaam yesterday, EU Head of Delegation to Tanzania and EAC, Ambassador Roeland van de Geer, noted that EU companies were also the largest taxpayers, paying $1.1bn (over 2tri/-) in domestic tax in 2014, about 25% of the total taxes paid by large taxpayers in the country. "This goes to show that the over 1,000 European companies and individuals from large multinational corporations to small individual tourism ventures play a significant part in the development of the Tanzanian economy," he said.
Petro-governance in Tanzania: opportunities and challenges (CMI)
Recent significant natural gas discoveries have pushed Tanzania into the international spotlight as a new petroleum producer. How can the country ensure that its newfound wealth is translated into economic development? Much depend on the way in which the petroleum resources are governed by the country’s new petroleum legislative framework. In this brief, we review the most important provisions of the new legislative framework, and argue that gaps and conflicts within and across laws must be resolved to ensure that Tanzania’s petroleum riches become a blessing rather than a curse. [The analysts: Bryan Lee, Kendra Dupuy]
Indian Ocean Rim Association: Bali Communique
We, the Ministers of the Member States of IORA (Australia, Bangladesh, Comoros, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Seychelles, Singapore, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Yemen):
We note with appreciation the progress made in preparation for the IORA Commemorative Leaders’ Summit and its related meetings to be held in Jakarta – Indonesia on 7 March 2017. We encourage Members States, Dialogue Partners, and all stakeholders to collectively cooperate and collaborate to ensure the success of the event. We agree to hold the IORA Business Forum during the Commemorative Leaders’ Summit in 2017 aiming at enhancing partnership with the private sector to ensure sustainable growth and development of the region. We commit to deepen our cooperation with the Dialogue Partners and take note of the outcomes of the first post CSO dialogue for which the Dialogue Partners have been constructively engaged at senior officials’ level in identifying areas of cooperation as well as exploring joint project s, programmes, and capacity building activities of mutual interest. We are encouraged by the progress made in the Blue Economy as one of the priority area s of IORA and we look forward to the convening of the the second Blue Economy Dialogue in India in November 2016, the third Blue Economy Core Group workshop and the second Ministerial Blue Economy Conference (BEC–II) in Indonesia in 2017. [IORA declaration: Gender equality and women’s economic empowerment, Somalia’s Federal Minister signs the new IORA Charter]
IORA statement by South Africa: Minister Nkoana-Mashabane is looking forward very much to welcoming you all to South Africa in 2017 when she will take up the Chair. IORA should focus on important priority areas, and South Africa views the Ocean Economy as a Strategic Focus area for the foreseeable future. In this regard our preliminary priorities include the Blue Economy; promoting Innovation, Research and Development; and a deepened and broadened interaction with the Dialogue Partners and regional organisations. Women’s empowerment will be an important cross cutting theme that South Africa will continue to prioritise during our Chairship tenure. As Chair, we will also have an African perspective as we will seek to align the activities of IORA to the “2050 Africa’s Integrated Maritime Strategy” (the AIM Strategy) in areas such as maritime security, capacity building, skills development, and technology transfer in the ocean economy.
The inaugural SWIFT Business Forum West Africa: innovation, collaboration and regional transformation
This event (Eko Hotel, Lagos, 8 November) will look at the key trends facing the financial services community in West Africa and how innovation and collaboration can help promote economic growth. In 2015, SWIFT opened its West African office in West Africa with an aim to further improve our solution and services offering, support local communities and the development of regional initiatives. Despite challenging times, including the downturn of the commodities cycle that has significantly impacted many countries in the region, there are still plenty of exciting opportunities. The programme for this event will address a number of key topics for the region.
Profiled session – Regionalisation and trade corridor evolution in West Africa: The sustained growth of African economies is well reflected in SWIFT payments volumes. In the year to date, SWIFT traffic volumes have increased 13.4% in Africa, far higher than SWIFT global growth of 6.4%. What still needs to be done to fully realise the region’s integration aims? This session will look at the role of central banks in improving infrastructure in the banking sector and what can be done to strengthen West Africa’s financial markets and assist the development of intra-African trade corridors.
Related, from SWIFT: RMB usage rises in September, overtaking key metrics, SWIFT data show, SWIFT’s RMB Tracker reports
SA, China working on improving trade volumes (SAnews)
The Minister held a meeting with a high-level Chinese delegation from the National Development and Reform Commission of China at the Union Buildings on Friday afternoon. The objective of the meeting was to exchange views on issues of mutual concern relating to trade and industry agreements signed between South Africa and China during the 2015 Forum on China Africa Cooperation held in Johannesburg and the 2015 Chinese State Visit to South Africa. Minister Radebe said total imports from China in 2015 were valued at R199.4bn compared to the total value of South African exports into China of R94.4bn, resulting in a trade deficit of R105bn. South Africa’s agricultural exports amounted to R1.1bn while agricultural imports from China amounted to R1.7bn in 2015. Meanwhile, the trade balance for the mining sector remained positive. Both South Africa and China have committed to increasing direct investment in agriculture, fishery, energy and manufacturing, among others. [China issues first big data report on B&R Initiative]
Zimra to lose $1bn in revenue this year (Sunday Mail)
The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority is expected to lose $1bn in potential revenue this year as the number of companies applying for concessions to import capital goods duty free increases. Government has been agreeable to the facility as it bets on increased investment in the productive sectors of the economy. Worryingly, Zimra has not been able to meet its revenue targets. The tax authorities managed to meet and exceed their targets during the third quarter to September when revenues at $920m were 6%above the target. Zimra board chairperson Mrs Willia Bonyongwe believes that duty-free concessions, zero-rated goods and some regional treaties are a threat to a sustainable tax base. “What we are now having are small interest groups going to lobby the Ministry of Finance to say ‘for us to be able to do this and that, can you please give us these concessions’ and they are piling up. “And per quarter right now, they are costing us over $300m,” said Mrs Bonyongwe.
Mobilizing Sustainable Transport for Development: UN expert report makes 10 recommendations (UN)
Finding that global, national and local transport systems are hobbled by inefficiencies and a lack of sustainable investments, the report, Mobilizing Sustainable Transport for Development (pdf), provides 10 recommendations on how governments, businesses and civil society should re-direct resources in the transport sector to advance sustainable development. At present, the transport sector is responsible for some 23% of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions, and 3.5 million premature deaths result from outdoor air pollution annually, mostly in low and middle income countries. About 10-15% of food is lost during processing, transport and storage given a lack of modern facilities, trucks, access to refrigeration, and poor roads. The report is also meant to serve as a contribution to the first-ever Global Sustainable Transport Conference , which Mr Ban will convene in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, 26-27 November 2016. [Ban welcomes steps by UN maritime agency to limit carbon emissions from international shipping]
Kenya, South Africa agree to monitor mergers and acquisitions (Business Daily)
Kenya’s Competition Authority orders mobile cash firms to reveal fees (Business Daily)
Dennis Karera (Chairman of the EABC, MD of Kigali Heights, CEO of Park View Courts): Private sector ‘now an integral part of the regional governmental body’
Dubai Chamber opens first trade office in China (Gulf Today)
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