News
tralac’s Daily News Selection
The selection: Monday, 21 November 2016
Profiled African trade and development events starting today:
In Addis: the 4th CFTA Negotiating Forum
In New York: Africa Industrialization Day, on the theme Financing industrialization in Africa - challenges and winning strategies. [UN SG’s Message for 2016]
In Johannesburg: Public-Private engagement on soft border issues and the SADC Industrialisation Costed Action Plan (21-22 November, Southern Africa Business Forum)
In Nairobi: EALA sitting, until 1 December. The two key Bills on the agenda are the EAC Gender Equality and Development Bill and the EAC Polythene Materials Control Bill.
In Abuja: Annual meeting of the Heads of ECOWAS National Offices
In Abidjan: PIDA WEEK 2016 on the theme Creating jobs through Regional Infrastructure Development. The PIDA 2016 Report will be released and distributed during PIDA Week.
In Port-Louis: Afreximbank’s 2016 Annual Structured Trade Finance Seminar
Other event previews: On Thursday, in Nairobi: the 8th African Private Sector Forum; Next week, in Johannesburg: the AfDB’s dialogue with Southern Africa CSOs
Featured trade policy commentary, by Stephen Lande, Dennis Matanda: How Africa should optimally benefit from a Trump Administration
Seminally, in line with a push towards developmental integration under Agenda 2063 priorities such as industrialization, Africa’s blueprint proposal to the United States ought to be underwritten by (i) the continent’s capacity and viability at reducing America’s over-reliance on Far East light manufacturing inputs and outputs, and (ii) launching a continental free trade area (CFTA); essentially attain economies of scale necessary for American firms to invest in operating supply chains and distribution networks on African soil. An even rosier scenario should materialize if Africa can demonstrate that these duo-goals are attainable by 2020; that through the CFTA, intra-Africa trade will double between 2012 and 2022, and that agricultural trade will triple by 2025. he following ideas to include in a trade policy blueprint should only serve to strengthen the continent’s leverage with the Trump White House and Republican-led U.S. Congress: [Note: this paper was presented at last week’s tralac discussion on CFTA issues]
Abdalla Hamdok: Data Portal will unleash Africa’s democratising power (Daily Maverick)
Last, we must improve access to data, and here the Mo Ibrahim Foundation’s IIAG Data Portal provides a model to follow. Launched on African Statistics Day (18 November), the portal will serve as the digital home to the IIAG’s extensive governance data. For the first time, the portal enables analysis of its 95 indicators across Africa’s 54 countries. It allows analysis, comparison and interaction with rank, score and also trends at country, regional and continent level. We need African governments to support this drive to develop high-quality, accessible and independent statistics on their countries. At an international level, we hope to see increased funding to support this work. Ultimately, all will benefit, as we will be able to paint a far more accurate picture of Africa.
Stockholm Statement: Towards a consensus on the principles of policymaking for the contemporary world (pdf, SIDA)
Thirteen economists, which included four former Chief Economists of the World Bank, met over two days in Stockholm to discuss the challenges faced by today’s economic policymakers. The group consisted of Professor Sabina Alkire (Oxford), Professor Pranab Bardhan (Berkeley), Professor and former Chief Economist of the World Bank Kaushik Basu (New York), Professor Haroon Bhorat (Cape Town), Professor and former Chief Economist of the World Bank Francois Bourguignon (Paris), Professor Ashwini Deshpande (Delhi), Professor Ravi Kanbur (Ithaca), Professor and former Chief Economist of the World Bank Justin Yifu Lin (Beijing), Professor Kalle Moene (Oslo), Professor Jean-Philippe Platteau (Namur), Professor Jaime Saavedra (Lima), Nobel Laureate Professor and former Chief Economist of the World Bank Joseph Stiglitz (New York), and Professor Finn Tarp (Helsinki and Copenhagen).
IGAD to adopt a treaty, organizational structure (IGAD)
During a three-day technical meeting last week in Djibouti, the IGAD Secretariat successfully submitted a draft treaty, a draft organizational structure, and a draft budget 2017 to its Member States Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Ministries of Finance for review in view of forwarding them to the next IGAD Council of Ministers for endorsement. The Executive Secretary of IGAD, Ambassador Mahboub Maalim, highlighted that the IGAD Treaty and the IGAD Organization Structure have been in the making during the last eight years.
Magufuli sacks TRA board of directors in major shake-up (IPPMedia)
In a somewhat unexpected move, President John Magufuli yesterday fired the chairman of the Tanzania Revenue Authority’s (TRA) board of directors, Bernard Mchomvu, and the entire board, while also appointing a new deputy commissioner general for the government’s tax body. No reasons were given for the changes, although they come amid growing calls for more reforms in the government’s taxation system from members of the private sector in Tanzania and both Bretton Woods Institutions - the World Bank and IMF. The president’s office said in a terse statement that Magufuli had “annulled the appointment of the TRA board chairman … and dissolved the board." A new board chairman and members will be appointed at a later date, it added.
Rwandan govt invests in more cross-border markets to enhance regional trade (New Times)
Construction of cross-border markets along key borders linking Rwanda with its neighbours will be accomplished in the next five years and, once completed, will enhance regional trade, Francois Kanimba, Rwanda’s Minister for Trade, Industry and East African Community Affairs, says. According to the ministry, records currently indicate that the five border posts through which the highest percentage of goods in transit are: Gatuna (30.6% of the tota; flow of goods), Rusumo (16.6), Kagitumba (15.2%), Kigali International Airport (15%) and Cyanika (3.7%).
Tanzanian sues to stop Kenya from concluding trade deal with Europe (Daily Nation)
Kenya’s quest to close an EPA with the EU ahead of next year’s deadline has run into fresh head winds after a Tanzanian lodged a civil suit in the East African Court of Justice, seeking to stop it. Castro Pius Shirima, a law lecturer at Iringa University, wants the regional court to stop the remaining signatories of the pact from penning the agreement that Kenya needs to protect a third of its export market. Kenya and Rwanda signed the contentious deal in September. Mr Shirima argues in the case, which comes up for hearing this week, that the remaining members of the EAC – Tanzania, Burundi, Uganda and South Sudan – should be prevented from signing the EPA because of the many risks it poses to the region’s economy. He further argues that “signing such an agreement by the second and third respondents (Kenya and Rwanda) has violated the letter and spirit of the EAC Treaty.”
EAC mooting plan for uniform laws on cross-border insolvency (New Times)
The EAC bloc is mooting a plan to harmonise laws that will regulate cross border insolvency. Speaking to journalists during the launch of the insolvency week in Kampala, Bemanya Twebaze, the registrar general Uganda Registration Services Bureau, said the move is timely as countries shift towards borderless trade.
US government, EAC sign $194m partnership agreement to strengthen regional development (EAC)
Under the agreement, the EAC and the United States will work together to (i) advance regional economic integration, (ii) increase trade and investment between member states and with the United States, (iii) improve the sustainable management of natural resources in the Lake Victoria Basin and Mara River ecosystems, (iv) improve access to integrated health services in border areas and (iv) strengthen the EAC’s organizational leadership. About $30m will fund institutional strengthening within the EAC Secretariat, while the remainder will support other development partners in their efforts to contribute to the EAC regional integration agenda.
USAID strategy session for SADC Ambassadors (Atlantic Council)
Following a welcome by Africa Center Deputy Director Bronwyn Bruton, FEWSNET analysts presented a briefing on the severity of food insecurity and market constraints in Southern Africa. Subsequent discussion focused on the FEWSNET team’s analysis and highlighted the importance of anticipating environmental shocks ahead of time. Particular mention was made of SADC’s strong leadership role in managing the crisis and participants noted the importance of timely “state of disaster” declarations to trigger humanitarian responses from partner countries. The discussion also addressed avenues for improved knowledge sharing between SADC member states and US government data experts.
SADC, Germany identify areas of focus in their co-operation (SADC)
Among other things, the two parties agreed to focus on trade and industrialisation, transboundary water management, transboundary use and protection of natural resources, resilience to climate change, and national and regional linkages in their cooperation. Other areas discussed included peace, security and good governance. These consultations were conducted in preparation for the next Bilateral Negotiations between the SADC Secretariat and the Government of the Federal Republic of German due to take place in mid-2017.
Cross-border co-operation and policy networks in West Africa (SWAC Secretariat)
The report then analyses a range of regional indicators of co-operation potential, visually demonstrating that borders can also affect the ability of sub-regions within West Africa to develop cross-border initiatives in a number of ways. Combining these two analyses with the perceptions of regional policy makers as to which sub-regions they consider as priorities for cross-border co-operation, the publication concludes with the identification of areas that are most pertinent for regional integration. The report thus provides the analytical foundations for local and regional actors to develop more effective, tailored initiatives that can enhance cross-border co-operation in West Africa. [West Africa Gateway: latest NewsBrief]
Mauritius-Turkey: First meeting of the Joint Committee under the Free Trade Agreement (GoM)
The objective of the first meeting (held last week) was to assess trade trends following the implementation of the agreement, address trade barriers encountered by Mauritian operators on the Turkish market, consider the possibility to enhance market access to include products not covered by the FTA as well as consider the cooperation between the two sides within the ambit of the FTA. Turkey provides duty free access on all industrial exports from Mauritius. On agricultural products, Turkey is providing preferential access on 46 products including fresh and chilled fish, cut flowers, pineapples, guavas, pasta, biscuits, flavoured water, pickles, Beer and rum among others.
International commitment to tackle illegal wildlife trade: over $1.3bn since 2010 (World Bank)
The Global Wildlife Program has released the first-ever review of international donor funding for combatting illegal wildlife trade in Africa and Asia, which shows that over $1.3bn was committed by 24 international donors since 2010, or approximately $190m per year. Key findings of the report include: (i) 63% of the funds went toward efforts in Africa ($833m), 29% to Asia ($381m), 6% to global programs and initiatives ($81m), and 2% to projects covering both Africa and Asia ($35 million); (ii) The top five recipient countries were Tanzania (8%), DRC (5%), Mozambique (5%), Gabon (3%), Bangladesh (3%).
tralac’s Daily News archive
Catch up on tralac’s daily news selections by following this link ».
SUBSCRIBE
To receive the link to tralac’s Daily News Selection via email, click here to subscribe.
This post has been sourced on behalf of tralac and disseminated to enhance trade policy knowledge and debate. It is distributed to over 350 recipients across Africa and internationally, serving in the AU, RECS, national government trade departments and research and development agencies. Your feedback is appreciated. Any suggestions that our recipients might have of items for inclusion are most welcome.
