News
tralac’s Daily News Selection
The selection: Thursday, 24 November 2016
Profiled trade and development event listings:
Today, in Kigali: The second National Exporters Conference on the theme Enhanced public private dialogue key for increasing exports
Today/tomorrow, in Johannesburg: Meeting of Senior Officials on the SADC Industrialization Strategy Draft Costed Action Plan
Tomorrow, in Lusaka: COMESA Business Council’s 10th Annual General Meeting
The First Ordinary Session of the AU STC on Transport, Inter-continental and Inter-regional infrastructures, energy, tourism: The STC sessions (28 Nov - 2 Dec, Addis Ababa) will focus on the following theme: Financing infrastructure in Africa. The overall objective of the STC meeting is to assess progress and to achieve concrete advances in the financing of major infrastructure, notably those in the Priority Action Plan of the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA/PAP), through decisions and consensus on investing in the preparation, structuring, implementation and risks mitigation of climate resilient infrastructure projects. Profiled STC papers: Maritime transport: increasing African ports capacity and efficiency for economic growth (pdf), Report of the Second Ministerial Working Group: establishment of a Single African Air Transport Market (pdf), Enhancing Africa’s tourism competitiveness (pdf)
5th Forum of the African Union Commission on International Law: the role of Africa in developing international law (5-6 December 2016, Accra): Although treaties and customs are the traditional methods of creating international law, they are certainly not the only form of international law making as outlined above. Evidenced by the vast number of publications by African legal scholars spanning new themes and expanding on the traditional contributions, it will be important for the Forum to analyse how new teaching, research and practice of international law portends in Africa. The African Regional Courts ushered a new generation of international tribunals. Against the above, there are wide ranges of topics to be considered under the current theme by the Forum, sub-themes have been proposed to guide and to ensure rich extensive coverage of this topic in the discussions. Profiled themes: (i) The role of African regional institutions in particular the RECs and regional courts are playing in developing international law (ii) The contribution of Africa to the development of international trade and investment.
Court to rule on whether the EAC EPA should be signed: what lessons for REC integration efforts? (tralac)
Gerhard Erasmus, tralac Associate, comments on the lodgement of a civil suit by a Tanzanian national in the EAC Court of Justice opposing the signing of the EAC Economic Partnership Agreement: "Will the Court entertain his application? One can only speculate about how the Court will respond, whether it will indeed grant the necessary standing to the Applicant, and find that the issue is ripe for adjudication. Several technical issues arise. Can it be said that there has been a violation of a treaty obligation if the negotiations are not yet completed? The case commences barely one month before the region’s leadership meets again in Arusha at the start of next year to decide the fate of the EPA. It is obvious that the EAC Members are divided as to whether to conclude the EAC EPA at all. Signature does not lead to a binding agreement. The EPAs need ratification by all Parties in order to enter into force. Sensitive “separation of powers” concerns are also at stake."
EALA: National laws in need of speedy approximation to Regional Legislation
Regional legislators now want Partner States to speedily undertake harmonization and approximation of laws in line with those of the Community saying that delays affect the speed with which the Community is moving. EALA thus says, additional resources should be provided to support the harmonization of laws and to aid implementation of Council of Ministers, decisions that have arisen over the last financial years, but are yet to be undertaken. The recommendations are contained in a report of the Committee on Rules and Privileges of the Oversight activity on approximation of national laws in Partner States, presented and adopted by the Assembly. [Downloads: Report on Harmonisation of National Laws by EALA Committee on Legal, Rules and Privileges (pdf), Consolidated Schedule on Approximation of Laws (pdf)]
COMESA, Development Partners launch a coordination forum
“The institutionalization of this forum will go a long way in ensuring adherence to the principles of cooperation for effective development through ownership, focusing on results, inclusive development and transparency and accountability,” Assistant Secretary General in Charge of Programmes Dr Kipyego Cheluget said when he opened the forum. He said the Development Partners’ forum should be regular and frequent where future development partners’ support and programmes will be presented, discussed and agreed upon.
AfDB, World Bank bolster aid transparency data
The AfDB took a step toward increased transparency with the release of AfDB data on AidFlows (www.aidflows.org), a website that visualizes global development aid. The new data provides information on AfDB funds committed and disbursed to beneficiaries, including South Africa, South Sudan, Guinea, and Sierra Leone. The addition of AfDB data expands the AidFlows partnership and brings greater detail to development flows to Africa. AidFlows is a partnership between the OECD, the World Bank, AfDB, the Asian Development Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and the Islamic Development Bank.
UNCTAD’s Kituyi defends international trade deals (UNCTAD)
UNCTAD Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi has defended international trade as the best means for developing countries to create jobs and tackle inequality in an article published in The Guardian newspaper on 23 November: “ As an ex-politician myself, I know that politicians must do a better, more honest job of discussing the costs and benefits of trade," said Dr. Kituyi, who before becoming UNCTAD Secretary-General served as trade minister in Kenya. "Too often in the global north, leaders, dictated by electoral needs, talk down trade, storing up problems for the future. To blame trade for job losses is to use a convenient scapegoat, but it ignores both the benefits of trade and the disruptive nature of technology," he said. "Trade does not explain the relative decline in labour productivity. Nor does it account for the erosion in social protection."
What trade does do, Dr. Kituyi said, is provide the jobs required by rising populations in developing countries. That is why developing countries are backing new, internationally integrative projects like Africa’s Continental Free Trade Area and China’s One Belt, One Road initiative. However, Dr Kituyi said, changing trade patterns are disruptive. He said policymakers must address the effects of change to protect the ultimate benefits of trade.
Rwanda: Govt launches Rwf7.5bn fund to support exporters (New Times)
The government, the Development Bank of Rwanda, and Germany Development Bank (KfW) have launched a €8.5m (about Rwf7.5bn) Export Growth Facility to support export-oriented firms. According to Alex Kanyankole, the BRD chief executive officer, the funding will facilitate SME firms in horticulture, agro-processing, artisanal mining and manufacturing. Export Growth Facility consists of three different components – the matching grant fund, the export guarantee facility, and the investment catalyst fund. KfW’s support will focus on the funding component, according to officials.
Rwanda: AfDB board approves 2017-2021 country strategy paper (AfDB)
The CSP is articulated around two complementary pillars: Investing in energy and water infrastructure to enable inclusive and green growth; and Developing skills to promote high value added economic activities and economic transformation. Under the first pillar, the Bank’s assistance will focus on reducing the cost of doing to further enhance the enabling environment for private investment and economic transformation through improved access to affordable and reliable energy and water supply and sanitation. The Bank’s assistance under the second pillar will support Rwanda in accelerating economic transformation through the development of skills that promote high value added economic activities. The CSP provides for a cumulative 2017-2021 indicative resource envelope of US $939.4m. Additional resources will be mobilized from the Bank’s non-concessional window, Africa Growing Together Fund, Trust Funds, Climate Funds and co-financing with other partners.
TradeMark East Africa in renewed efforts to enhance regional trade (New Times)
To address such challenges, Trademark East Africa is set to launch the second phase of its intervention which is expected to take an investment of about $700m for the next six years. The new strategy, that kicks-off next year, seeks to have an impact of $11.9 billion of additional trade in the region which will turn around $116bn to the region’s GDP. With that, the organisation is projecting creating and sustaining about 5 million jobs across the region and lifting about 3 million people out of poverty, according to Frank Matsaert, the TradeMark East Africa Chief Executive. He was speaking at the launch of Rwanda Trade Programme Evaluation Report by TradeMark East Africa, in Kigali, on Monday evening. [Further details, via TMEA]
Lesotho’s participation in apparel value chains: an opportunity for sustainable development? (Bridges Africa)
The apparel industry has been central to Lesotho’s economy. It accounts for around one third of the country’s gross domestic product and employs 80% of its manufacturing workforce. The possibility of Lesotho embarking on an industrialisation path depends on the sectors prospects. This country case study examines the interplay between two different sets of FDI driving two very different value chains: the one global, with FDI from Asia and production based on preferential access to the US market under the African Growth and Opportunity Act; the other regionally based, with FDI from South African firms relocating production in Lesotho. The analysis of the differential impacts of these value chains makes the Lesotho case particularly interesting, revealing different paths to sustainable development. [The analysts: Mike Morris, Justin Barnes, Moshe Kao]
Ethiopia’s apparel export sector (pdf, Bridges Africa)
The apparel sector has traditionally been a gateway to structural transformation, industrialisation, export diversification, and sustainable development for low-income countries. The Ethiopian government regards this sector as a key priority in driving the country’s industrial development strategy. Ethiopia is an exporting latecomer compared to other sub-Saharan African apparel exporters. But recent export growth has been impressive with Ethiopia being hyped as a “rising star” for apparel sourcing. This country case study, based on a methodology developed by ICTSD, assesses the achievements and challenges manifested in growing the Ethiopian apparel sector, the government’s active industrial policy strategy to develop the sector, and its implications for industrial and sustainable development. [The analysts: Cornelia Staritz, Leonhard Plank, Mike Morris]
Mauritius: Validation workshop on 10-year master plan for SME sector (GoM)
The Ministry of Business, Enterprise and Cooperatives organised a validation workshop on a 10-year Master plan for the development of globally competitive Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) at Hennessey Park Hotel in Ebene this morning. The Master plan, elaborated by a local private consultancy firm, is expected to position Mauritius as a high-income economy by 2030.
Mozambique: Parliament unanimously passes bill paving the way for the ban on export of logs
Ever since he was appointed minister in early 2015, Celso Correia (Minister of Land, Environment and Rural Development) has been working for a total ban on the export of logs, and he has now won that battle. The most important article in the government bill simply revokes the clause in the 2010 law that permitted the export of logs. The legal export of logs rose from 22,846 cubic metres in 2010, to 148,093 cubic metres in 2015. There was also an increase in illegal logging and illegal exports, Correia added. The destination of most of this wood, whether legally or illegally logged, was China. The new bill, Correia promised, paves the way for an outright ban on the export of logs from any tree species, and will “guarantee the industrialisation of the forestry sector”. It would encourage the export of finished goods with greater added value, and would thus create more jobs.
Thirteen projects are underway worldwide, in Botswana, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Georgia, Ghana, Jamaica, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Nigeria, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Eight pilot projects – in countries spanning the globe from Africa to Asia and Latin America – have resulted in more than $260 million in additional tax revenues to date. This includes more than $100 million in new tax revenues generated through TIWB audits in Zimbabwe, demonstrating the tremendous potential for future projects. A range of new programmes will launch in the coming year – including new deployments of auditors to Republic of Congo, Egypt, Uganda, Cameroon and Vietnam – toward the goal of 100+ deployments by 2020. This will also include the first South-South co-operation project under the TIWB initiative, which will see Kenyan auditors deployed to Botswana in 2017. [Further information on TIWB is available from a new website: www.tiwb.org]
World Intellectual Property Indicators (WIPO)
Global innovation is soaring as a UN agency on intellectual property report reveals that 2.9 million patent applications lodged worldwide – a 7.8% increase over the previous year. Trademark applications, too rose 15.3% to about six million in and worldwide industrial design applications grew by 2.3% to 872,000, according to the UN World Intellectual Property Organization.
Today’s Quick Links:
SADC Agromet Update: 2016-2017 season
Africa50 appoints four infrastructure advisors to its investment committee (AfDB)
African banks urged to adopt risk-sharing and distribution to accelerate structural transformation (Afreximbank)
John Page on Africa Industrialization Day: moving from rhetoric to reality (Brookings)
