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tralac’s Daily News Selection
The selection: Monday, 14 March 2016
Starting today: three conferences
Northern, Central Corridor workshop on sustainable freight transport and finance: The workshop aims to raise awareness and share experiences and best practices among relevant public and private sector stakeholders on the various aspects of sustainable freight transport and finance. The aim is also to build the capacity of relevant stakeholders, including in particular, policy makers, transport corridor managers and operators, financial institutions and investment agencies to identify relevant policy priority areas as well as action required to promote and implement sustainable freight transport systems. The training will benefit close to 85 participants from Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Sudan and Uganda.
African Transformation Forum: ATF background paper Public and private sector collaboration for economic transformation (prepared by ODI, ACET)
World Bank's Land and Poverty Conference 2016: This year’s conference pays special attention to working at scale, mainstreaming innovations, and sustaining investments in land governance. To download the presentations, many with an African focus, click on the individual session titles. [Klaus Deininger: Harnessing the data revolution and improving land management through geospatial technology]
SADC Council of Ministers: updates from the ongoing Gaborone meeting
Today: remarks by SADC Executive Secretary (Government of Botswana)
Allow me to highlight few key achievements during the period, which include: i) substantial progress has been made in the preparation of costed action plan for the Industrialization Strategy, the Plan will be tabled in August 2016; ii) recognizing the importance of value chain, beneficiation and value additions, a regional value chain and value addition strategy in priority sectors has been developed - this will facilitate effective implementation of the SADC Industrialization strategy...
[Also] Progress in exchange of offers and ratification of the Tripartite FTA has nonetheless been very slow. It is unlikely that the deadline set by the Tripartite Summit will be met. May I kindly appeal to Members States to fast-track exchange of offers that will enable effective operationalization of the TFTA, and signing and ratification of TFTA, and in doing so honouring commitments made in Sharm El Sheik. We will only be able to utilize opportunities created by TFTA market, if and when the outstanding elements are fully addressed. [Today: remarks by Minister Kenneth Matambo]
SADC Ministers of Trade approve trade facilitation programme (SADC)
In her remarks, SADC Executive Secretary, Dr Stergomena Tax indicated that this programme has identified trade facilitation activities that are essential in facilitating easy movement of goods, while reducing the cost of doing business in the region. The programme will among others address the impediments to movements of goods across the region, covering but not limited, to the following: accession to and implementation of the World Customs Organization’s Revised Kyoto Convention, which is a benchmark for mentioned Customs laws and procedures; data exchange and interconnectivity amongst customs administrations; implementation of the electronic certificate of origin in SADC; and improvements to infrastructure at selected major border posts. [SADC Committee of Ministers of Finance and Investment agree to finalize establishment of SADC Development Fund]
Traders welcome new EAC 'Business Code of Conduct' (New Times)
Business operators in the East African Community are optimistic that the Code of Conduct for Business in the region, endorsed by regional leaders recently, will go a long way in curbing corruption and unethical business behaviour that remain serious constraints to economic development of the bloc. Denis Karera, chairperson the East African Business Council, the apex body of the private sector in the bloc, last week told reporters that the code of conduct was intended to create a sense of ethical business operations “among us business operators” in the region. Karera said: “The code of conduct was necessary because we do business in very unethical ways.”
1st East African Co-Operatives Conference: download the conference papers
Migration from the Horn of Africa: @RMMS_4Mi: Europe is the number one destination for migrants from the Horn of Africa, followed by RSA and USA (The 4Mi Mixed Migration website)
Continental talks on implementing Agenda 2063 (COMESA)
Deputy Chair of the African Union Commission Mr Erastus Mwencha said the low level of integration and transformation was the most critical issues facing the continent. “Until we deal with those two points, we are in a vicious circle, going through cyclical ups and downs and creating more hurdles in the way of our African economic development,” Mr Mwencha said. “As we look at our agenda today, in developing agenda 2063, we have examined 35 national development plans; implemented true participatory approaches and come up with a set of seven aspirations and 20 goals that are of highest importance to the people of Africa, and are in perfect alignment with the post 2015 sustainable development goals.”
Aviation-tourism convergence in Africa: update (UNECA)
The meeting reviewed the report, ‘Fostering Africa’s tourism growth: the aviation and tourism policy’, as the continent looks for ways to tap into the growing international tourism receipts. The report, commissioned by the ECA on the two economic sectors, identifies a number of factors, including unfavourable regulatory environments, policies that limit air connectivity, restrictive visa regimes, uncoordinated consumer protection regulations, restrictive taxes, among others levies, as constraining the growth of the two industries.
Foreign workers must possess relevant qualifications says Diogo (Club of Mozambique)
Mozambican Labour Minister Vitoria Diogo declared on Friday that foreign workers must possess the relevant academic and professional qualifications, if they are to work in Mozambique. Speaking in Maputo at a seminar on “Chinese companies and labour questions in Mozambique”, Diogo stressed that foreigners can only be admitted to work places when there are no Mozambicans with the required qualifications, or there are not enough of them. Data from the Labour Ministry indicate that in 2015 inspectors found that 1,182 foreigners were being employed illegally, and they were suspended from their posts.
Impediments Malawian transporters or business people face in Mozambique (Club of Mozambique)
During the bilateral trade talks Malawi held with Mozambique in Tete, Mozambique on Friday (4 March), Malawi outlined various impediments its transporters and traders were facing in Mozambique. One of the concerns raised by Malawi was on a transit code Mozambique demands for Malawian transporters passing through the country known as the contra marca. It is a code that is issued to a clearing agent automatically once the agent submits information into Mozambique’s trade system. The Malawi delegation also complained that it sometimes takes up to eight days for Malawian trucks to load and offload cargo and that Malawian transporters are disadvantaged on allocation and loading of cargo at the Beira Port. The other problem was the unreceipted charges paid at the port. This, they said, eats into the transporter’s profit margin.
Tanzania: Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor investment (World Bank)
The newly-approved SAGCOT Investment Project is financed by the International Development Association and seeks to develop income opportunities for 100000 smallholder farming households by providing them new technologies and marketing practices and expanding partnerships with lucrative agribusinesses in the Southern Corridor of Tanzania. Once implemented, the project will directly benefit over half a million people and engage 40 agribusiness operators, with emphasis on including women in successful commercial value chains.
Afrieximbank, Ecobank set to promote trade among African countries (StarAfrica)
Speaking during the opening of the strategy meeting held at the Afreximbank Headquarters in Cairo, Dr. Benedict Oramah, President of the Bank, said that intra-African trade represented a clear pathway for Africa to realize its economic potentials and that collaboration with Ecobank would be in line with the vision of the founding fathers of Afreximbank to increase the development impact of the continent’s commercial banks. “With a presence in 33 African countries, there is no better partner for Afreximbank to work with in its drive to develop intra-African trade,” Oramah said.
Ghana: Exporters ask for long-term financing (GhanaWeb)
The President of the Federation of Ghanaian Exporters, Anthony Sikpa, has urged government to create a separate funding scheme that will provide long-term financing for producers and exporters to boost economic growth. In an interview with the B&FT, he decried the inability of the Export Trade, Agricultural and Industrial Fund’s (EDAIF) to support many exporters as a result of pressure on the funds. “Apart from EDAIF, there is no other dedicated long-term financing for exporters. Even the EDAIF itself was initially for exports alone, but currently that objective has been broadened to other areas so exporters are constrained when it comes to accessing funds,” he said.
Poverty in a Rising Africa (World Bank)
Poverty across the continent may be lower than what current estimates suggest, though the number of people living in extreme poverty has grown substantially since 1990, according to the latest World Bank Africa poverty report. Poverty in a Rising Africa, the first of two upcoming reports on poverty in Africa, documents the data challenges facing the region and reviews the status of Africa’s poverty and inequality, both monetary and nonmonetary, taking these data challenges into account.
USAID 2017 budget request: testimony of Roman Napoli (USAID)
The budget request also includes $75m for Trade Investment Capacity Building, which will align, focus and expand current US Government bilateral and regional trade programs in sub-Saharan Africa. An additional $10 million is requested for the Young African Leaders Initiative to support young African leaders returning to Africa following their fellowship training and professional development activities in the United States. The budget requests $2.3bn to strengthen democracy and governance around the world. This support is essential at a time when we're seeing troubling trends like democratic backsliding and closing space for civil society, independent voices and aid workers alike. Particular focus regions include Africa, Asia, Eurasia, and Central America. [9 things to know from a new report on USAID PPPs (Devex)]
Mitigating risks and vulnerabilities in the energy-food-water nexus in developing countries (Sustainability Institute)
The report analyses global nexus interconnections (such as the dependence of food systems on energy at every stage of the food value chain) and identifies key drivers, which include economic and population growth, resource depletion, environmental degradation, climate change and globalisation. The study also delved into more detail by analysing the nexus in three case study countries (Malawi, South Africa and Cuba), which represent different levels and types of economic development and ‘socio-metabolic regimes’ (agrarian, industrial and agro-ecological).
First conference on Global Value Chains, Trade and Development (30-31 March, Washington)
The impact of electronic payments on economic growth (Visa)
UN statistical body agrees to global indicators to measure sustainable development goals (UN)
Australia: 'Staying open for business with China' (editorial comment, East Asia Forum)
Raghuram Rajan's Ramnath Goenka lecture: full text (Scroll)
Ranil Wickremesinghe: 'Trade in a time of protectionism' (Project Syndicate)
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