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tralac’s Daily News Selection
The selection: Friday, 8 April 2016
AU-EU College to College meeting: communiqué
During the meeting, discussions touched upon the preparations of the next Africa-EU Summit, which is to take place in 2017 in Africa, and on cooperation between the two Commissions. Discussions were structured around the five (5) priority areas of the 2014-2017 Roadmap adopted at the Africa-EU Summit in Brussels, Belgium in 2014: (i) peace and security;(ii) democracy, good governance and human rights; (iii) human development; (iv) sustainable and inclusive development and growth and continental integration; (v) global and emerging issues.
Remarks by EU's Federica Mogherini (Europa)
The European Union is the biggest donor to Africa and that is quite self-evident. It is less evident – and I think it is our interest to highlight this - that the European Union is the biggest trade partner for the African continent. 28% of Africa’s total trade (imports plus exports) takes place with the European Union and it has increased by 50% - 50 not 15%, 50! - in recent years. Let me make, to finish, a proposal to work on restabilising our ministerial meetings - the EU-African Union Ministerial Meetings - because I believe that we deserve constant political exchanges as we have between Commissions also at the ministerial levels. I believe that the level and the importance of our partnership and the broad spectrum of the issues we have on the table in our daily work deserves this upgrade somehow to make our partnership even stronger. This is what our people both need.
Tanzania: 'EU: We haven’t suspended aid' (Daily News)
The European Union has not made any decision to suspend financial aid to Tanzania, stressing that it is not the objective of the politico-economic union of 28 member states to cut support for the African country’s progress. "We are not happy with what happened in Zanzibar. But as members of the EU, we have not reached a decision to suspend aid to Tanzania,” the Head of the EU Delegation in Tanzania, Ambassador Roeland van de Geer, told the ‘Daily News’ in an interview. According to Ambassador van de Geer, between 2014 and 2020 the EU has allocated a total of 620 million Euros (about 1,538trl/-) for financial support to Tanzania in a six-year cycle. “We are still in preparation and discussions of support for the coming 2016/2017 fiscal year out of the six-year allocation,” he explained.
Global trade slows down to a five-year low in 2015 (WTO/UNCTAD)
Today's trade news is shaped by a marked slowdown in 2015 world exports. According to UNCTAD/WTO estimates, measured in current US dollars, global merchandise exports plummeted by 13% in 2015. Services exports declined by 6%. Measured in current US dollars, global merchandise trade was recorded at 16.5 trillion in 2015. International services flows, accounting for 22% of total world trade*, stood at an estimated 4.8 trillion. Developing and transition economies accounted for some 44% of global exports. Least Developed Countries' (LDCs) share in the world market remained at a modest 1.5%.
SA trade minister opens WIPO conference with call for appropriate IP (IPW)
A two-day international conference on intellectual property and development opened today at the World Intellectual Property Organization with calls from speakers for the IP system to be applied by nations in ways appropriate to their economies, even if it means allowing copying – just as the biggest IP-holding nations did when they were developing years ago. The theme was set by the opening keynote speaker, South African Trade Minister Rob Davies. “Strengthening and extending IPR regimes and enforcement are strongly advanced by countries at the cutting edge of innovation globally,” Davies said in his remarks, a copy of which is available here. “One can understand that, for those countries, it is of strategic value to use IP protection as a mechanism to preserve the rent-generating and other advantages that arise from the technological capabilities built up by their firms.”
Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles partner to boost trade, regional integration (World Bank)
The Accelerated Program for Economic Integration (APEI) is an initiative of five countries and the financing approved today is part of a two-series to support the initiative. This first operation supports Mozambique, Mauritius and Seychelles while the second will go on to include Malawi and Zambia as well. The initiative is expected to facilitate trade across the region and has the potential to facilitate the emergence of regional supply chains in the continent. The APEI reform program consists of commitments that the five countries have made among themselves and is structured in four pillars: (i) remove barriers to trade in goods, (ii) promote trade in services, (iii) enhance measures to facilitate trade, and (iv) improve the business environment. The reform program consists of a set of specific reforms in need of either (a) multilateral coordination or (b) bilateral coordination; and (c) country specific reforms that are necessary to allow firms to benefit from new market opportunities that economic integration will bring. Section 3 describes the APEI in greater detail. [APEI project documentation]
Transport costs reforms in SADC: where are we and where are we going? (tralac)
Beyond Gauteng however lies the southern African region with its burgeoning markets and trade potential. Durban is not better positioned to service this market than rival SADC ports. To get goods from Durban, via Gauteng’s inland ports, into the African hinterland, it is necessary to navigate one of Africa’s most notorious border posts, Beit Bridge, between South Africa and Zimbabwe. This suggests that alternative logistics routes, terminating at ports like Walvis Bay, Lobito and Luanda, on southern Africa’s West coast, and Maputo, Beira, Nacala and Dar es Salaam (and possibly the Bagamoyo container port) on the east, have a window of opportunity. Some of the factors that affect costs – especially regulatory factors that increase costs, hassle and delays – on these corridors lie within the control of the national governments of SADC. [The author: David Christianson]
Rusumo bridge unites Tanzanians, Rwandans (Daily News)
Long distance drivers to all Great Lakes regions have all the reason to celebrate as President John Magufuli announced that only three checkpoints will operate from Dar es Salaam to Rusumo border and remove all others that were operating previously, saying the move aimed at easing congestion and delays in transportation of goods. Announcing the decision in the event commissioned jointly by Dr Magufuli and Rwanda President Paul Kagame, Dr Magufuli mentioned the remaining three checkpoints that will operate as Lusahunga, Singida and Vigwaza.
Africa's $30bn rail renaissance holds ticket for trade (Bloomberg)
Not all the projects will be built on time, if at all, especially with the commodity-price slump weighing on those designed to move raw materials from mines to ports. And with Chinese growth slowing, the nation’s central role in African infrastructure development may diminish. Countries including Kenya and Ethiopia are also borrowing heavily to fund projects. For some African governments, the tougher economic conditions are requiring more imagination for funding rail investments, GE’s Konditi said. “I’m seeing more interest in creative financing -- leasing -- and I’ve seen more interest in letting the private sector drive some of the maintenance and service of the rail companies,” he said. “This environment is actually helping people to see things more creatively, in a very modern way.”
15th IntermodaL Africa 2016 conference: update (NewsGhana)
Mr Richard Anamoo also averred that trade volumes are increasing astronomically with its attendant vessel sizes increases which have direct implications on the berthing facilities at the ports, saying that there was the need for the expansion of port facilities to be able to accommodate the increasing volumes of vessels so as to avoid the risk of becoming “feeder ports.” In line with this, he indicated that, the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority has signed an agreement with the Meridian Ports Services for a concession to equip the Tema Harbour with new facilities and expand its capacity to enable it to accommodate more cargo. According to him, the project will be executed at a cost of $1.5bn within three years, with the capacity of Twenty Equivalent Unit in line with the GPHA’s master plan for the Tema Port. The multi-purpose facility will include a new 1.4-kilometre quay for four container berths with 16-metre draft and a 3.85 kilometres breakwater within a dredged port access channel, 19 metres deep and 250 metres wide to accommodate larger vessels.
WACSOF workshop: ECOWAS Community Strategic Framework (NewsGhana)
Nana Asantewaa Afadzinu, Executive Director of the West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI) said the Community Strategic Framework was the successor to the Regional Action Plan instituted from 2011 to 2015 which set out how to work to implement the ECOWAS’ vision 2020. She noted that the CSOs meeting was a more deliberate effort on the part of ECOWAS to get civil society inputs into the design of the framework. Participants will not only look at what had been done so far but how it can be made practical. She stated that while ECOWAS had excellent normative frameworks, such as the Conflict Prevention Framework, applying it to the average citizen, such as the trader who had to cross borders to purchase their wares, was a major problem.
South Africa: Bulk exports fall 11.7% year on year in March (Business Day)
Policy uncertainty and logistics constraints meant that SA lost out on the 2003 to 2008 commodity price boom with annual bulk exports increasing a mere 2.8 Mt between those two years. Since then there has been a marked turnaround due to better policy co-ordination between mining companies and state-owned Transnet, so that volumes have improved by 45% or 52.3 Mt between 2008 and 2015. [SA's ports regulator embarks on reform of tariff strategy (Business Day)]
Addressing informality in Egypt (AfDB)
A recent African Development Bank publication proposes solutions for addressing informality in Egypt taking into account its disparate definitions as well as the various stakeholders involved in the issue. The publication highlights that labour market dynamics in Egypt have been characterised by three major trends since 1990. The first trend includes rapid growth of the informal economy, which now employs over half of Egypt’s workers. The second trend is a sharp decline of the formal private sector up to 2004, when government policies directed at formalising informal sector enterprises resulted in some firms joining the formal economy. Finally the third trend is the slow expansion of the public sector – despite the exigencies of structural adjustment – until 2000, when the government declared a hiring freeze. [Extra support for exporters (Ahram)]
Global food prices edge up in March; cereal production outlook robust (UN)
World cereal production in 2016 is set to reach 2,521 million tonnes, just 0.2% below last year’s and the third-highest on record, the FAO said today. According to the FAO Food Price Index, overall food prices rose 1% in March on the month, as soaring sugar prices and continued increase in palm oil quotations more than offset plunging dairy product prices.
Drought relief, energy and food security the focus of AfDB visit to Southern Africa
Rethinking development cooperation for the SDGs: country-level perspectives and lessons (ECOSOC)
Following a day of fruitful discussions in workshops and informal meetings, the UN Development Cooperation Forum High-level Symposium officially opened in Brussels, with senior UN officials urging delegations to ensure such cooperation is ‘a better fit’ for implementing the 2030 Agenda, including for vulnerable countries. [Conference www: presentations, documentation]
Climate Change Action Plan (World Bank)
To help countries meet this challenge, the World Bank Group today adopted a new Climate Change Action Plan, which lays out concrete actions to help countries deliver on their NDCs and sets ambitious targets for 2020 in high-impact areas, including clean energy, green transport, climate-smart agriculture, and urban resilience, as well as in mobilizing the private sector to expand climate investments in developing countries. In the Africa Region, resilience, food security, adaptation, and energy access need to be significantly improved. Climate-related shocks such as droughts, floods, and storm surges are already severely affecting the region. Food security is already an important issue in many parts of Africa today, and climate impacts through droughts and yield changes will have significant consequences for food security in the future. In addition, indexes consistently find adaptation needs to be the highest in the Africa region. On the energy side, the region has the lowest energy access (Figure 6), with access to solid fuels estimated at about 20% of the population, much lower than in other regions. Furthermore, the region has the lowest carbon emissions per capita.
Zambia: Electricity cost of service study, determination of economic cost-based tariffs (AfDB)
How Denmark plans to improve trade relations with Kenya (Business Daily)
Economic slowdown puts the brakes on middle class growth in Latin America (LAC Equity Lab, World Bank)
Trade Policy Review: Saudi Arabia (WTO)
China supports India in solar dispute at WTO (Livemint)
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