News
tralac’s Daily News Selection
The selection: Monday, 20 June 2016
Today, in Dar: MEFMI countries governors meet to discuss China’s yuan
Featured tweet, @ChinaAfricaBlog: South Africa’s Rand to become 13th foreign currency to trade directly against China’s Yuan
The AfDB is recruiting a Vice President: Regional development, integration and business delivery
The Vice President, Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery (VP, RDIBD) will drive the implementation and execution of a new development and business delivery model for the Bank. S/he will create and lead five new regional development and business delivery offices. The VP, RDIBD will deepen regional integration by cultivating strategic partnerships with regional economic communities and development banks, and will execute major regional projects to improve trade and competiveness. [Other VP posts: Private sector, infrastructure and industrialization development, Power, energy and green growth, Agriculture, human and social development]
Namibia back in the ring with SA over livestock import regulations (New Era)
Namibian authorities will engage in further deliberations regarding the implementation of stringent new livestock import regulations by South Africa as from July 1 for Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland, as gazetted last week and announced by South African Minister of Agriculture Senzeni Zokwana. The Meat Board of Namibia and the Directorate of Veterinary Services confirmed to New Era on Friday that they would request further engagements with the SA authorities, as no final conclusion has been reached on the bilateral agreement. The new regulations demand that a whole cattle herd has to be tested for Tuberculosis and Brucella bovis (lung sickness), which means a producer would have to test some 300 cattle before being able to export 20. The regulations render the export of sheep and goats equally impossible, as it implies 2 500 goats’ blood must be drawn every week, as Namibia exports that amount of goats weekly to SA. Namibia exported 48 248 cattle and 52 450 sheep to SA between January and March this year.
EU deal ‘sweetest of them all’ for SADC (Mmegi)
After 12 years of frustrations that had nearly split the region, the EPA was finally signed, on an asymmetric basis, meaning the region is not as freely open to the EU as the EU is to the region. In addition, the deal contains safeguards for vulnerable regional sectors and has a development and cooperation agenda. It has a lot of value because it opens up the EU market fully for countries, taking away tariffs and also making more structured, the way we cooperate in development, Malmström told Mmegi exclusively, the evening before departing to Kasane for the signing. For Malmström, Botswana’s role was critical in achieving agreement. Analysts are agreed that the time taken to finalise the talks dulled the lustre of the final EPA. While the EU remains the world’s single richest market, troubles in several economies there have reduced its value over the years and the possible exit of the United Kingdom is an even greater threat to the overall EPA’s worth to SADC
Namibia: EPA could stimulate exports and regional manufacturing (New Era)
While the preferential treatment extended to EU goods would witness an increase in imports from that economic bloc, given its larger production and productivity base, it may strain the competitiveness of domestic industries. Minister of Finance Calle Schlettwein feels the ‘cumulation provisions’ in the Economic Partnership Agreement nevertheless create interesting opportunities to develop regional value chains to support Namibia’s industrialisation strategy and expand its export basket. Cumulation is a concept used in preferential trade agreements, which essentially widens the definition of originating products and helps manufactured goods meet the relevant rule of origin.
Despite concerns about the potential strain on local industries, Schlettwein was pleased with the interest expressed by some EU firms to invest in manufacturing in Namibia, which would allow them to exploit the market access achieved through the EPA. They also seek access to regional and continental markets being developed through the negotiation of a Tripartite Free Trade Area amongst SADC, COMESA and the EAC, and the Continental Free Trade Area. Schlettwein, however, cautioned that much more needs to be done to encourage EU companies to expand to Namibia and the ACP region, saying this is an area where Namibia calls for more intensified cooperation with the EU at all levels. [Related EPA postings: A window for Botswana to boost exports (Mmegi), British firms could relocate here, Davies quips (Business Day), SA’s dti statement]
EU to sign EPA with Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda: on 20 June 2016, the Council authorised, on behalf of the EU, the signature and provisional application of the Economic Partnership Agreement between the EU and the EAC.
Zambia signs Tripartite Free Trade Area Agreement (COMESA)
Zambia has become the 17th country to sign the COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite Free Trade Area Agreement. Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry Honourable Margaret Mwanakatwe signed the TFTA Agreement on Friday, 17 June 2016 in Lusaka. Out of the total projected aggregate net benefit for the TFTA of over $3.3bn per annum, Zambia will get $149.9m annually, without counting the expected new investment opportunities into the priority areas set in the diversification, value addition and innovation programs. This is according to trade experts at COMESA Secretariat.
EAC: Strategic retreat for Permanent/Principal Secretaries responsible for EAC Affairs concludes
Addressing the Permanent/Principal Secretaries, the Secretary General of the EAC, Amb. Liberat Mfumukeko pointed out that the Community was regarded as one of the best performing RECs in Africa and yet it still faced many challenges that needed to be addressed. He noted that the items on the agenda for the Retreat, notably the proposed implementation framework for the Institutional Review was critical for the efficient and effective performance of the Community and as such needed to be addressed urgently. [Issues discussed included: implementation framework for EAC Institutional Review, roadmap for integration of South Sudan into EAC, constraints faced in implementing Article 71 of the Treaty]
Eliminating NTBs, boosting trade, improving lives (New Times)
The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MINICOM) and TradeMark East Africa (TMEA)-supported drive to eliminate non tariff barriers has paid off; businesses are reporting savings in terms of time and cost of transporting goods across regional borders. One person who can testify to this is Ahmed Hamad the Managing Director, SIMERA Transport Rwanda Ltd, a clearing and transport company whose trucks ply the Central Corridor. For the last 15 years, clients have trusted him to deliver goods safe, secure and in good time from Kigali to the Dar es Salaam port and vice versa; but it was not always easy.
IGAD: training on gender mainstreaming in the economic sector concludes
The training, funded by JFA/ISAP and facilitated by IGAD Gender Affairs, UNECA and UNDP, was focused on strengthening inclusivity in design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of economic policies, infrastructure development projects and trade policies in the region within the context of African Union Agenda 2063. Member States shared their different experiences, agendas and strategies, challenges, lessons learnt and best practices on mainstreaming gender in the areas of economic management, infrastructure development (focusing on ICT, Transport, Energy) and trade reforms.
ECOWAS: World Bank approves project to strengthen DRR coordination, planning and policy advisory capacities
SADC calls for summit on Lesotho crisis, 27-28 June (SABC)
Kenya: Address bottlenecks stifling flower industry (Daily Nation)
The Kenya Flower Council reports a growing anxiety by growers as the cost of business erodes profit margins. Other flower growing countries have waged a trade war with Kenya to break our dominance in a market that has ‘matured’ in terms of supplies leaving little room for expansion at producer level. Ethiopia naturally comes to mind when competition is mentioned in this industry considering the neighbouring country’s government has taken a deliberate policy to support its flower growers to develop its industry. [Kenya auto assemblers feel the heat as Addis engages top gear (Daily Nation)]
Egyptian cotton in peril as exports slide (Ahram)
"This has been one of the worst years for Egyptian cotton, if not the worst," Ahmed El-Bosaty, chairman of the Modern Nile Cotton trading company, told Ahram Online. Lax enforcement of regulations during the turmoil that followed the country's 2011 revolution has led to mixing premium long-staple strains of cotton with cheaper ones. Seeds of different qualities were also jumbled together in the ginning process, says El-Bosaty, further compromising the premium quality demanded by buyers overseas, as well as makers of luxury cotton products at home.
South Africa: Textiles turn to exports (City Press)
Minister Rob Davies said the focus on exports would not have been remotely on the cards a decade ago, but the department of trade and industry’s Clothing and Textiles Competitiveness Improvement Programme, which was introduced in 2009, brought stability to the sector, which contributes 4.36% of gross domestic product. As of December, this policy action had seen R3.13bn invested in the industry, contributing to 7 000 “decent” jobs, securing 67 000 jobs and putting the sector in a position to grow through exports. Part of the solution involved clustering in the sector, such as a national leather and footwear cluster, which was succeeding in exporting work wear to other African countries, and the exotic-leather cluster, which was having success in the luxury goods niche in Middle Eastern markets. [South Africa:Supermarket giants focus on burgeoning Africa (Business Day)]
Mozambique’s reserves sap central bank (Bloomberg/IOL)
Mozambique’s diminishing reserves are undermining the central bank’s ability to stabilise the foreign-exchange market as the metical, Africa’s worst-performing currency, continues to depreciate, Governor Ernesto Gove said. The coal-producing nation holds reserves equivalent to 3.2 months of imports, not including merchandise for mega-projects, he said, without giving a figure. The metical has fallen 21% against the dollar this year, adding to losses of 32% in 2015, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Mozambique’s exports have been declining since 2013 and dropped 12.8% in 2015. [Rwanda:Central bank steps up efforts to check effects of Dollar shortage (New Times)]
Mozambique: India plans to set up 'Reverse Special Economic Zone' (MacauHub)
The Indian government plans to create a 'Reverse Special Economic Zone' in Mozambique to install fertiliser and petrochemical companies, the Chemical Products and Fertiliser Minister said in Mumbai. Ananth Kumar told the Press Trust of India that the government planned to set up 'Reverse Special Economic Zones' in countries with large oil and gas resources to produce goods exclusively for India. “After Iran, with which we are already in talks, we plan to set up a similar structure in Mozambique,” said Kumar at the session to launch the 2016 Chemical and Petrochemical Conference, known as India Chem.
Mode 4 issues: China comes to India’s defence in WTO debate (Livemint)
China was in a large majority of developing countries, including some of the poorest ones, that supported India on Friday at the WTO for naming and shaming the US, the EU and Canada for continuing to impose regulatory barriers on short-term service providers, especially software professionals. The barriers cost billions of dollars annually to companies, according to people familiar with the development. India’s proposal for discussing the escalating regulatory barriers imposed on short-term service providers received support from several groups such as the Africa Group, and the least-developed countries among others. The US, the EU and Canada, however, took umbrage to India’s proposal on ‘Mode 4: Assessment of Barriers to Entry’, which mentioned the range of barriers imposed by them. [Arpita Mukherjee: Reforms needed to sustain services growth in India]
Update on the operation of the Standards and Trade Development Facility (WTO)
The STDF user guide “Prioritizing SPS Investments for Market Access (P-IMA): A framework to inform and improve SPS decision-making processes” was published in March 2016. To date, this framework has been used to prioritize SPS investment options in 10 developing countries (Belize, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, Uganda, Vietnam and Zambia) that differ considerably in the scale and diversity of their food and agricultural exports, and the range and magnitude of SPS capacity-building needs. The experiences highlight several benefits of the P-IMA framework: [STDF's 2015 Annual Report]
Peninah Muriithi: 'Decamping of Rwanda, Uganda is not end of the road for Kenya' (Daily Nation)
Prof Marjorie Mbilinyi: 'Who’ll benefit from proposed ban on second hand imports?' (The Citizen)
Brazil seeks to boost trade ties with Kenya (The Standard)
Brazil frozen food producer eyes Namibia as SADC entry point (Southern Times)
The potential impact of Brexit on Africa (Deutsche Welle)
Partnership makes strides in promoting sustainable land management in Africa (FAO)
Map the interactions between Sustainable Development Goals (Nature)
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 most welcome. Any suggestions that our recipients might have of items for inclusion are most welcome.
