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World Forestry Congress sets out vision for future of forests: Durban Declaration
Forests vital for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals
The world’s forests must be recognized as “more than trees”, the XIV World Forestry Congress meeting in Durban, South Africa, concluded on Friday, 11 September.
Instead, forests hold vast potential to play a decisive role in ending hunger, improving livelihoods and combating climate change.
The largest gathering on forests this decade set out its vision of how forests and forestry should look in 2050, adopting the Durban Declaration after a week of debate.
The vision calls for the forests of the future to be “fundamental” for food security and improved livelihoods.
Forests and trees must also be integrated with other land uses such as agriculture in order to address the causes of deforestation and conflict over land, according to the declaration.
Finally, sustainably managed forests must be an “essential solution” to combating climate change, optimizing their ability to absorb and store carbon while also providing other environmental services.
Investment and partnerships critical
The declaration outlines a series of actions needed to realize the vision, including further investment in forest education, communication, research and the creation of jobs, especially for young people.
It also stresses the need for new partnerships among the forest, agriculture, finance, energy, water and other sectors, and strong engagement with indigenous peoples and local communities.
“The declaration reflects the extremely rich and diverse set of viewpoints and experiences of all participants in the Congress, who recommended ways to make the vision a reality,” said Tiina Vähänen, Deputy Director of FAO’s Forest Assessment, Management and Conservation Division.
Almost 4,000 delegates from 142 countries attended the congress, including representatives from civil society, intergovernmental organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), universities and the private sector as well as around 30 ministers and deputy ministers.
Message on Sustainable Development Goals
The Congress underlined that forests are critical to achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a message to the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit, which will meet later this month in New York to adopt the 2030 development agenda.
While SDG 15 addresses the need to sustainably manage forests, trees and forests are also a key to achieving several of the other 16 goals, including those related to ending poverty, achieving food security, promoting sustainable agriculture and ensuring sustainable energy for all, the message says.
Message on climate change
The Congress also issued a message to the Conference of Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, set to meet in Paris in December 2015 to hash out a new global climate change agreement.
Climate change poses a serious threat to the planet, forests and forest-dependent people. However, at the same time countries’ responses to climate change can present new opportunities for forests, such as additional sources of financing and greater political support for forest governance.
Congress participants recommended a set of actions that include increasing understanding among governments and other stakeholders of both the challenges and opportunities that climate change presents.
Forests and water action plan
The Congress also saw the launch of an international five-year forests and water action plan to recognize the role of trees and forests in maintaining the water cycle, and to ensure appropriate management of one of the world’s largest sources of freshwater.
The World Forestry Congress is held every six years. Under the theme Forests and People: Investing in a sustainable future, this year’s event was hosted by the Republic of South Africa with technical support from FAO and marked the first time the Congress was held on African soil since its inception in 1926.
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Improving land management could boost productivity and transform livelihoods in Uganda
Buoyed by the depreciating Shilling and the falling global oil prices, Uganda’s economy could continue the modest recovery and grow 0.4 percentage points faster in 2016 than in 2015. Uganda’s private sector has also played a critical role buffering external shocks and sustaining credit flows while Government’s infrastructure investments in the oil industry and railway did not take off as planned.
The latest and sixth edition of the Uganda Economic Update (UEU) published by the World Bank, writes that with the falling global prices of oil, the delay in oil production in Uganda could benefit the country as government uses more time to strengthen the policy framework for oil management. Tightening of monetary policy will minimize inflation and ensure stability, but will increase the cost of borrowing and hence reduce the rate of investment by the private sector.
Titled: “Searching for the ‘Grail’ – Can Uganda’s Land Support its Prosperity Drive?”, the update argues that alongside much needed infrastructure development, a more effective system of land governance, including for registering land, strengthening institutions for resolving disputes and urban planning, will boost productivity and transform livelihoods in Uganda.
“We hope the analysis and recommendations in this new report can help government review the current policies and their implementation with an eye to improve land administration and management in Uganda,” said Diarietou Gaye, World Bank Country Director for Eritrea, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. “Moreover, improved management of land can result into more efficient land use that can boost productivity while at the same time allowing people with weak land rights to benefit more from economic growth.”
Uganda’s rapidly expanding population is putting pressure on land usage, especially in urban areas. Current land policies have not supported efficient planning and development of urban areas and hence limited the pace at which the country can increase its productivity. The Update notes that most major cities across the world derive revenue from land to finance their infrastructure programs. Land value capture tools such as development fees, land auctions and property taxation based on market valuation are yet to be fully exploited in Uganda.
Approximately 20 percent of Uganda’s land is registered, which is higher than the average level of 10 percent for sub-Saharan African countries. Despite these better than average figures, security of land tenure in Uganda remains weak due to unclear property rights and a high rate of occurrence of disputes and conflicts. The Update commends government’s initiative towards accelerating the process of registration of land including that owned communally and by religious and cultural institutions. It recommends low cost technologies, such as that used in Rwanda to raise the proportion of land registered well beyond the current level.
Weak systems for land managements have also constrained urban planning and raised the cost of infrastructure development in the country. “With the fast growing urban population, Uganda needs to enforce the existing policies to promote better urban land management that will allow them to build livable cities. Key among these would include the adoption of innovative financing instruments to acquire land for development of urban infrastructure,” said Christina Malmberg Calvo, World Bank Country Manager for Uganda.
The Update recommends points of action to hasten the reform process, including implementing the existing land policy agenda, accelerating the titling and registration of the remaining 80 percent of land, and redesigning the Land Fund to enhance its efficiency and equity in supporting resolution of overlapping rights.
The Uganda Economic Update is prepared by the World Bank in collaboration with government especially the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, and concerned ministries.
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Cabinet endorses Liberia-US Trade and Investment Forum
Cabinet has unanimously endorsed the Liberia-US Trade and Investment Forum aimed at enhancing Liberia’s position in the global economy.
According to an Executive Mansion release, on Wednesday, September 9, 2015, the Cabinet gave its approval to a Liberia-driven Investment Trade Forum scheduled for September 16, 2015 in the United States of America. The Forum aims at buttressing government’s Economic Stabilization & Recovery Plan by attracting industrial investors in agriculture, agro-processing and other sectors.
It will also woo investors’ interest in rubber manufacturing, cocoa, fisheries, aquaculture, infrastructure, energy, gold, diamonds, rice and cassava. The Investment Forum comes on the heels of a 2014 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the National Investment Commission (NIC) and Developing Markets Associates (DMA).
It can be recalled Developing Markets Associates in 2010 and 2011 co-hosted two separate investment events for the NIC in the United Kingdom (UK). Direct tangible outcomes from the U.K. events included the establishment of Concession Agreements with Golden Veroleum-Liberia and Hummingbird Resources.
Liberia will be represented by the National Investment Commission, Central Bank of Liberia, Ministries of Finance & Development Planning, Lands, Mines and Energy, Public Works, Agriculture, and Commerce and Industry. The African Governance Initiative will serve as Secretariat.
The Forum will bring together some 200 companies from around the world including 30 U.S-owned, the World Bank, UNDP and a host of international development partners. Vice President Joseph N. Boakai will represent President Sirleaf at the Investment Forum.
On the question of Fiscal Year 2015/2016 Budget Execution Plan, Cabinet endorsed the plan, which largely reflected that the government’s fiscal position is in good shape.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet also endorsed the provision of quarterly allotments to key priority projects with the proviso that Sector Ministries will account for funding in a timely manner.
Cabinet also approved a brainstorming roundtable meeting that will bring together Ministries and Agencies along with the PPCC to thrash sticky issues that could hinder the execution of procurement plans and stall service delivery.
Cabinet also received updates on the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Project signing. Finance Minister said amid the pending Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) Law enactment, the signing was set for either October 7 or 8, 2015. MCC has agreed to apply the funding to cover the Government of Liberia’s contribution towards financing the Mount Coffee Hydro project.
Cabinet approved Vice President Joseph Boakai engagement with the National Legislature to expedite the passage of the LEC regulatory Act.
In a related development, Cabinet has mandated Ministries, Agencies and Commissions to hold consultations with Liberian entrepreneurs in order to address the moribund of concerns expressed during a roundtable meeting held with President Sirleaf on September 4, 2015.
Cabinet recognized that if the economy must grow it has to be driven by Liberians and called for the enforcement of the Small Business Act; requiring Liberian-owned businesses to get 25 percent of all would-be government awarded contracts.
Amid further consultations pertaining to the salary reform of State-Owned-Enterprises, Cabinet has approved implementation commencing October 1, 2015.
Cabinet has also mandated that all Ministries and Agencies that received funding under the banner of “July 26 Celebration” to submit a full report on allotment expended.
Similar position was taken mandating Ministries and Agencies that are indebted to the University of Liberia to make good their commitments for the smooth running of the institution. Cabinet took a decision to take short-term measures to give the main campus of the university a facelift pending the long-term plan to rehabilitate critical infrastructures on the UL campus.
Also reviewed and sanctioned was astronomical rental associated with public buildings that are being leased at the expense of government. Cabinet resolved that a well-coordinated and priority-driven plan should inform the implementation of identifying suitable sites for the construction of Ministries, Agencies, and Commissions housed in private buildings over the next two years. All Ministries, Agencies, and Commissions with self-disbursing project funds are mandated to submit to independent audits under the supervision of General Auditing Commission.
Cabinet could not deliberate the Road Fund due to the absence of Public Works Minister Williams Gyude Moore – as lead presenter.
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United Nations General Assembly adopts basic principles on sovereign debt restructuring
A draft resolution on “Basic Principles on Sovereign Debt Restructuring Processes” was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York at its Sixty-Ninth Session on 10 September 2015, with 136 member States voting for, six against and 41 abstentions. UNCTAD, with over 40 years of experience on debt management and restructuring issues, served as secretariat for the negotiations among Members on the resolution.
The set of nine principles, contained and endorsed in the new resolution, follow years of negotiations and deliberations on sovereign debt restructuring processes. A year ago, the United Nations General Assembly tasked UNCTAD to provide substantive support to these discussions.
In adopting the resolution, the UN General Assembly states that sovereign debt restructuring processes should be guided by customary law and by basic international principles of law, such as sovereignty, good faith, transparency, legitimacy, equitable treatment and sustainability.
The adoption of the resolution reflects growing concerns about renewed sovereign debt crises and long-term debt sustainability in the context of continued global economic fragility, an issue that has been the focus of UNCTAD’s work for many years.
There is also increasing recognition that the existing system for addressing sovereign debt problems is inadequate to resolve growing incidences of debt crises in a timely, legitimate, balanced and efficient manner.
The centrality of these concerns, in particular for the achievement of basic development goals and the post-2015 development agenda, was highlighted during the General Assembly session by, for example, South Africa’s representative, who introduced the draft resolution on behalf of the Group of 77 and China.
This sentiment was echoed in supportive statements by representatives from African, Latin American, Asian and Caribbean member States.
Support for the resolution and, more generally, for the need for a global bankruptcy process, has also recently been voiced by eminent figures in academia, public life and civil society, including the leader of the Catholic church Pope Francis and the economists Joseph Stiglitz and Thomas Piketty.
However, the resolution failed to garner consensus among all Members. Disagreement remains, especially pertaining to the legal interpretation of some principles and to a preference by some Members to see international negotiations about sovereign debt restructurings hosted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Member States will have the opportunity to continue their deliberations on this issue, including a view to promote consensus-building, during a High Level Segment on the first day of the Sixty-Second Session of the Trade and Development Board (14-25 September) in Room XVIII of the Palais des Nations, Geneva.
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tralac’s Daily News selection: 11 September 2015
The selection: Friday, 11 September
New reports from tralac:
JB Cronjé: Preparing for trade in services negotiations in the context of a comprehensive CFTA
John Stuart: ICTs, services development and trade: how Africa can benefit
Gerhard Erasmus: Trade remedies as part of the Continental Free Trade Area
Plans to establish a continental agricultural chamber gaining traction (Agbiz)
One fundamental challenge that has faced agriculture till now has been how to organise smallholder agriculture - both farmers and agribusinesses - and have their voices projected in a manner that influences the continent's policy direction towards a more sustainable growth path. As such, a study was undertaken to review and profile the existing agricultural and agribusiness chambers in Africa, with a view to assess strength of existing representation across the continent. The outcome of this stock-take exercise was presented at the second AU Agribusiness Forum held in Kigali, Rwanda in June 2015 by the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). [Download the scoping study, the presentation]
African powerhouses Kenya and South Africa can tag team and win the wealth game (M&G Africa)
The Kenya Trade and Investment Summit, held in partnership with the Kenya High Commission and Mail & Guardian Africa on September 4 at the Sandton Convention Centre resembled a McDonald’s menu. It had many iterations of a larger theme: how South Africa and Kenya can do more business and grow richer together. There was rapid agreement on the main sticking issue — South Africa’s new visa rules, which critics say are “anti-business”.
Germany hosts first German-African Business Summit (Addis Standard)
On the margins of the first German-African Business Summit, the German Federal Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier met on September 8 with leaders of four African Regional Organizations; SADC, AU, EAC, ECOWAS. They discussed German cooperation with regional organization in African, peace and security as well as migration issues. In his keynote address Foreign Minister Steinmeier outlined the challenges and chances of Sub-Saharan Africa and encouraged the participating high ranking business representatives to invest and explore the chances of doing business in Africa. [Speech by Foreign Minister Steinmeier]
EU must force more transparency from companies in Africa - Piketty (Reuters)
The European Union should require companies operating in Africa to disclose the taxes they pay there more transparently, to ensure they contribute fairly to government revenues, French economist Thomas Piketty said on Thursday. Africa's fast-growing economies are attracting the attention of foreign investors looking for new markets, particularly as developed nations have seen growth slow. But development in Africa remains hobbled by some of the world's lowest rates of tax collection, said Piketty, who shot to fame last year with the publication of his book on wealth and inequality, "Capital in the Twenty-First Century".
World Bank meets African Caucus in advance of fresh round of talks on safeguards
World Bank officials met with the African Caucus in Luanda, Angola, August 27 and 28, to present an update on the work to revise policies for protecting the poor and the environment in Bank- financed projects. World Bank (IBRD/IDA) lending for Africa reached a record USD11.6 billion in new investments last year. The review and update of the World Bank’s safeguard policies just entered a third round of consultations. The reform touches on complex development matters, including Human Rights, climate change, labor and working conditions, land acquisition and involuntary resettlement, cultural heritage and financial intermediaries, among other issues. [Download]
International trade statistics: trends in second quarter 2015 (OECD)
Total G7 and BRIICS international merchandise trade, in current US dollars, continued to contract in the second quarter of 2015, with exports and imports declining by 0.9% and 1.2% respectively, compared with the previous quarter. The slowdown in trade in the second quarter of 2015 was particularly marked in South East Asian economies, with exports and imports contracting in China (by 3.5% and 0.1%, respectively) as well as in Japan (by 4.4% and 5.4%) for the third consecutive quarter, and Indonesia (by 0.8% and 6.6%), for the sixth straight quarter.
The Barclays Africa Trade Index: download
The 2015 African Retail Development Index: download
Africa Forum 2015: Leaders call for renewed momentum, Kofi Annan’s speech, President John Mahama’s speech
AGOA: updates
South Africa: US tariff threat as dispute drags on (Business Day)
The Obama administration is actively considering the re-imposition of tariffs on a range of South African exports worth billions of rand including cars, ferromanganese, citrus and wine, unless SA moves rapidly to open its market to US chicken, beef and pork. "Without swift action, SA risks losing important tariff benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa)," deputy assistant US trade representative Trevor Kincaid said on Thursday.
US considers suspending SA’s membership of AGOA, ending billions in exports (Financial Times)
South Africa: Agbiz meets with USDA on AGOA
Nigeria: We went into AGOA without a strategy - Owolowo (Daily Trust)
Uganda: Kadaga advocates for AGOA secretariat (New Vision)
Liberia-US trade and investment forum (FPA)
China-Africa think tank forum highlights need to enhance bilateral ties (Global Post)
The 4th China-Africa Think Tank Forum on Thursday ended its two-day meeting in Pretoria, with convergence of views in many areas on enhancing the Sino-African relations. "There are various areas which African and Chinese scholars agreed on," said Liu Guijin, dean of China-Africa International Business School, Zhejiang Normal University and special representative of the Chinese government on African Affairs. "We agreed on many areas. Africa needs to have self confidence, take advantage of the presence of China in Africa, population, natural resources, strong political voice and unity to achieve their dreams and aspirations,"Liu said in his closing speech.
Ethiopia: Promoting trade and investment during GTP-I (Ethiopian Herald)
Sectoral distribution of the licensed foreign direct investments indicates, 423 (19.5%) projects are registered to engage in agriculture and related activities, while, 888 (41%) projects are registered to produce manufacturing products and the remaining 855 (40%) projects are licensed to engage in agriculture. The fact that 41% and 40% of foreign investors are registered to invest in manufacturing and service sectors respectively in starkly contrast with the intentions of domestic investors where 76 per cent of them are licensed to operate in the service sector. Investors from Peoples Republic of China constitute for the highest number of foreign investors investing on 322 projects followed by investors from the Republic of Turkey, the Sudan and India. Ethiopian Diaspora from America took the 5th place through investing on 81 projects. However, with regard to the amount of capital invested in the economy, Turkey, India, Sudan, Peoples Republic of China, Saudi Arabia and Joint investment by Ethiopian and Saudi Arabia constitute the top five investors in that order.
Battle for Sh3bn Mombasa port tender returns to court (Business Daily)
The fight for a Sh3 billion tender for the operation of Mombasa Port has returned to court, marking yet another twist in the lucrative contract that has pitted top global conglomerates including Toyota and Maersk against each other.
AU, Organization of African Trade Union Unity Partnership Forum (African Union)
The Forum will also consider, reflect upon and come up with a policy action framework on Trade Union participation in the Africa-EU partnership program for Africa’s development. We will also consider the contributions of the Labour Movement to the development of ECOSOCC as an Organ of the people and examine how to strengthen this contribution to ensure that AU should be people-driven in its concerns, methods, aspirations and policies. [Opening address]
Women, business and the law 2016 (World Bank)
Sub-Saharan Africa is a study in contrasts when it comes to women’s economic advancement, says the World Bank Group’s Women, Business and the Law 2016 report, released today. The region hosts almost a third of the world’s 30 most restrictive economies and two of 18 economies where there are no legal barriers to women’s entrepreneurship and employment, as measured by the report. And the region continues to make progress towards gender equality, with 16 economies making 18 reforms in the past two years. Sub-Saharan Africa was the greatest reformer amongst all regions of the world, in terms of number of economies undertaking reforms, says the biennial report, which examines legal and regulatory barriers to women’s ability to get a job and start a business. [Downloads]
US opposes the South Africa-led debt plan (Daily Nation)
The South Africa-submitted resolution, "Basic Principles on Sovereign Debt Restructuring Processes", garnered 136 votes in favour and six against with 41 countries abstaining. The United States was one of those opposing the resolution. [Background to the resolution]
World food prices hit lowest level in almost seven years (UN News Centre)
The price of major food commodities continued to drop through August due to abundant supplies, a decline in energy prices and concerns over the economic slowdown in China, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization reported today. According to the FAO Food Price Index, which tracks international market prices for five major food commodity groups – cereals, meat, dairy products, vegetable oils and sugar – virtually all food groups registered marked dips in price in August. The index averaged 155.7 points in August, down 5.2 per cent from July, the sharpest fall since December 2008.
Rise in global tourism continues, despite concerns over safety and security (UNWTO)
The limited data available for Africa indicates that international tourist numbers were down by 6% with a decline of 10% in arrivals to North Africa and 4% in Sub-Saharan Africa. Alongside the impacts of the terrorist attacks, African destinations have been impacted by the aftermath of the Ebola outbreak in a few West African countries and the slower growth of regional economies depending on the export of oil and other commodities.
Achim Steiner: 'Reshaping finance for sustainability' (UNEP)
The Inquiry has identified a number of specific policy actions that could be beneficial. Three overarching ideas stand out. The first is the incorporation of sustainability and environmental risks into the auditing and management of value chains and balance sheets. In Kenya, climate variability costs upwards of 2.4 per cent of GDP annually. Short-termism and information gaps exacerbate structural mispricing of climate risks. By incorporating sustainability-related risks throughout the value chain - in benchmarks, indices and credit ratings - markets are better able to respond to environmental risk. Further, by managing these risks prudently with regular stress testing and system-wide reviews, the chances of system-wide failures are reduced.
Concluding today, in Addis: the Transport Infrastructure Development in Africa course (UNECA)
The course is expected to provide senior officials drawn from relevant ministerial and extra-ministerial departments and RECs from across Africa with tools and knowledge for transport policy formulation and application. In addition, the following benefits are expected to flow from the course:
This week in the news
Catch up on tralac’s daily news selections for the past week:
The selection: Thursday, 10 September 2015
The selection: Wednesday, 9 September 2015
The selection: Tuesday, 8 September 2015
The selection: Monday, 7 September 2015
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This post has been sourced on behalf of tralac and disseminated to enhance trade policy knowledge and debate. It is distributed to over 300 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. Richard Humphries (Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; Twitter: @richardhumphri1)
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Africa Forum 2015 – High-level international conference in Berlin: leaders call for renewed momentum
Since the turn of the millennium the African continent has seen unprecedented growth. Six of the ten fastest-growing economies worldwide are located in Africa. So far, African economies have proven resilient to the repercussions of the global financial crisis and declining commodity prices.
However, poverty and hunger rates remain stubbornly high, while progress in health and education is uneven. Huge inequalities persist between and within countries, and between women and men. In many areas, low productivity and investment as well as weak or non-existent infrastructure are holding back economic and development progress. The employment markets offer too few jobs outside the agricultural sector. Another challenge is climate change and its effect on agricultural productivity.
The soon-to-be-adopted global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the African Union Commission’s Agenda 2063 and its Common African Position provide Africa and the international community with key cooperation frameworks for addressing those challenges. This will be a renewed momentum toward innovative development strategies that recognise the continent’s specific opportunities and challenges, especially with regards to regional development and job creation in the context of an unprecedented demographic boom. Africa’s population is set to double by 2050, bringing 47 million more young people into the labour force each year. Implementing innovative territorial policies to promote balanced regional development and to derive the most benefit from emerging rural/urban dynamics will be key to tackling the demographic dividend.
These issues are at the heart of Wednesday’s 15th International Economic Forum on Africa: “Africa beyond 2015”, which was opened by Germany’s Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Gerd Müller, and Stephan Kapferer, Deputy Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). High-profile leaders from Africa as well as from OECD and non-OECD countries, amongst them President Mahama from Ghana, former German President Horst Köhler and Kofi Annan, President of the Africa Progress Panel and Chairman of the Kofi Annan Foundation, are gathered in Berlin to share their experiences and visions with more than 500 Forum participants.
For the first time in its history, the Forum was convened outside Paris. It has been organised by the OECD Development Centre for fifteen years, and this year it is co-organised with the German government in partnership with the African Union Commission (AUC) for the second consecutive year. By hosting the Forum this year, Germany has highlighted the great importance that it attaches to Africa and to development topics during its current G7 presidency.
Wednesday’s debates build on the conclusions of the African Economic Outlook 2015, a joint report by the African Development Bank, the OECD Development Centre and the United Nations Development Programme.
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Seizing Africa’s Energy, Agriculture and Climate Opportunities: Address by Kofi Annan at the Africa Forum 2015
Kofi Annan summarized Africa’s current challenges and opportunities during the 15th International Economic Forum on Africa: “Africa Beyond 2015”, organized by the OECD Development Center and the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development on 9 September in Berlin, Germany. Ultimately, he argued, the future of the continent will depend on the quality of its leadership, on structural investments in renewable energy and agriculture, and on the forthcoming UN climate change conference in Paris.
Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, let me start by saying how pleased I am to be with you today.
I want to thank the German government and the OECD both for my invitation and, more importantly, for bringing together so many distinguished and influential figures.
Climate change is one of the gravest threats facing humanity today.
It is a global and all-encompassing threat to life, to our water and food supplies, to our health, security, prosperity and stability.
To avoid catastrophe, we must dramatically reduce the carbon intensity of our modern energy systems, which have set us on a collision course with our planetary boundaries.
No region has done less to contribute to global warming than Africa.
Yet Africa is already suffering from some of the earliest and most damaging effects of climate change.
If left unchecked, climate change will turn vast areas of productive land in Africa into dust bowls, creating widespread hunger and mass displacement of rural populations.
Increased competition over arable land and fresh water is already creating conflict amongst local communities and provoking tensions between states.
The consequences of this crisis could be so horrific that the “living would envy the dead” – to quote a late world leader.
We have no choice but to join forces in responding to this threat.
In fact, climate change represents an unprecedented opportunity for governments, investors, firms and citizens to work together to develop and deploy the low-carbon technologies, which can drive sustainable growth.
This is the main message of the new Africa Progress Panel report, “Power, People, Planet: Seizing Africa’s Energy and Climate Opportunities”.
It is also the opportunity I will highlight throughout my remarks today.
We have no excuse: we must seize this moment to change the way we produce and consume energy, while we still have time.
As a global community we have the technology, finance and ingenuity to embark on a low carbon transition.
This transition has already started in several regions, including Africa, which is showing potential to lead the global renewables revolution.
Several countries in the region, including Ethiopia, Kenya, and South Africa, are among the world’s pioneers in climate-resilient, low-carbon development.
Ethiopia has set an ambition to achieve zero-net emission status by 2027.
Germany, as an acknowledged pioneer in this field, is well positioned to work closely with Africa in stepping up the pace of the transition to a global low carbon economy.
The recent pledge by the G7, during the German Presidency, to boost investments in renewable energy in Africa, is a clear and laudable sign of Germany’s intent to partner with the continent in this area.
Shifting towards low-carbon energy systems is not only helping to avert climate catastrophe, but also creating new opportunities for investment, growth and employment.
From an African perspective, renewable energy technologies have two distinctive advantages: speed and decentralization.
They can be deployed far more rapidly than coal-fired power plants, and they can operate both on-grid and off-grid.
These advantages are crucial for Africa, because it urgently needs to address its immense energy deficits.
In Africa, more than in any other region, a massive and rapid increase in the deployment of solar, wind and geothermal energy technology is essential.
The scale of the continent’s energy deficit is sobering.
Two out of three Africans – over 600 million people – have no access to electricity at all.
Cut off from the grid, the world’s poorest people also pay the world’s highest power prices.
A woman in a rural village in northern Nigeria spends 60 to 80 times more per unit of energy than a resident of New York.
To meet demand and achieve universal access to electricity, an investment of US$55 billion per year is needed until 2030.
Until recently, far too few African leaders have shown sufficient political will to act decisively to bring about the necessary transformation in energy policy.
For too long, they have been content to oversee highly centralized energy systems designed to benefit the rich and bypass many of the poor. Power utilities have been centres of corruption.
The waste of scarce resources in Africa’s energy systems remains disturbing.
African leaders must move more decisively to tackle vested interests and break up webs of political patronage in Africa’s energy utilities.
At the same time, they must redirect the billions of dollars currently spent on providing subsidies to wasteful utilities, vehicle fuel and kerosene.
These funds should be spent instead on productive energy investment, social protection and targeted electricity connectivity for the poor.
Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Africa is not poor.
Africa is a continent with a great wealth of resources.
Over the past ten years, the region has built up a solid economic growth track record.
However, Africa’s share of global poverty, malnutrition and child mortality is also rising very fast.
A key driver for these trends has been the consistent failure to address overall inequality and the specific manner in which the fruits of the new growth are shared.
In far too many countries, growth has not been equitable and has failed to create enough jobs.
Unlocking Africa’s clean energy power, as I have just highlighted, can drive equitable growth and create jobs.
But this has to go hand in hand with a scaled-up approach to agricultural transformation.
Africa is a potential global agriculture powerhouse.
The continent is blessed with 60 per cent of the world’s uncultivated arable land and could grow enough food, not only to meet its own needs, but to export surpluses.
Yet hundreds of millions go hungry very day.
Despite recent progress, Africa’s farmers, many of whom are smallholders, are under-performing.
Grain yields are around one half or one third of the world’s average.
As a result of low productivity, chronic underinvestment, and regional protectionism Africa must import too much of its food.
Every year, Africa spends around $35 billion on importing food.
The continent’s population is expected to double by 2050, and triple by the end of the century.
Producing more to feed this growing population represents a huge market opportunity.
To realize Africa’s agricultural potential, African governments need to put in place policies that increase public and private investment in agriculture, inspire innovation, and reduce risk.
At the same time, developed countries must remove unfair trade barriers and eliminate harmful agricultural export subsidies.
Governments and the private sector can develop partnerships and expand links with smallholders, filling critical gaps along the value chain.
The greatest success will come if bigger farms share market access, improved seed varieties and advanced farming techniques with small farmers.
The business community has indeed a crucial role to play – especially when combined with the efforts of other committed stakeholders.
It is for this reason that my Foundation recently launched a new initiative, which brings together leaders from the private sector, philanthropy, and global food agencies, to strengthen the productive capacity of Africa’s smallholders.
More effort must also be made to improve regional trade in agricultural products. If a farmer cannot sell his produce in the next country, it is much harder to develop a profitable business.
Above all, we need a new emphasis on climate-smart agriculture.
This is a promising way to enable farmers to adapt to changing weather patterns and growing seasons that threaten food production.
Climate-smart solutions – such as the use of drought- and heat-tolerant crops and improved irrigation systems – are critical for food and nutrition security, farming resilience, and higher productivity.
Africa’s farmers must be part of the global solution to climate change.
It is notable that two of the fastest-growing countries in recent years, Ethiopia and Rwanda, have achieved significant economic growth through agriculture, marking out a path for other African countries to follow.
These two countries are also in the forefront of the global low-carbon transition.
Ladies and Gentlemen, ultimately, leaders are accountable to their citizens for the decisions they take.
Yet what is possible in Africa will also be determined in part by the actions – or the inaction – of the international community.
Later this month, world leaders will adopt a set of Sustainable Development Goals to shift the world onto a resilient path based on the three dimensions of sustainable development: economic, social and environmental.
But unless action is taken on climate change, sustainable development will not be achieved.
At the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris in December, governments have to conclude a fair, universal and binding climate agreement, by which every country commits to reducing emissions of greenhouse gases.
Fairness demands that wealthier countries take the lead.
They must provide financial resources and technologies to help poorer countries to cut emissions and adapt to the impact of climate change.
Specifically, developed countries must deliver on their commitment to mobilise $100 billion annually for the Green Climate Fund.
Major emitting countries should put in place a credible carbon pricing and taxation system instead of spending billions on fossil-fuel subsidies.
The G7’s reaffirmation of its pledge to work for the elimination of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies is thus notable.
But we must also support African efforts to strengthen tax and customs administration and reduce illicit financial outflows.
In 2012, Africa lost almost $70 billion from illicit financial flows; resources that could assist Africa move to a sustainable, low carbon future.
But allow me to stress that by its very nature, climate change is a cause that should unite us all.
Governments, businesses, faith communities, young people, women, and civil society – we all have to work together to change the narrative on climate change and deliver transformative progress.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I confess that this is an ambitious agenda.
But there is good reason for optimism. We have the expertise, the technologies and the evidence needed to succeed.
However, to succeed I believe that we shall need to move quickly on three fronts.
First, we must encourage and assist Africa to shift towards an inclusive, low-carbon energy future.
Second, we should recognize and invest in the incredible potential of African agriculture and Africa’s farmers, many of who are women.
And finally, we have to secure a global consensus on emissions control at the forthcoming climate conference in Paris without which Africa’s prospects will be greatly diminished.
Nelson Mandela once said: “It always seems impossible until it’s done”.
He was reflecting on the struggle to overturn apartheid, but his words could not be more timely today.
Let us heed Mandela’s words. If we do, I am convinced that Africa can and will achieve a more prosperous and equitable future.
Thank you.
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World Bank meets African Caucus in advance of fresh round of talks on safeguards amidst record lending for the continent
World Bank officials met with the African Caucus in Luanda, Angola, August 27 and 28, to present an update on the work to revise policies for protecting the poor and the environment in Bank-financed projects. World Bank (IBRD/IDA) lending for Africa reached a record USD11.6 billion in new investments last year.
The review and update of the World Bank’s safeguard policies just entered a third round of consultations. The reform touches on complex development matters, including Human Rights, climate change, labor and working conditions, land acquisition and involuntary resettlement, cultural heritage and financial intermediaries, among other issues.
Consultations on a first draft, from July 2014 through April 2015, revealed a wide range of views among shareholder governments and civil society groups. Members of the World Bank’s Board Committee on Development Effectiveness (CODE), who recently discussed a revised draft, were in agreement on the overall architecture of the Environmental and Social Framework (ESF) and many key aspects. However, because many issues remain open, committee members asked management to help find solutions where views are divided.
The African Caucus, which includes finance ministers and central bank governors, raised the importance of promoting the use of borrower legal, policy and implementation frameworks, and of recognizing the potentially divisive nature in some countries in Africa of the terminology related to “Indigenous Peoples.” The African Caucus called on the World Bank to take these matters into account and to address the issue of “implementability of the proposed policies,” by conducting “road tests” to better understand how they would work in practice.
The third round of consultations will span 30 countries, including 10 in Africa. The Bank will discuss the proposed framework in Ethiopia, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Africa, Madagascar, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burkina Faso, Nigeria and Kenya. The discussions, which will bring in more local perspectives, will focus on “implementability,” including the capacity of borrower governments as well as any additional support countries may need to identify, avoid, and mitigate harm to people and the environment.
Feedback received will inform the draft Framework and discussions of the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors, which represents 188 member countries, and has final authority over Bank policy. Individuals and groups can share their views using the dedicated consultation web page.
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Construction of Kenya, South Sudan fibre optic cable commences
Kenya and South Sudan will be connected to a high-speed fibre optic cable within the next two years enhancing communication and inter-border trade.
The ICT Authority is implementing the Kenyan-side of the project through a World Bank fund estimated at a cost of US$25.5 million dollars, while the Sudan side is estimated to cost US $15 million dollars. The road construction between Lokichar and Nedapal is worth US $ 500 million dollars and will be funded by World Bank. The full cost of the road construction from Eldoret to Sudan border is an estimated US $1.2 million dollars.
The two governments are implementing the optic fibre cable system as part of the Eastern Africa Regional Transport, Trade and Development Facilitation Project.
The project will also build a road linking the two countries from Eldoret to Lodwar and Juba. A common border post will also be built at the interconnection of the two countries.
South Sudan will similarly extend the cable from the Kenya-South Sudan border to Juba.
“As you are all aware, roads and information superhighways are two of the most effective means of realizing accelerated development of any modern economy. Today we are witnessing the implementation of both at the same time in this region. A big dream comes true,” says Robert Mugo, Director, Shared Services at the ICT Authority.
The Director was speaking at the project commissioning event organised by the Ministry of Roads and infrastructure at Lodwar town to inaugurate the project on the ground.
The meeting brought teams from the implementing agencies which include ICT Authority, KENHA (Kenya National Highways Authority), Turkana and West Pokot County Governments, Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure as well as World Bank.
The real construction work will start in May 2016 and will be completed in February 2019.
Once completed, the two countries are set to benefit from fast movement of goods and people and enhanced internet connectivity. The connectivity will be used by towns and facilities along the corridor including schools, hospitals, Government offices and telecommunications operators.
“This development will increase inter-border trade between Kenya and South Sudan as well as link Turkana County to the rest of Kenya. We see the prices of commodities coming down,” said Mr Joseph Nanok, the Governor Turkana County.
It will also provide Last Mile Fibre Connectivity to County Headquarters from the Backbone and also provide network redundancy for existing links.
The towns of Lokichogio, Kakuma, Lokichar, Lodwar, Kitale, Eldoret will benefit from an upgrade of existing Internet points.
County and National Governments offices in the corridor are expected to benefit a wide range from employment for county youths during the construction, high speed internet access, opening up of community based cyber cafes with high speed and reliable internet, high speed and reliable access to Government services at Huduma centres as well as for such services as Identity Cards, Passports, Births and Deaths Registration and IFMIS as well as to enhance unified communications system capability (Voice and Data) in one network
“We are calling on the residents to protect this infrastructure against vandals and other anti-development agents that are likely to interfere with the cables by immediately reporting such incidents to the authorities,” said Mr Mugo.
He further called on the counties in the area to reach out to private sector investors. The counties along the corridor are Usian Gishu, West Pokot and Turkana.
The approach of implementing fibre and road construction at the same time is a new government initiative of integrated infrastructure development that is expected to save costs and speed up development.
Kenya, through the Ministry of ICT, has already entered into an MoU with South Sudan through the Ministry of Telecommunications and Postal Services on January 23, 2015 in relation to the construction of the fibre optic cable that will interconnect both countries.
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Despite challenges, Sub-Saharan Africa continues to remove barriers to women’s advancement: WBG report
Sub-Saharan Africa is a study in contrasts when it comes to women’s economic advancement, says the World Bank Group’s Women, Business and the Law 2016 report, released on 9 September.
The region hosts almost a third of the world’s 30 most restrictive economies and two of 18 economies where there are no legal barriers to women’s entrepreneurship and employment, as measured by the report.
And the region continues to make progress towards gender equality, with 16 economies making 18 reforms in the past two years. Sub-Saharan Africa was the greatest reformer amongst all regions of the world, in terms of number of economies undertaking reforms, says the biennial report, which examines legal and regulatory barriers to women’s ability to get a job and start a business. The latest edition covers 173 economies across the globe, including 41 in Sub-Saharan Africa, adding Equatorial Guinea; São Tomé and Príncipe; Seychelles; South Sudan; and Swaziland from the region.
The report finds that 18 economies in the world, including Namibia and South Africa, have no legal barriers to women in the areas monitored. Nigeria, Kenya and Ethiopia are also amongst the region’s economies with very few barriers in the areas monitored by the report.
The economies with the greatest barriers are Sudan, one of 10 most restrictive economies in the world, Mauritania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Guinea, Benin, Swaziland, and Senegal.
In Sudan, women are prohibited from certain jobs, including night work, and there are no legal provisions mandating equal remuneration for work of equal value for men and women or non-discrimination in hiring. Sudanese laws also impose a number of additional restrictions on married women, who are required to obey their husbands, cannot choose where to live or be head of household.
The report finds that 28 of the 41 Sub-Saharan African economies covered by the report continue to maintain restrictions that do not allow women to work in the same jobs as men.
Property rights also remain an impediment to wealth accumulation for women. Of the seven economies in the world that give sole right to the husband to administer joint marital property, six are in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Only 8 economies in the region have laws guaranteeing equal remuneration for work of equal value for men and women and nondiscrimination in hiring for jobs.
And, less than half of the economies have legislation to protect women against domestic violence. In the past two years, Mozambique made big strides in protecting women from violence by enacting a new penal code which no longer allows charges for rape to be dropped when the perpetrator marries the victim. The code also incorporates protections against sexual harassment in education.
Progress is being made on other fronts as well in the region. In the past two years, Kenya, Malawi and Zimbabwe established the legal age of marriage as 18 for boys and girls, while Sierra Leone has the highest percentage in the world of female justices on its constitutional court, at 60 percent.
The full report and accompanying datasets are available at http://wbl.worldbank.org
About Women, Business and the Law
Women, Business and the Law measures how laws, regulations and institutions differentiate between women and men in ways that may affect women’s incentives or capacity to work or to set up and operate a business. It analyzes legal differences on the basis of gender in 173 economies, covering seven areas: accessing institutions, using property, getting a job, providing incentives to work, building credit, going to court and protecting women from violence. The report is published every two years.
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International trade statistics: trends in second quarter 2015
G7 and BRIICS merchandise trade continues to slow in second quarter of 2015
Total G7 and BRIICS international merchandise trade, in current US dollars, continued to contract in the second quarter of 2015, with exports and imports declining by 0.9% and 1.2% respectively, compared with the previous quarter.
The slowdown in trade in the second quarter of 2015 was particularly marked in South East Asian economies, with exports and imports contracting in China (by 3.5% and 0.1%, respectively) as well as in Japan (by 4.4% and 5.4%) for the third consecutive quarter, and Indonesia (by 0.8% and 6.6%), for the sixth straight quarter.
Exports and imports in India rebounded slightly (up 0.6% and 3.4%) from the slump in the first quarter of 2015 but remain below previous 2011 lows.
Exports and imports also decreased markedly in Brazil (by 1.2% and 14.4%), and the Russian Federation (by 3.6% and 9.7%).
Exports rose by 4.3% in South Africa while imports contracted by 8.5%.
Similarly, exports grew by 0.5% in the United States and imports declined by 0.5%. While in Canada exports fell by 1.7% and imports rose by 1.8%.
In the United Kingdom, France and Germany, exports grew (by 4.1%, 1.0% and 1.4% respectively), while imports fell (by 0.1%, 0.3% and 0.9%). In Italy, export growth (0.5%) was outpaced by import growth (2.2%).
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COMESA to assist clearing agents integrate into regional trade
COMESA has invited Zambian freight forwarding companies to participate in piloting the implementation of the single customs bond in the country in order to understand its implication on regional transit trade.
The call was made by the Secretary General of COMESA Sindiso Ngwenya during a consultative meeting with freight forwarding companies and transport operators in Zambia. The meeting was also attended by representative of the Ministry of Trade and Commerce and the Commissioner General of the Zambia Revenue Authority.
In recent weeks, clearing and forwarding companies in Zambia have lobbied the government against implementing the Regional Customs Transit Guarantee (RCTG) otherwise known as the CARNET on the ground that it will lead to loss of business. The agents contend that the issuance of customs bond will eliminate the need for clearance of transit cargo at the border points where they derive their livelihood.
The RCTG is a customs transit regime designed to facilitate the movement of goods under customs seals in the COMESA region and to provide the required customs security and guarantee to the transit countries.
In allaying their fears, Mr Ngwenya said the regional bond provided immense business opportunities to the freight forwarding industry to participate more meaningfully in the regional trade. “At the moment, the clearing and forwarding companies in this country take up only 15% of transit traffic and transit trade,” Mr Ngwenya said. “With the introduction of the RCTG, you have the opportunity to issue the bond for both export and import cargo to all countries participating in the scheme.”
Regional countries including Tanzania (which is not a Member of COMESA) have already signed into the scheme.
Mr Ngwenya said the Zambian clearing agents stood to benefit through issuance of regional bonds for goods destined for warehousing in the country since the RCTG CARNET declarations will be issued locally and sent to Tanzania to move the cargo.
Zambia is a member of the “Dar Corridor” which includes DR Congo, Malawi and Tanzania which have all agreed to implement a “Single Customs Territory (SCT). The SCT is aimed at reducing the cost of doing business by eliminating duplication of process. This involves removal of road blocks, weigh bridges, frequent customs inspections and elimination of multiple customs declarations.
The Secretary General assured the stakeholders that COMESA will work with the government of Zambia to see how small scale freight forwards can be facilitated to participate more robustly in regional trade. This is to ensure that there are no losers in the implementation of the innovative technologies designed to unleash the immense potential in intra-regional trade.
The agents recommended for increased awareness on the RCTG scheme as well as study tours to the transport corridors that had successfully rolled out the system. In addition, they will engage with the Government to discuss possibility of a phased approach to the implementation of the RCGT to monitor how it will affect their business.
The RCTG is part of a toolkit of innovative trade facilitation instruments developed by COMESA over the years in line with the Protocol on Transit Trade and Transit Facilities provided in the COMESA Treaty. Under the Treaty, Member States are obliged to implement transit and customs measures to remove trade and transport barriers in the region.
COMESA Member States agreed to introduce RCTG to address the difficulties experienced by transport operators, freight forwarders and clearing agents and at the same time to offer Customs Administrations a secure regional system of control replacing the nationally executed practices and procedures.
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tralac’s Daily News selection: 10 September 2015
The selection: Thursday, 10 September
Ground-breaking declaration to curb illegal timber trade in East and Southern Africa (TRAFFIC)
The national forest agencies of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Madagascar and Mozambique have launched a historic declaration jointly to combat illegal timber trade in Eastern and Southern Africa, taking a significant step towards addressing this growing driver of forest loss. The declaration was launched at a side event in Durban, South Africa, at the XIV World Forestry Congress, one of the largest gatherings of world forestry leaders. The event was facilitated by TRAFFIC, WWF and the Southern African Development Community. “The Zanzibar Declaration signals a firm commitment by the five countries concerned to curtail the illegal and unsustainable timber trade that is benefitting criminals and depleting the natural resources of the region,” said Julie Thomson, TRAFFIC’s East Africa Programme Co-ordinator. There is growing intra-regional and inter-regional illegal trade of timber and other forest products flowing across Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Madagascar, Zambia, Mozambique, Malawi, as well as further towards the Western and Central Africa termed Africa’s "Green Heart." [Zanzibar Declaration]
DRC timber trade tracker (Global Witness)
Africa Day at the XIV World Forestry Congress (AU)
Official development finance for infrastructure by multilateral and bilateral development partners (OECD)
Key findings for 2013 include the following:
Total infrastructure investments in developing countries amounted to roughly USD 1 trillion a year, of which more than half was financed by developing country governments and a third by the private sector.
Official development partners generally financed 6-7% of infrastructure investments, which amounted to about USD 60 billion. Of the development partner financing, 46% was from bilaterals and 54% from multilaterals.
Among development partners, China, India, Turkey and Arab partners provided about 13% of total official support for infrastructure through south-south development co-operation. Among those reporting to the DAC, the top 10 development partners, which included multilaterals, G7 countries and Korea, provided over 80% of ODF to infrastructure.
Asia received half of ODF for infrastructure, Africa 28%, Americas 12% and Europe 10%. Lower Middle Income Countries received 43% of ODF to infrastructure, Upper Middle Income Countries 33%, and Low Income Countries 24%.
Transport received 45% of ODF to infrastructure, followed by energy at 32%, water & sanitation at 19%, and communications at 4%. Support for green infrastructure was 37% of ODF to infrastructure.
Note: Readers can access the extensive list of supporting documents, submitted to the G20 Finance Ministers meeting, with individual links for downloads, on pages 4-5 in the official G20 communique.
South Africa will become the sixth country, and the first in Africa, to host the International Renewable Energy Conference. Convened by the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21stCentury (REN21), IREC is a high-level political conference series hosted by a national government. Previous hosts include: Bonn (2004), Beijing (2005), Washington (2008), Delhi (2010), Abu Dhabi (2013). SAIREC 2015 will attract an estimated 6000 delegates from around the world. The event will be hosted from 4–7 October at Cape Town International Convention Centre, South Africa. [Further details can be obtained from the conference www]
African ministers attend China Energy Forum (CAJ News Agency)
Energy ministers from the continent are set to attend the upcoming fourth Annual Africa Infrastructure and Power Forum in China. The event is scheduled for the capital Beijing on October 15-16. EnergyNet is organising the event that once again partners with the China Africa Development Fund, who will be seeking new projects to receive some of the $5 billion under their management. Officials to attend are drawn from Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Namibia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Uganda.
Turkey's engagement in Sub-Saharan Africa: shifting alliances and strategic diversification (Chatham House)
This paper considers the nature, balance and effectiveness of Turkey’s expanded relationships in SSA. It examines the extent to which Turkish ‘soft’ power in SSA is a matter of policy design and therefore is reaping the benefits of strategic engagements, or whether it is instead the result of a confluence of cultural, trade and humanitarian engagements that have fed into the policy agenda. [The author: David Shinn]
India opens up services market to least developed countries (LiveMint)
Taking the lead among developing as well as developed countries, India on Wednesday opened up its services market to least developed countries (LDCs) by waiving business and employment visa fees for applicants from such countries. The Cabinet decision to provide preferential treatment in services trade to LDCs comes ahead of the Nairobi ministerial meet of World Trade Organisation countries in December where the decision is expected to be notified.
South Africa: Govt eyes business opportunities in DRC (SAnews)
"Currently, South Africa is the DRC's number one import source in the world at 21.40%. Total trade between South Africa and DRC is reflective of the regional trend that continues to characterise SA's trade with African countries. There is considerable growth in both exports and imports, however South Africa continues to dominate the terms of trade between the two countries," he said on Wednesday. Minister Davies said the trade initiative was aligned with the dti's post-conflict reconstruction strategy for the DRC, which also entails infrastructure rehabilitation and development, as well as the facilitation of investments into that country's economy by South African entities.
Tanzania: BoT backs illicit money flow watchdogs (IPPMedia)
The Bank of Tanzania wants uninhibited autonomy granted to financial institutions and agencies that monitor illicit financial flows in the country. In an exclusive with The Guardian, central bank Governor Prof Benno Ndulu also called for the watchdog institutions to be given human and financial support to enable them to operate more efficiently and effectively. He said Tanzania has in place independent government institutions and agencies responsible for preventing illicit financial flows and emphasised that they should be given candid independence if they are to discharge their duties as expected of them. Entities mandated to deal with IFFs in Tanzania are the Police Force, the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB), the Immigration Department, the Tanzania Revenue Authority and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). “Currently, the Bank of Tanzania, under Norwegian sponsorship, is undertaking a study on IFFs which is expected to be finalised in December 2015,” the Governor announced.
Zimbabwe: IMF staff conduct Second Review of Zimbabwe’s Staff-Monitored Programme (IMF)
Economic difficulties have intensified this year. Growth has slowed more than anticipated and we expect it to remain weak in 2015. Despite the favourable impact of lower oil prices, the external position remains precarious and the country in debt distress. The authorities are committed to laying the foundation for sustained strong, private sector-led growth. The policy reform agenda for the remainder of the SMP consists of the following major areas:
Domestic resource mobilisation spurs Zimbabwe, says Chinamasa (The Herald)
Nigeria: Why FG is against devaluation (ThisDay)
The presidency has thrown its weight behind the Central Bank of Nigeria on its decision not to devalue the naira and lift its currency curbs, which culminated in the decision on Tuesday by US investment bank JP Morgan & Chase to phase out Nigerian government bonds from its Government Bond Index for Emerging Markets (GBI-EM) by the end of October. Speaking on the issue to THISDAY on Wednesday, a top presidency official who preferred not to be named, said the CBN, Federal Ministry of Finance and Debt Management Office had the endorsement of the presidency in their joint statement reacting to JP Morgan’s announcement on the delisting of Nigeria’s bonds from its indices starting from September 30.
JP Morgan to remove Nigeria from government bond index (The Africa Report)
Kenya launches new global trade and investment campaign (CPI Financial)
The President of Kenya Uhuru Kenyatta has officially launched ‘Make it Kenya’, a new international brand campaign to promote investment. In addition to the new campaign brand, the launch included the activation of a new digital portal, MakeItKenya.com and supporting social media platforms. Make It Kenya aims to engage, inform and advise investors looking to invest into Kenya. The platform will offer the latest information on the country’s economic performance, sector-specific investment opportunities, and Government incentives and support available to global companies seeking to open or grow their business in Kenya.
Amina Mohamed: 'Kenya looking at the world, not east or west' (CapitalFM)
Uhuru assures Italian investors of easy access to visas (CapitalFM)
Multimedia: How Kenya can improve its cross border trade (CNBC Africa)
Namibia: Government looking at cheaper options than Kudu (New Era)
President Hage Geingob yesterday said he has ordered a review of the Kudu gas-to-power project. During an interactive town hall meeting at the Khomas Regional Council with members of the Windhoek business community, Geingob said government was working on less expensive options to provide reliable electricity for the country. He was responding to concerns raised by the business community through the Namibia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCCI) about the security of electricity supply, which is crucial for industries to thrive, and to attract investment.
Namibia: International treaties not being implemented – Cabinet (New Era)
Digital Jobs Africa Forum: partnerships and opportunities for digital jobs (World Bank Blogs)
In partnership with the Digital Jobs Africa Initiative, the World Bank has undertaken a number of activities to increase and enhance opportunities for digital job creation in Africa, including development of an information technology park in Ghana, capacity building for digitization of public records, and online work/microwork awareness building and training in Nigeria. Recently, the global online outsourcing study was also released to analyze the holistic picture of rapidly growing online outsourcing market (please visit www.ictforjobs.org for more information). [The author: Saori Imaizumi]
East Asia’s challenge: ensuring that growth helps poor (World Bank Blogs)
How can East Asia sustain strong growth and create better opportunities and more prosperity for everyone? The topic will be a central theme at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation finance ministers’ meeting to be held on Sept. 10-11 in the Philippines. Apec, with 21 member-economies from North and South America, Asia and the Pacific, and Russia, will discuss strategies for structural reforms and integrated approaches to build resilient and sustainable economies.
High-Level Forum on a Culture of Peace: UNGA debate summary
WASCOF urges ECOWAS to limit presidential term in West Africa (Leadership)
Zimbabwe: Crop target set (The Herald)
Companies struggle to comply with rules on conflict minerals (New York Times)
Vietnam, Egypt to increase trade value (Viet Nam News)
Tanzania: Govt resumes talks for $800m to support the shilling (IPPMedia)
European Union ratifies WTO Trade Faciliation Agreement (Borderlex)
AfDB, Japan sign private sector assistance loan (AfDB)
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Ground-breaking declaration to curb illegal timber trade in East and Southern Africa
The national forest agencies of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Madagascar and Mozambique on 9 September 2015 launched a historic declaration jointly to combat illegal timber trade in Eastern and Southern Africa, taking a significant step towards addressing this growing driver of forest loss.
The declaration was launched at a side event in Durban, South Africa, at the XIV World Forestry Congress, one of the largest gatherings of world forestry leaders. The event was facilitated by TRAFFIC, WWF and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
“The Zanzibar Declaration signals a firm commitment by the five countries concerned to curtail the illegal and unsustainable timber trade that is benefitting criminals and depleting the natural resources of the region,” said Julie Thomson, TRAFFIC’s East Africa Programme Co-ordinator.
There is growing intra-regional and inter-regional illegal trade of timber and other forest products flowing across Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Madagascar, Zambia, Mozambique, Malawi, as well as further towards the Western and Central Africa termed Africa’s “Green Heart”.
Kenya loses roughly US$10 million per year from illegal cross-border trade between Tanzania and Kenya, according to a 2012 study by the Tanzania Natural Resource Forum and East African Wild Life Society. Tanzania loses around US$8.33 million annually from such trade, according to a similar government report. A TRAFFIC study published in 2007 estimated overall annual royalty losses from illegal timber trade in Tanzania at US$58 million during 2004 and 2005.
“WWF welcomes the Zanzibar Declaration on Illegal Trade in Timber and Other Forest Products, the first such agreement of its kind in the region. The declaration comes at a crucial time. Illegal trade in timber is expanding at an alarming rate and this new commitment by governments will greatly amplify efforts to reduce such trade at the regional level,” said Geofrey Mwanjela, WWF Coastal East Africa Initiative Head of Terrestrial Programme.
The alarming growth in illegal timber trade challenges the effectiveness of current national and regional mechanisms to control illegality.
“Current national and regional mechanisms to control illegality are hindered by inadequate collaboration among national forest agencies and Customs agencies across the region. It is for this reason that WWF is providing support to forest agencies as they make this bold step towards significantly reducing illegal trade in timber and other forest products,” said Mr Mwanjela.
Globally, between 50-90 per cent of wood is harvested or traded illegally, according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and it is estimated to cost US$30-100 billion annually.“Forests continue to dwindle at unprecedented rates in our region,” said Juma S. Mgoo, Tanzania Forest Service Chief Executive Officer, adding that new strategies were needed “to claw back these losses…or there will be nothing left for our children and their children to enjoy.”
Today’s announcement is the outcome of long-term negotiations involving key stakeholders in the forestry sector, national forest agencies as well as regional and international partners and civil society organizations. Over the past three years, TRAFFIC and WWF have hosted a series of East Africa Timber Trade Stakeholders’ Forums.
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Bank of Tanzania backs illicit money flow watchdogs
The Bank of Tanzania (BoT) wants uninhibited autonomy granted to financial institutions and agencies that monitor illicit financial flows (IFFs) in the country.
In an exclusive with The Guardian, central bank Governor Prof Benno Ndulu also called for the watchdog institutions to be given human and financial support to enable them to operate more efficiently and effectively.
He said Tanzania has in place independent government institutions and agencies responsible for preventing illicit financial flows and emphasised that they should be given candid independence if they are to discharge their duties as expected of them.
Entities mandated to deal with IFFs in Tanzania are the Police Force, the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB), the Immigration Department, the Tanzania Revenue Authority and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).
“We also have regulatory agencies and authorities such as the Bank of Tanzania, Capital Market and Securities authority (CMSA),” he said.
Others are the Tanzania Insurance Regulatory Agency (TIRA), Social Security Regulatory Authority (SSRA), Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) and Surface and Marine Transport Regulatory Authority (SUMATRA).
“In addition, the Parliament has already enacted several laws to curb illicit financial flows, including the Ant-Money Laundering Act of 2006 as amended in 2012,” he noted.
“The Bank of Tanzania is in a move to enhance its supervisory and regulatory role especially in the area of money laundering and is working hand in hand with the FIU and PCCB and other regulatory bodies with the view of eliminating all forms of illicit financial flows in the country,” he said.
However, despite all these watchdogs, the director acknowledged that the problem of illicit financial flows continues to be a major deterrent to development efforts robbing the nation much need revenue.
He cited several studies to this effect including the Ndikumana, Boyce and Ndiaye (2015) that listed Tanzania as the eighteenth country over 39 countries in Africa with $14.7 billion of IFFs.
“Kar and Spanjers (2014) lists Tanzania as the 81st country over 145 countries, with an average IFF of $462 million and a cumulative IFFs of $4.6 billion in the period 2003-2012,” he added.
He said UNDP (2011) listed Tanzania as the twenty-second country over 45 least developed countries, with $2.29 billion in IFF, representing 2.88% of GDP annually in 1990-2008.
“The BoT would like to have a financial system that is safe, sound and stable. Illicit financial flows like money laundering, if left unchecked are likely to bring severe negative impact, socially, economically and politically in the country,’ he warned.
“Currently, the Bank of Tanzania under Norwegian sponsorship is undertaking a study on IFFs which is expected to be finalised in December 2015,” the Governor announced.
Detailing on the development, he said the study is being facilitated by International Consultants who are supervised by a Steering Committee comprised of members from various government ministries, departments and agencies.
The Bank of Tanzania is in a move to enhance its supervisory and regulatory role especially in the area of money laundering and is as well working hand in hand with FIU and PCCB and other regulatory bodies with a view to eliminate all forms of illicit financial flows in the country. As stated earlier, the recommendations from the study are expected to unveil new international best practices and methodologies in eradicating or minimising the problem.
Official development finance for infrastructure: Support by multilateral and bilateral development partners
The main objective of this study is to offer an overall picture of support by multilateral and bilateral development partners to development country infrastructure. By presenting an overview of the scale, distribution, and modality of development co-operation for infrastructure, the report is expected to contribute to discussions and further research in international fora on how to fill the financing gap, particularly by mobilising the private sector. However, the report does not generally make assessments against development objectives nor provide policy recommendations.
Infrastructure – and specifically, water and sanitation, transport, energy and communications – is fundamental in achieving economic growth, poverty reduction and human development. This is all the more relevant as production systems are increasingly taking place across continents, which requires scaling up infrastructure to connect developing countries with global value chains that could spur economic growth. However, with developing country populations expected to grow continuously in the decades ahead – and with high rates of urbanisation – there is wide recognition that current resources are insufficient to fill the infrastructure investment gaps of these countries.
Furthermore, the challenge will not only be supplying quantity, but also ensuring quality, as the threats posed by climate change necessitate the integration and promotion of low-carbon and climate-resilient technologies. This aspect is being highlighted in the United Nation’s Sustainable Developing Goals (SDGs) which point to the need of providing infrastructure that generates economic growth and human well-being, while mitigating and adapting to climate change. Ambitious goals have been set that will require significant efforts from all relevant stakeholders, notably governments, development partners and the private sector.
In particular, with investment needs in infrastructure at the scale of trillions in the decades ahead, mobilising private resources represents an important avenue to finance the investment gap. Although expenditures from the public sector will remain key, private participation has the potential to maximise available resources as well as provide expertise and innovation for development. At the same time, given the intrinsic risks of infrastructure investments, tighter global financial regulation, and poor enabling environment in developing countries, innovative strategies need to be devised in order to boost the contribution of the private sector.
The Group of Twenty (G20) is therefore increasingly paying attention to leveraging more resources to finance infrastructure, including for developing countries, through the Investment and Infrastructure Working Group (IIWG) and the Development Working Group (DWG). Both groups have been exploring modalities to foster investment by addressing bottlenecks at the upstream and downstream levels. The IIWG has particularly focused on identifying strategies to leverage the significant resources of institutional investors, such as pension funds and sovereign wealth funds. The Turkish Presidency in 2015 is notably working on the enabling environment for private sector participation in infrastructure through the DWG, with a special focus on Low Income Developing Countries. Moreover, to reduce investment bottlenecks, the G20 Australian Presidency in 2014 created the new Global Infrastructure Hub to act as a platform for mobilising public and private finance for infrastructure, including in developing countries.
To contribute to these global efforts, this report maps, measures and describes the activities of major development partners in financing infrastructure of developing countries, namely Official Development Assistance (ODA)-eligible recipient countries. While it gives a general overview of their infrastructure financing, it also focuses on development co-operation that concern mobilising private sector resources. The report includes data on the 50 major development partners that report to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Development Assistance Committee (DAC) at the activity level and in a harmonised manner. Furthermore, it provides estimates of official support by emerging economies that are playing key roles in development co-operation for infrastructure in other developing countries. The data mainly focus on Official Development Finance (ODF) of 2013 by bilateral and multilateral development partners, mostly in disbursements instead of commitments.
Key findings for 2013 include the following:
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Total infrastructure investments in developing countries amounted to roughly USD 1 trillion a year, of which more than half was financed by developing country governments and a third by the private sector.
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Official development partners generally financed 6-7% of infrastructure investments, which amounted to about USD 60 billion.
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Of the development partner financing, 46% was from bilaterals and 54% from multilaterals.
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Among development partners, China, India, Turkey and Arab partners provided about 13% of total official support for infrastructure through south-south development co-operation.
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Among those reporting to the DAC, the top 10 development partners, which included multilaterals, G7 countries and Korea, provided over 80% of ODF to infrastructure.
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Asia received half of ODF for infrastructure, Africa 28%, Americas 12% and Europe 10%.
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Lower Middle Income Countries received 43% of ODF to infrastructure, Upper Middle Income Countries 33%, and Low Income Countries 24%.
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Transport received 45% of ODF to infrastructure, followed by energy at 32%, water and sanitation at 19%, and communications at 4%.
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Support for green infrastructure was 37% of ODF to infrastructure.
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USD 34 billion was provided by development partners to support the enabling environment, both within infrastructure sectors and beyond for the general investment climate.
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Development Finance Institutions provided equity and loans of USD 5.9 billion to the private sector for infrastructure, mostly in UMICs.
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Development partners are also supporting Public-Private Initiatives such as Project Preparation Facilities, Project Facilitations Platforms and Blended Finance operations to leverage private investment for infrastructure.
This report presents comprehensive and generally harmonised data on financing for infrastructure by official development partners, mostly based on annual disbursements. By giving an overview of infrastructure financing comparable with annual expenditures or financing requirements for infrastructure, the expectation is to facilitate discussions on a more effective use of scarce public funds in filling the large infrastructure gap, which is crucial for developing countries to achieve sustainable development.
This report was received by the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors at their meeting of 4-5 September in Ankara, Turkey.
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Kenya launches new global trade and investment campaign
The President of Kenya Uhuru Kenyatta has officially launched ‘Make it Kenya’, a new international brand campaign to promote investment.
The campaign launch is part of a larger Kenyan effort to drive interest among global investors. According to the African Development Bank investment into Kenya than doubled to $1.2 billion in the past year.
Through the Make It Kenya campaign, Kenya will look to further enhance its position as an investment destination of choice, through activities that will promote the scale of opportunities across multiple business sectors, the organisation said in a statement.
President Kenyatta is in Milan to lead the Kenyan activities at Expo Milano’s dedicated Kenya week. He launched the new campaign at a VIP event at the Kenya House, an extension of Kenya’s Expo pavilion used to showcase the country’s assets in more detail.
In addition to the new campaign brand, the launch included the activation of a new digital portal, MakeItKenya.com and supporting social media platforms.
Make It Kenya aims to engage, inform and advise investors looking to invest into Kenya. The platform will offer the latest information on the country’s economic performance, sector-specific investment opportunities, and Government incentives and support available to global companies seeking to open or grow their business in Kenya.
As part of the Make It Kenya campaign, the country will continue to roll out a series of measures to enhance the ease and cost of doing business, with the Kenya Investment Authority (KenInvest) taking major steps to build positive investor sentiment. To facilitate growing global investor interest, KenInvest is set to open a one-stop-shop investor centre later this year in Nairobi.
The country is also hosting the Kenya International Investment Conference (KIICO) – now in its second year – on 23-25 November 2015 in Nairobi, as well as on-going trade delegations from key investment source markets around the world.
During the launch, President Kenyatta posted the first messages to Make It Kenya’s social media platforms and called on the people of Kenya to support the campaign.
“Our transformation agenda continues to establish Kenya as a model investment destination; attracting the world’s biggest names in business by building a framework, which offers major returns on investment. With Make It Kenya – we are sharing these success stories, our unrivalled business opportunities and extending our support to investors; telling the world in one unified voice, that our we are truly open for business,” he said.
“It is clear that for Kenya to continue its trajectory of economic growth, we need a nation brand that can compete internationally but also resonate with the people of Kenya. We know that our citizens are bold, entrepreneurial and innovative and this combination is undoubtedly a catalyst for international business growth,” he concluded.
KenInvest said in a statement that the timing for the launch had been coordinated by MEAACT to build on the success and positive feedback that the country has received following President Obama’s visit and the hosting of the 6th Global Entrepreneurship Summit, which has resulted in many global companies to refocus their interest in doing business in Kenya.
The Cabinet Secretary of East African Affairs, Commerce and Tourism, Phyllis Kandie, said, “Kenya’s rapidly growing portfolio of investment opportunities is capturing the attention of the global business community. With the launch of Make It Kenya, we will engage investors by offering practical information on how to enter the market to leverage the multi-sector, country-wide projects, which are positioning Kenya as the most attractive investment destination in Africa.”
Dr. Moses Ikiara, Managing Director of KenInvest added that the campaign’s aim is to emphasise the country’s strengths, including “the strong economic fundamentals, the strategic location, the human resource advantage over many competitors, and the numerous investment opportunities across all sectors and all parts of the country, among many others.”
Mary Kimonye, Brand Kenya CEO said, “As the custodians of Kenya’s brand, our responsibility is to develop and drive an identity that can balance our country’s ambitions towards modernity and economic dynamism while respecting our rich heritage, culture and values.
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tralac’s Daily News selection: 9 September 2015
The selection: Wednesday, 9 September
Featured tweet, @ECA_Lopes: #DYK: over 19m people use M-PESA in Kenya via a network of over 81K agents. That's 43% of the country’s GDP going through the system.
Experts review final drafts of AU Border Management Strategy (PM News)
A panel of experts on Border Management convened in Addis Ababa (3-4 Sept) to finalise the Draft African Union Strategy on Enhanced Border Management. An AU statement said the panel, organised by the AU Border Programme, was composed of experts on trade facilitation, migration, border security and cross-border cooperation from various Member States. The panel reviewed the draft strategy and made recommendations on its implementation, including a roadmap with a concrete action plan. The panel also made recommendations for the ratification of the AU Convention on Cross-Border Cooperation. [Draft African Union Strategy for Enhancing Border Management in Africa, 2012]
COMESA to assist clearing agents’ integrate into regional trade (COMESA)
COMESA has invited Zambian freight forwarding companies to participate in piloting the implementation of the single customs bond in the country in order to understand its implication on regional transit trade. In recent weeks, clearing and forwarding companies in Zambia have lobbied the government against implementing the Regional Customs Transit Guarantee (RCTG) otherwise known as the CARNET on the ground that it will lead to loss of business. The agents contend that the issuance of customs bond will eliminate the need for clearance of transit cargo at the border points where they derive their livelihood. In allaying their fears, Mr Ngwenya said the regional bond provided immense business opportunities to the freight forwarding industry to participate more meaningfully in the regional trade. “At the moment, the clearing and forwarding companies in this country take up only 15% of transit traffic and transit trade,” Mr Ngwenya said. “With the introduction of the RCTG, you have the opportunity to issue the bond for both export and import cargo to all countries participating in the scheme.”
ECOWAS launches Sahel database initiative (ECOWAS)
Experts from the Economic Community of West African States are meeting in Lome, 7-10 September, to strategize on a comprehensive data base initiative for Member States of Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria that are within the Sahel belt. The meeting which is to prepare grounds for the launch of a common database for the Sahel is expected to further pave the way for the emergence of the technical conditions for same in an integrated Sahel-Saharan region. The common data base initiative is expected to address the problem of lack of economic information, and data requirements for modeling and orientation decisions which are very important to planning and implementation of intervention within the Member States.
Mapping study on agro processing value chain, Tripartite support plan (AfDB)
The broad objective of the study is to map and analyse the competitiveness challenges in the value chain, explore the scope for value addition and joint investment opportunities in the value chain, and prepare Tripartite Support Plan for value chain development and upgrading. The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa now invites eligible consultancy firms to indicate their interest in providing these services.
Nigeria: FG sets up committees to reduce rejection of Nigeria’s non-oil exports (ThisDay)
Following the continuous cases of rejection of Nigeria’s exported products mostly in European countries, the federal government on Tuesday constituted two committees to reduce the level of rejection of non oil products exported from the country. This came as Nigerian exports across the world face intense scrutiny, with attendant rejection of such exports. The committees set up are the Trade Information, Export Procedure and Documentation committee; and the Capacity Building, Quality Standards and Compliance committee. Awolowo stated that the setting up of the committee is geared towards ensuring that Nigeria’s export are embraced given that the country is currently facing the most severe case of rejection of exported goods when compared to other countries within the ECOWAS sub region.
EU denies ban on Nigerian agricultural products (ThisDay)
The European Union Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS has refuted reports that the EU has banned the import of agricultural products from Nigeria. It however noted that the import suspension measure, which has been misconstrued, affected only dried beans. The EU statement read in part: “The reason for the import suspension measure of dried beans is that since January 2013 more than 50 rejections have been recorded at the EU border in relation to this product originating from Nigeria, nearly all of them reporting the presence of the unauthorised pesticide dichlorvos at levels largely exceeding the acute reference dose tentatively established by the European Food Safety Authority. This represents a rate of rejections of more than 70% of dried beans coming from Nigeria in the last two and a half years."
Destruction of US credibility at WTO (LiveMint)
The tenth ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization, to be held in Nairobi on 15-18 December, is already mired in discord, with negotiators unable to agree on a mandated post-Bali work programme. At issue are US and EU proposals to scrap the texts agreed to thus far in this interminable round of trade negotiations. Yet again, the developed world led by the US and the EU are pitched against developing countries led by India, China and Indonesia, who have over the past two years tried unsuccessfully to move towards the promise—made at the ninth ministerial conference in Bali in 2013—of a permanent solution to the public stock-holding issue in food security, while advancing the stalled Doha development round. [The authors: Timothy A. Wise, Biraj Patnaik]
Sixth African Grain Trade Summit: update (New Times)
Sudan: Five-year agriculture investment plan workship (Sudan Vision)
Kenya: Farmers fault move to empty maize reserves (Daily Nation)
Uganda, Kenya authorities to meet over sugar deal (StarAfrica)
Nigeria: Dwindling oil revenue and the NEXTT Project (Leadership)
Tim Benton, Rob Bailey: 'Extreme weather and food shocks' (New York Times)
European Union bans Mozambique goat meat (Club of Mozambique)
Kenya's private sector new consortium eyes big tenders (The Standard)
Kenya’s private sector has formed a consortium in a move to tap into billions of shillings worth of investment opportunities arising from the Northern Corridor Integration Projects. There are currently 16 mega projects identified under NCIP, top among them the Standard Gauge Railway, Lamu port, South Sudan Ethiopia Transport Corridor, oil refinery and pipeline infrastructure. “To enable the private sector fully participate in the investment opportunities available under NCIP, Kepsa has established an NCIP Consortium,” reads a statement released yesterday by the private sector lobby group. The new consortium is expected to pool private sector human and financial resources to enable local manufacturers and suppliers to compete with Chinese contractors and get a bigger slice of the region’s development. [Download: KEPSA's call for registration]
Uptake of East Africa’s single tourist visa increases (The Standard)
Since East Africa’s single tourist visa was launched in February last year, 4,000 visas have been issued. This is a month-on-month improvement from an average of 156 visas sold in the 10 months to December last year, to 305 this year.
Study finds Kenya losing ground to tourism rivals (The Standard)
South Africa: Tourism sector continues to decline (Business Day)
South Africa: DTI to fast track plans to address economic challenges (SAnews)
Briefing reporters following the Department of Trade and Industry’s presentation of its 2014/15 report to the Portfolio Committee of Trade and Industry, Minister Davies said that while the department’s programmes have made a positive contribution, this needs to be fast tracked. “Our conclusion is that this requires our programmes to move us up the value chain, the 9 point plan which is a combination of addressing short term constraints that we have in the South African economy and also making longer term adjustments in the structural base of our economy that this programme remains important. What is required is that we move faster to implement,” the Minister said on Tuesday.
ANC wants mining laws changed to ‘prevent resources leaving SA’ (News24)
South Africa's Mining Sector Consultative Forum: concluding remarks by President Zuma (GCIS)
Trade and climate change policy beyond 2015 (UNCTAD)
Many transnational corporations have put in place strategies to reduce the carbon footprints of their global value chains and thereby green such chains, including such companies as ACCIONA, Alcatel-Lucent, International Business Machines and Walmart. The greening of global value chains creates green income and job opportunities in a range of countries situated along the value chain; each country supplies inputs for which it is an internationally competitive producer. This creates opportunities for transnational corporations with global value chains to integrate developing countries into the chains they manage and for developing countries to build regional value chains, such as in agrifood industries. A forthcoming UNCTAD study on prospective regional value chains in the agricultural sector in Africa found that potential for such chains exists for rice, legumes, maize, cotton, palm oil, beef, dairy, poultry and fisheries as well as cassava, sorghum and millet. [Download]
Science, technology and innovation strategy for Africa 2024: update (AU)
The African Union Commission, NEPAD Agency and Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa jointly co-organized a consultative workshop on the implementation framework of the 'Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa 2024'. The workshop was held to elaborate and agree on the implementation framework of STISA-2024 and brainstorm on the implementation of priority one, on 'eradication of hunger and ensure nutrition and food security', a case of engaging FARA, CORAF, RUFORUM, ASARECA, and African Universities including PAULES, PAUBST, and other key institutions, the NEPAD Agency, RECs and specialized institutions of the AUC. [Download STISA-2024]
World's cities produce up to 10 billion tonnes of waste each year, UN study estimates (UNEP)
Inadequate waste management has become a major public health, economic and environmental problem, with 7-10 billion tonnes of urban waste produced each year and 3 billion people worldwide lacking access to controlled waste disposal facilities. Fuelled by population growth, urbanization and rising consumption, the volumes of waste are likely to even double in lower-income African and Asian cities by 2030, warns the Global Waste Management Outlook.
The Inclusive Growth and Development Report 2015 (WEF)
In its first edition, The Inclusive Growth and Development Report 2015 provides a new framework for stimulating growth that translates into broad-based improvements in living standards, touching all citizens. The online report includes comparative country profiles for 112 countries. These are like diagnostic scans of each country’s institutional enabling environment as it relates to social inclusion. The new benchmarking framework introduces over 140 quantitative indicators across seven pillars and 15 sub-pillars: [Download]
G20/OECD Principles of Corporate Governance
The G20/OECD Principles of Corporate Governance provide recommendations for national policymakers on shareholder rights, executive remuneration, financial disclosure, the behaviour of institutional investors and how stock markets should function. “In today’s global and highly interconnected world of business and finance, creating trust is something that we need to do together,” OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría said during a presentation of the new Principles with Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Cevdet Yilmaz, who chaired the G20 finance ministers meeting on 4-5 September in Ankara. [Various downloads available]
Zimbabwe: 8000 apply for job exports (The Herald)
Obasanjo calls for international efforts to stop African youths from emigrating to Europe (ThisDay)
Olusegun Obasanjo: 'Facing the facts about African illegal immigration to Europe' (Opinion Nigeria)
Buhari, Mahama agree to strengthen bilateral relations and improve regional security (Channels)
GUTA clashes with President Mahama over Nigerian traders waiver (CitiFM)
Malawi: It takes more than a good recipe to export biscuits (UNDP)
Africa Down Under conference: Julie Bishop on 'Boosting trade and investment with Africa' (DFAT)
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In Africa, those who bet on China face fallout
Economic slowdown in China exacerbates strain for trading partners in Africa
As the global oil-price slump passed its one-year anniversary in June, Angola’s President José Eduardo dos Santos booked a trip to Beijing.
The long-serving autocrat hoped fresh loans and investment from China, Angola’s top trading partner, would buoy his country’s oil-dependent economy through choppy waters, according to financiers who do business with his government. On a weeklong visit, he signed a deal for China to build a $4.5 billion hydroelectric dam and a series of other projects.
“China and Angola are good brothers and long-lasting strategic partners,” China’s President Xi Jinping said during meetings with Mr. dos Santos at the Chinese capital’s Great Hall of the People.
Now, Angola’s economic links to Beijing illustrate a broader problem across Africa: Nations that tied their fortunes to China find themselves hostage to its economy’s turbulence.
President Xi is straining to arrest an economic slowdown in China, and that is aggravating a painful correction for oil-rich Angola, Beijing’s top African trading partner.
Angolan importers are struggling to pay for critical items like medicine and grain. Moody’s Investors Service last week said rising government debt has put Angola at risk of a rating downgrade. Since January, the country’s kwanza currency has shed a quarter of its value against the U.S. dollar.
“Without the Chinese, there’s no money,” said one Angola-based financier, who said he feared retribution from Mr. dos Santos, whose family controls much of the economy. “The country hasn’t prepared itself by developing in other areas.”
While forging closer economic ties with China, Angola and others also sought to consolidate their political power and aspire to Beijing’s state-led growth model. But those that bet on China’s demand for their oil and iron ore are realizing Beijing might not always be buying – and might not be able to teach them how to hang on to power indefinitely, either.
In Zimbabwe, 91-year-old President Robert Mugabe has declared China’s currency, the yuan, official legal tender along with the U.S. dollar. In the past five years he has secured deals for Beijing to develop roads, telecom networks and farm projects worth some $4 billion.
Last week, in his first state of the nation address in eight years, he took a step back from that partnership.
“Government recognizes the importance of strengthening re-engagement with the international community,” Mr. Mugabe said, in a sharp reversal of the “Look East Policy” – tethering the economy to Beijing as a way to free it from Western meddling – that he had long touted.
In Zambia, Zimbabwe’s neighbor to the north, successive democratic governments have had a love-hate relationship with the Chinese miners tapping the country’s rich copper deposits. As Beijing’s appetite for the metal cools, firms say they may lay off thousands of workers and abandon expansion plans.
“As China rebalances toward a consumer-led growth model, Africa clearly needs to rebalance as well,” said Martyn Davies, managing director for emerging markets and Africa at Deloitte-Frontier Advisory in Johannesburg. “The question is from commodity-driven to what? Anybody thinking that China’s model was transplantable to Africa was naïve to begin with.”
To be sure, China’s vast economic presence on the continent extends beyond commodities trade and its leading role in developing energy and transport infrastructure on behalf of African governments seems to be better shielded from escalating financial troubles at home.
The largest economies in East Africa have less to fear, investors there say, because Chinese contractors are building huge infrastructure projects that look all the more appealing to Beijing.
In Kenya, a $3.8 billion China-led project to build a railway from the port of Mombasa to Nairobi and onward to other East African capitals is going full steam ahead.
Aly Khan Satchu, chief executive of Nairobi-based Rich Management, called it “the Holy Grail of Chinese projects in Africa.”
A state-owned Chinese bank is also funding a light-rail network under construction in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa. “Their investment isn’t affected by the maelstrom in commodities or oil,” Mr. Satchu said.
But such projects are a big strain on the finances of relatively isolated African economies confronting waning risk appetite among global investors. If the bill for Chinese-built construction projects balloons drastically, countries like Kenya and Ethiopia could be made more vulnerable by their ties to China.
“Project execution would have to be flawless – an unlikely scenario, even more so if there is a slowdown from China,” said Ahmed Salim, a senior analyst for East Africa with Teneo Intelligence consultancy.
Africa’s largest economies, meanwhile, rely heavily on China’s demand for oil, diamonds and other minerals, so a deeper downturn in the east could take a big bite out of the continent’s economic trajectory overall. “South Africa has this urge to please the Chinese and to see the Chinese developmental model as almost perfect,” said Mzukisi Qobo, a political scientist and former director in South Africa’s trade ministry.
John Ashbourne of Capital Economics expects sub-Saharan Africa to average 3.3% this year, after clocking 5.4% average growth for a decade. “This will be a very difficult year,” he said.
In South Africa, the ruling African National Congress has matched tighter trade ties to China with bold diplomatic overtures. Last October the Dalai Lama canceled a trip to South Africa after failing for a third time to obtain a visa from South African authorities. China has long considered the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader a separatist and has discouraged world leaders from meeting with him.
South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma arrived in Beijing on Wednesday, his second visit to China in less than a year, to attend a parade marking 70 years since the defeat of invading Japanese forces there.
Now, with cracks in the Chinese model widening, South African executives say they are paying the price for betting too heavily on China’s rise. With factories and mines reeling from China’s waning demand, the government said recently that South Africa’s economy contracted 1.3% in the second quarter.
“This caught us with our pants down,” said Vusi Khumalo, president of South Africa’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
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Africa in the Global Outlook: Too Big To Fail, address by Kofi Annan
Address by Kofi Annan, a former UN Secretary General, at the Ambrosetti Forum in Italy
As we are meeting in Italy, we should perhaps recall the words of the Roman philosopher Pliny the Elder who observed that “There’s always something new coming out of Africa”.
And I am not referring to the tragic refugee situation, although let me praise those European leaders, like Chancellor Angela Merkel or Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, who have been brave enough to put principles above politics.
Their countries are taking on the bulk of asylum seekers entering Europe.
The Italian people too have manifested solidarity and humanity towards the desperate refugees who have reached their shores.
Africa is actually finally “rising”. Over the past fifteen years, the continent as a whole has chalked up more than 5% growth per annum. This has reduced absolute poverty and created a growing middle class.
And the Continent’s growth can no longer be explained just by high global demand for its bountiful commodities either, although, of course, the recent slowdown in major emerging markets, China in particular, is worrying.
It will be particularly challenging for the many African countries that did not plan for a rainy day.
Nevertheless, what is really noteworthy is that two thirds of Africa’s growth over the last decade actually came from increased domestic demand in thriving sectors such as telecoms, financial services, manufacturing and construction.
As a result, today, inflows of private investment dwarf international aid.
They have been encouraged by the efforts of governments across Africa to improve their macro-economic environments.
Democracy has spread and modern information and communications technologies have enabled citizens to become more engaged and empowered.
We have seen encouraging progress towards the emancipation of women, and the continent is on track to achieve universal primary education.
The spread of HIV/AIDS is in decline, and the number of deaths from tuberculosis and malaria is falling.
So, overall, our continent is moving in the right direction. But progress remains uneven, and we cannot ignore the many serious challenges still facing Africa.
I see six key challenges that will determine Africa’s future place in the world order: demography; inequality; infrastructure; agriculture; integration; and leadership.
Demography
First a few words about demography. On current trends, Africa’s population will more than double by 2050 and may even triple by the end of the century.
I should emphasise that these projections are based on current rates of fertility and mortality that are likely to change as the continent develops.
This demographic growth should ensure that Africa’s economies continue to be among the most dynamic in the world for decades to come, creating countless opportunities for entrepreneurship.
But obviously, this population explosion will also place huge strains on the Continent’s limited capacity to feed, educate and employ its people.
African governments and their international partners should work together to ensure that sustainable and inclusive development take hold.
This is the only way to create jobs, particularly for the young.
If they can have meaningful lives at home they would have no incentive to look for greener pastures at great risk.
Inequality
The second and closely related challenge for Africa is poverty, which is exacerbated by inequality.
According to the World Bank, six out of 10 most unequal countries in the world are located in Africa. Very little wealth is effectively taxed.
This concentration of private wealth in Africa may to some extent explain why the continent’s health and education, the building blocks of development, are in such a poor state.
In other words, taxing and redistributing wealth is not just a social justice issue: it is a key development necessity.
Infrastructure
The third challenge is Africa’s infrastructure deficit, which is a fundamental impediment to development.
Besides the woefully inadequate road and rail networks, energy production in particular, which is the focus of my Africa Progress Panel’s report for 2015, is a huge obstacle to economic growth and social progress.
Over six hundred millions Africans have no access to electricity at all.
Energy is mostly provided through wasteful generators, even in the continent’s biggest oil exporter, Nigeria. This drives up costs for businesses, particularly in manufacturing, making many uncompetitive by global standards.
But as the continent develops, it ought not add to the world’s existing stock of CO2. Boosting the use of Africa’s vast renewable energy resources must therefore be at the heart of its energy transformation.
Scaling up the supply of clean energy in the region offers a triple dividend – reducing poverty and inequality, promoting economic prosperity and safeguarding the sustainability of our planet.
Agriculture
Fourth, I want to talk about agriculture.
Africa imports USD34bn’s worth of food, most of which it could produce itself.
Despite these imports, two hundred and forty million people in sub-Saharan Africa are still chronically short of food.
Without action, these numbers will only get worse because of climate change and demographic growth.
Yet Africa’s farmers, most of whom are smallholders, have huge potential for higher productivity. Grain yields are around one half or one third of the world’s average.
Through my Foundation’s African Farmers Initiative, I am promoting a partnership between farmers, governments, the private sector, international organisations, foundations, and research institutions aimed at improving productivity and nutrition.
At the same time, I am urging developed countries to remove unfair trade barriers and eliminate harmful agricultural export subsidies.
If the right policies are implemented, feeding Africa can become very profitable and employ millions of young Africans – not only on farms but also in food processing and distribution.
Integration
Another key challenge for the continent’s future is economic integration.
Our continent has too many small countries with even smaller economies, some landlocked, which makes it hard for them to thrive individually.
So we need to create economies of scale through regional trade and infrastructure agreements and projects.
According to the UN’s Economic Commission for Africa, the continent could gain over USD300bn within a decade if it implemented a Continental Free Trade Area.
And regional integration is not only an economic issue: if Africa is to exercise influence in international affairs commensurate with its size and population, it will need more regional coherence.
Leadership
While all the factors I have just mentioned are critical, the single most important factor that will continue to determine Africa’s trajectory is the quality of leadership and governance.
I am afraid Nelson Mandela’s example of selfless and principled leadership has not been widely emulated by his peers.
The continent has had too many leaders who have traded in identity politics and hung on to power long after their mandates expired.
Part of the problem is that leaders on the continent have too often been able to insulate themselves from the judgement of their people.
Elections, which have become almost universal in Africa, have not always met the test of legitimacy, creating, as a consequence, tension and violence instead of preventing it.
Electoral integrity is a major preoccupation of my Foundation and not only in Africa. We are working with political parties and civil society groups in a number of countries to ensure that elections become peaceful mechanisms for adjudicating political competition and change.
One of the consequences of bad leadership has been rampant corruption.
The AU estimates that Africa as a whole loses about USD 148bn to corruption annually, i.e. about a quarter of its GDP.
Naturally, it takes two to tango and it is undeniable that foreign firms are complicit in this haemorrhage, particularly in extractive industries, as the Africa Progress Panel has documented.
Conclusion
Ladies and Gentlemen, as you have heard, the challenges are enormous. But so too are the opportunities.
I am pleased to say that I sense a new spirit of optimism in Africa that I have not felt since I was a young man at independence.
Africa is making progress and gradually overcoming the heavy legacies of slavery, colonialism and its own post-colonial mistakes.
So let me conclude by again citing Pliny the Elder who remarked that:
“Hope is the pillar that holds up the world. Hope is the dream of a waking man”.