With the headquarters situated in Accra, the capital city of the Republic of Ghana, the Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is now attracting a special business focus for both African countries and foreign countries. For foreign countries, it is an opportune time to strengthen bilateral economic cooperation and install joint manufacturing clusters inside Africa. Some African countries are focusing on combining resources to step up production and distribution of high-quality commodities, as under the designed regulations goods and products can circulated across borders without taxes – one of the conditions under the newly established African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). In that direction, Ghana has witnessed unprecedented number of high-powered foreign visitors. Early August, it hosted a huge business forum during the three-day official visit of President João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço of Angola. That oil-rich country is located on the west coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking country in both total area and population (behind Brazil), and is the seventh-largest country in Africa. According to official documents, President João Lourenço visited at the invitation of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. It was a reciprocal visit for President Lourenço, as in August 2019, he first invited President Akufo-Addo. During their meeting at the Jubilee House, the seat of the presidency, both leaders expressed the highest desire to strengthen and deepen their bilateral ties between both countries. The agreement signed allows for a consultative mechanism for Ghana and Angola to interact regularly on areas of...

The region is working on strengthening partnerships between the private sector and EAC Partner States. In Summary EAC Secretary General said that there was need for a coordinated approach in handling Covid-19 in the region. Mathuki also noted that the EAC Secretariat is working on reviewing the Treaty for the establishment of the EAC. Kenyan private sector players have expressed optimism in making steps towards recovery of Covid-19, following a commitment by the East African Community Secretariat to jointly invest in vaccine manufacturing in the region EAC Secretary General, Peter Mathuki, said that there was need for a coordinated approach in handling Covid-19 in the region and emphasized on the need for local production of vaccines. “EAC is working on strengthening partnerships between the private sector and EAC Partner States’ governments, to jointly establish investment in vaccine manufacturing, to ensure the region can produce and avail vaccines to East Africans,” Mathuki said. Speaking during a CEO roundtable breakfast meeting organised by the East African Business Council (EABC), in Nairobi, Kenya, Mathuki also noted that the EAC Secretariat is working on reviewing the Treaty for the establishment of the EAC. The EAC Treaty entered into force on July 7, 2020 following its ratification by the the Republic of Kenya, the Republic of Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania “There is a need for a comprehensive review of the Treaty and other legal instruments to reflect current EAC membership and provide mechanisms of resolving ongoing challenges. I am optimistic that there...

In 2015, the United Nations embraced a global call to action to protect the environment with a robust framework for global sustainable development. This motion birthed the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a collection of 17 interwoven global goals carefully designed to balance social, economic, and environmentally sustainable development across the world by 2030. The SDGs or Global goals were developed as a Post-2015 Development Agenda to improve the activities carried out in Millennium Development Goals, which ended in 2015. The global indicator framework for Sustainable Development Goals was developed by the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on SDG Indicators (IAEG-SDGs) and agreed upon at the 48th session of the United Nations Statistical Commission held in March 2017. On July 6, 2017, the SDGs were made more actionable by a UN Resolution adopted by the General Assembly. The resolution identifies each goal and indicators that are used to measure progress toward each target. The timeline for each target is usually between 2020- 2030, while other targets are to continue in perpetuity. SDG 2 – Zero Hunger SDG 2 aims to end hunger, increase food security, end malnutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture. This requires sustainable food production systems and resilient agricultural practices, land use mapping, disaster management, and international cooperation on investments in infrastructure and technology to boost agricultural productivity. The UN has since developed 14 indicators and eight targets to measure the progress of SDG 2, and these targets are then divided into the outcome targets and the methods of achieving the targets....

While several senior positions within global business and government continue to follow patriarchal lines, online trading is for everyone, and more women are continuing to change the status quo of the previously male-dominated industry. Female participation in online trading is steadily increasing, and according to INFINOX’s insights, Quarter 2 of 2021 recorded a 291% increase compared to the same quarter a year prior. Notably, younger female clients are also getting involved in trading, with 71% of them under the age of 40, and 39% under 30. This can be attributed to the impact of technology on the industry and the rise of social trading apps such as INFINOX’s IX Social platform. The social element of the platform has provided women with the opportunity to interact with other traders, bringing them together and allowing them to share trading experiences in a relaxed environment. It allows traders to discuss ideas and trades, and in an industry that is overloaded with information, being able to dissect the right information is crucial for the decision making process. The pivotal point of the platform is that it allows traders to access financial markets from anywhere and at any time across the world from the comfort of their mobile devices. Research by the University of Tilburg, Netherlands, suggests that women are more risk-averse than their male counterparts, a good trait to have in the world of trading. It is also thought that men are more likely to hold on to a losing trade, while women tend...

What you need to know: Farmers must stop one-crop cultivation systems and diversify. They need to keep animals, plant multi-purpose trees, store water, make and use compost and do rotational farming even on small pieces of land. The criticality of the agricultural sector to the economic transformation of Africa and the East African region cannot be gainsaid. It is fitting that the region is participating in the food systems summit discussions that are being held as a prelude to the big UN Summit on the same in New York next month. While discussions about foregrounding agricultural development, investing more in the agricultural value chain and ensuring that farming is done in a sustainable manner are not new, the unhappy fact is that the resolve to execute on commitments that have been made – like the 2014 Malabo agreement under which African governments agreed to commit at least 10 per cent of their national budgets to agriculture – are yet to be met almost two decades since. During last Thursday’s Nation Leadership Forum, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) President Agnes Kalibata was passionate that investments must be made in agriculture to ensure the systems that support agricultural transformation work efficiently. The smallholder farmer, that most central cog in Africa’s agricultural wheel, must have access to improved inputs (seeds, fertilizers, extension services for improved agronomic practices and post-harvest management), access to inclusive finance and to markets. All these can only exist sustainably within progressive and robust policy environments, which...

Is there anyone in this globalized world today who hasn’t been affected by the COVID 19 crisis? As cliché as it might sound, probably not. All of us have been affected one way or another. While the level of suffering is not the same, everyone’s confidence has been badly shaken. But first, let’s recap the basic facts. A year has now passed since the world was hit by the pandemic. Officially, things are getting worse with a new variant on the rise but there is hope that vaccines and the newfound supportive treatments will deliver some much-needed relief. But we are far from a full recovery. The average person on the street is sensing danger. More worryingly, unemployment figures also paint a stark picture. The International Labour Organization estimates that, since the beginning of the crisis, 155 million full-time jobs have been lost globally. But worse is still to come. It is tempting however to consider: How might standards help? What would occur if standards were used more widely? The answer is clear: a lot. Quite a lot would be different. And this is not speculation. We know it because interesting research from organizations such as the World Bank and the International Trade Centre shows time and again that standards can make a positive difference. Research shows that global standards can boost commerce. This can help create the jobs we so badly need to alleviate poverty and ensure higher standards of living for all. The question remains, however: Is there...

AS several countries across Africa continue to be impacted by third and fourth waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, the latest AFRI CONVERSE 2021 dialogue took a closer look at innovative local initiatives and the ongoing international support to bolster the continent’s response to the virus. Approximately 18 months since the outbreak of the pandemic, over 2.5 million people in Africa have been infected and the death toll is in the tens of thousands. A recent United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) study warned that by 2030, approximately eight out of 10 people pushed into poverty due to COVID-19 will live in countries on the lower end of human development, with the heaviest burden falling on Africa. And yet, in spite of the harsh impact of the pandemic on livelihoods, the continent has demonstrated extraordinary resilience across various sectors when compared to the other regions of the world. Opening the fourth instalment of the AFRI CONVERSE dialogue this year, Professor Tomohiko Sugishita, from the Department of International Affairs and Tropical Medicine at the Tokyo Women’s Medical University said, “this session is a wakeup call for us to examine Africa’s ingenuity, productivity and capacity to mitigate the pandemic, as well as determine how we can support such opportunities in building a new future for the continent.” “To boost the efforts taken by our partner countries in Africa and other parts of the world in response to the pandemic, JICA has launched JICA’s Initiative for Global Health and Medicine focusing on treatment, precaution, and...

Summary While some Ugandans cite lack of knowledge on the dangers of using kavera, others claim enforcement could be sabotaged by lack of its alternatives. A cabinet decision to reinstate the ban on manufacturing, use, and importation of polythene bags, commonly known as kavera, has attracted mixed reactions across the country with authorities fearing that lack of knowledge and the absence of alternatives to replace it could frustrate implementation. Through a Cabinet meeting early last week, the government expressed renewed commitment to phase out kavera once and for all. It is the second time the government is banning the use of polythene bags. In July 2009, once approved by Parliament, the government imposed a total ban on plastic bags “for the conveyance of goods and liquid to protect our environment”. The then State minister for Environment, Ms Beatrice Anywar, while addressing the media last week, warned that this time round, nothing would frustrate the implementation and that the ban took immediate effect. “The production, importation, and the use of polythene bags in this country called Uganda is banned,” Ms Anywar told the media, adding that the ban was one of the Cabinet resolutions that are intended to safeguard the environment. Ms Anywar’s proclamation comes several years after the aforementioned Finance Bill was passed. But, more than 10 years later, the ban has failed to be implemented effectively. Although Ms Anywar stated that the Finance Act 2009, under which polythene use was banned in the country, had to be effected this...

Hargeisa, 4th August 2021:  Somaliland Quality Control Commission (SQCC) launched 16 quality Standards of the most traded goods with the aim of supporting local industries tap into regional markets. The 16 standards are among the first for the country and cover the following sectors: Oils Seeds, Edible Fats and Oils, Cereals, and pulses; Livestock and livestock products; and beverages. TradeMark Africa (TMA) provided support to SQCC for the development and harmonisation, adoption, and dissemination of conformity assessment product standards for the priority sectors with the potential to be traded within the Eastern Africa region. The project was funded by UKAID’s Foreign Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) and technical assistance provided by British Standards Institution (BSI). In the absence of harmonised standards, enterprises face challenges while exporting and accessing markets due to the technical product requirements of the local or destination market. Such requirements include the need for goods to comply with quality, health and safety and sustainability standards as well as the associated conformity assessment procedures. Failure to adhere to these technical requirements result to higher transaction costs, longer time to access export markets and loss of economic opportunities. Somaliland’s adoption of the 16 standards, will help overcome some of these challenges. It  is also timely as the newly enforced Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) provides a platform for liberalisation of movement of goods and services within the AfCFTA framework; offering opportunities for enterprises that comply with technical regulations, voluntary standards,  and Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures. Intentional commitment by...

Dutch Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) H.E. Jolke Oppewal toured the port of Kalundu on Friday July 30th, 2021.The visit was to assess progress of a Port rehabilitation project funded by the government of Netherlands through TradeMark Africa. The envoy expressed optimism for peace and stability in Kalundu and environs, noting that this was key for social economic development of the region, observing that instability was slowing down key projects. The ambassador also called on all actors to work together to foster peace in the region. The Manager in Charge of the Port, Shabani Kyalumba thanked the Dutch Government and TradeMark Africa for their commitment towards rehabilitation of the second port in DRC. He explained that Phase 1 of the current project involved dredging the port which had last been dredged in 1998. Phase 2 which is expected to now commence will entail construction of an administrative block to house all government agencies working at the port, install modern surveillance and lighting services and as well as fence the Port. Speaking during the visit, the Mayor of Uvira Kiza Muhato hailed the project as one that would improve the trading capabilities of the region. The mayor also called on the Dutch government to support improve port accessibility, especially upgrading of the road linking the Port of Kalundu and Bukavu town and consider provision of handling equipment at the port to enhance quick evacuation of cargo. [download id="60512"]