In Summary Through this new Finnish funding, TMA will scale up support to governments to adopt ICT for Trade systems in key trade agencies. TMA has laid frameworks and forged partnerships to support multimodal transport corridors which reduce costs associated with trade. TradeMark Africa (TMA) and Finland have signed a financial agreement worth €10.5 million(Sh1.38billion) that will help in supporting regional trade and the fight against Covid-19. Through this new Finnish funding, TMA will scale up support to governments to adopt ICT for Trade systems in key trade agencies that contribute to the successful implementation of National Single Window. TMA is focussed on reducing non- tariff barriers that hinder trade within the East Africa region. It has laid frameworks and forged partnerships to support multimodal transport corridors which not only reduce costs associated with trade, but also reduce the carbon footprint of transport. Ministry of East Africa and Regional Development PS Kevit Desai appreciated Finland’s continued support to promoting efficient and increased trade in the region and the continued fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. “The TMA Kenya Country Programme has facilitated interventions to reduce transport time and increase import and export volumes in Kenya. This has directly contributed to Kenya’s consistent improvement in the trading across borders,” said Desai. Efforts will go towards supporting digital trade corridors, safe sanitary and phytosanitary trade corridors and bolster trade remedies structures at national, regional and continental levels. Support will also be channelled towards investments in standards quality, setting up infrastructure centres of excellence,...

In Summary If AGRA has evidence to refute our findings, it should share those results so participating governments, donors, and farmers can assess their investments in the project If, on the other hand, AGRA has not gathered the data to monitor its expensive interventions, that could be even worse When are African governments, donors, and African farmers going to demand some accountability from the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa? Fourteen years into this billion-dollar donor initiative to revolutionise African farming, and now past the 2020 endpoint for its goals of doubling yields and incomes for 30 million smallholder farmers, AGRA finally published internal country monitoring and evaluation reports from early last year. I reviewed all 1,365 pages of those documents, unearthed in Freedom of Information Act requests to the US Agency for International Development after AGRA refused to provide them. They show no progress toward AGRA’s top-line goals. The absence of impact data in AGRA’s 11 recent country Outcome Monitoring reports, with no reference to results from its first 10 years of Green Revolution promotion, suggests either that those results are so poor the organisation does not want to reveal them or that it has never bothered to track progress toward its main goals. It is hard to know which is worse. If AGRA is concealing evidence that its well-funded interventions, backed by massive African government subsidies for farmers to purchase commercial seeds and fertilisers, are failing to produce the intended results, it is defrauding donors, participating governments,...

One of the unsung highlights of Finance Minister Tito Mboweni’s Budget 2021 speech was his announcement that the border posts at South Africa’s six busiest land borders were to be upgraded and expanded. It was also heartening to hear that these one-stop border posts will be developed using a public-private partnership model, as fresh ideas, capital, skills and system innovation are sorely required. It was even more encouraging to learn that Beitbridge, which was built in 1929 and last upgraded in 1995, will be the first to receive an overhaul so as to “eliminate the dreadful scenes we witnessed recently”. Although there is some dispute as to whether the congestion at the Zimbabwe-South Africa border could be blamed directly for several deaths during the recent peak crossing period in December/January, the blockages were nevertheless deeply dehumanising and economically debilitating. Holiday travellers in taxis and private vehicles lacked food, water and basic ablution facilities as some of them waited days, rather than hours, to cross. The gridlock also came at a high cost to those freight companies that hoped to use the crossing to shorten their trips to the Zimbabwe market. From a pure economic perspective, however, the sooner more streamlined infrastructure and systems are introduced to facilitate freight movement at all these land borders, the better. Absent such an overhaul, it will not be possible for South African firms to fully begin tapping the trade opportunities opening up to them as a result of the implementation earlier this year of...

COMESA and Ethiopia have signed a 5.6 million Euro sub-delegation agreement to improve coordinated border management, trade and transport facilitation at the Moyale and Galafi border posts. Moyale and Galafi borders link Ethiopia on one hand to Kenya and Djibouti on the other respectively. The project will assist Ethiopia to upgrade the single window service system, to increase inter- agency connectivity and to improve the connectivity of the two customs systems. The project is funded by the European Union under the COMESA Trade Facilitation Programme. The State Minister of Trade and Industry of Ethiopia, H.E. Ambassador Mesganu Arga, and COMESA Secretary General, Ms. Chileshe Kapwepwe separately signed the sub-delegation agreement. The EU will also finance the construction of the main building of the One Stop Border Post (OSBP) at the Ethiopian Galafi border post. Other components of the project include capacity building, training of the agencies’ staff present at the borders and holding of sensitization workshops. Appreciating the European Union for the support rendered, the State Minister said: “The support is timely as the Ethiopian government desires to build on the current trade facilitation effort that will enhance the efficiency and ultimately reduce the cost of doing business as Ethiopia grapples with the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.” The State Minister also thanked the COMESA Secretary General and her staff for the technical support rendered during the development of Ethiopia’s project. Explaining the modalities of implementation of the sub-delegated activities, the Secretary General said it is envisaged the Ethiopian...

The introduction of the multi-agency concept of operation at all Ports of entry into Kenya has led to reforms that are bearing fruit in terms of efficient logistics, revenue growth and promoting regional integration. The rollout has ushered in a new era in the border management regime, and further builds on Kenya’s efforts to modernise its ports’ operations by setting up of One-Stop Border Posts (OSBP) at the points of entry; a move intended to minimise obstacles to facilitate free movement of goods and services. This approach was set in motion in August 2020, when President Uhuru Kenyatta signed an Executive Order merging operations at Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) and Kenya Pipeline Corporation (KPC). The order provided the guideline for the management of the agencies under the umbrella of Kenya Transport and Logistics Network, and to be coordinated by the Industrial and Commercial Development Corporation. This merger is among the reforms initiated by the current administration to ease inter-agency collaboration. Since the implementation of the changes at KPA, there has been a rise in revenue collection has been manifesting. For instance, in the financial year 2020/2021, profit is expected to go up. KPA has so far realized increased profit by more than KShs3 billion. Statistics show that the total capital and reserves have almost doubled in the past year. KShs8.402 billion These changes have in addition positively impacted Customs revenue for December 2020 which was the highest ever monthly revenue collection in KRA’s history, amounting to...

The distinctive campaign named ‘30 days of women in business’ will run on radio and social media channels over the next one month, and aims to promote the platform in Member States where COMESA is implementing the 50 Million African Women Speak Project The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) has launched a regional campaign to popularise a platform for women in a business known as 50 Million African Women Speak (50MAWSP). The platform is an information and networking hub for women which provides a one-stop-shop for them to start, grow and scale up their businesses and to access financial and non-financial services. The distinctive campaign named ‘30 days of women in business’ will run on radio and social media channels over the next one month, and aims to promote the platform in Comoros, Djibouti, DR Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Eswatini, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Seychelles, Sudan, Tunisia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe—the Member States where COMESA is implementing the 50 Million African Women Speak Project. The campaign invites women in the region to log onto the platform at www.womenconnect.org or to download the 50MAWSP app from the Google or Apple stores. To participate, women will be required to register on the platform and to then submit short stories about their most admired businesswomen giving the reasons why, and what they would tell them if they had a chance to meet them in person. The most compelling of these submissions will be published on the platform and those who submitted them...

Summary East African Business Council says EAC have potential of earning $10b annually from trade with DRC, but most of this is being lost to China. The East African Community member states are eyeing the Democratic Republic of Congo market of 86.7 million people and are eager to have the vast country join the bloc. In what was seen as fast-tracking of the DRC application of June 2019, the recently concluded EAC heads of state summit directed the Council of Ministers to undertake the verification mission to Kinshasa and report to the next summit, while the application of Somalia that has been pending since 2012, was again pushed to the back burner. Harold Acemah, a retired Ugandan diplomat, said that the proposal to send a mission to DRC is timely and it will help EAC avoid the mistake made with South Sudan which is not yet ready for full membership of the community. Adherence to Treaty “DRC has enormous economic and financial potential which is good for EAC, but the political situation in DRC is fluid and fragile. One hopes that membership of EAC will help to stabilise the political situation in DRC,” said Mr Acemah. However, Mr Acemah says the EAC leadership must put down proper assessment mechanisms in place before DRC is admitted. “First, the country is unstable, with civil unrest in some parts. The risk of these must be assessed,” he said. There were precedents with Rwanda, Burundi, and South Sudan’s applications. Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania argued...

Just days after taking office, President Biden signaled to African leaders that they should expect renewed engagement from the United States. In remarks at the 2021 African Union Summit – his first speech to an international forum as President Biden highlighted a shared vision for a better future that includes “growing trade and investment that advances the prosperity” of the United States and African nations, and emphasized that the U.S. was ready to be a “partner in solidarity, support and mutual respect.” While President Biden’s remarks were a positive sign, Africa was missing from his first cornerstone speech on America’s Place in the World. That may not be a surprise – the new administration is certainly not lacking global challenges to tackle. Still, early engagement with Africa's political and business leadership is critical and should be included in the administration’s vision for how we invest in economic development, create new markets for U.S. products, and address shared challenges. An action-plan centered on pro-growth trade, investment, and regulatory policies is an important first step. Here’s why: THE U.S. CHAMBER RECENTLY SHARED A SLATE OF RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE BIDEN-HARRIS ADMINISTRATION AND CONGRESS ON AFRICA. Two-way trade between the United States and Africa exceeded $45 billion in 2020, with the global pandemic causing a decline in an otherwise vibrant commercial partnership. But the opportunities for partnership go well beyond the trade numbers. Cooperation with African countries, which will be home to over 2.5 billion people by 2050, is critical as the United States...

International Organisation for Migration has donated personal protective equipment (PPE) to cross-border traders in Mchinji. The donation was channelled through the Ministry of Homeland Security to Mchinji Cross Border Traders Association. Speaking on Sunday during the handover, the organisation’s Southern Africa regional director Charles Kwenin said the Covid-19 pandemic has affected small-scale traders across the continent. “We want to ensure that everyone is safe, including those on the move and those facilitating mobility,” he said. Kwenin said studies show that informal cross-border trade accounts for between 30 and 40 percent of total intra-Southern Africa Development Community trade and it was important for borders to be safe points of convergence. In his remarks, Ministry of Homeland Security chief human resource management officer Isaac Chiwewe commended the organisation for the hand-washing facilities. “Most of the informal cross-border traders interact with different people with unknown Covid-19 status,” he said. The organisation also donated the PPE to Malawi Revenue Authority and Immigration staff members at Mchinji Border Post. The items included hand sanitisers and water buckets and were funded by UKAid. Read original article

The Rwandan Private Sector Federation (PSF) Chief Executive Officer, Stephen Ruzibiza, on Wednesday, March 3, told The New Times that the business community is expecting a lot from Peter Mathuki who was chosen by East African Community leaders last weekend as the bloc's new secretary-general. Mathuki who has been instrumental in championing removal of non-tariff barriers (NTBs), implementing the turn-around strategy of the East African Business Council (EABC), and revitalizing donor support in the sector, among others, will on April 25 start work as the seventh EAC SG. Ruzibiza said: "It’s an appointment that business sectors are pleased with. A lot is expected of Peter, to achieve the EAC Treaty's spirit which emphasizes private sector development." By and large, the region's business community is hailing Mathuki, who has been CEO of the EABC until his recent appointment, as a transformative leader who pushed the business agenda and championed free movement of goods and services in the dire pandemic times. "His hands-on approach saw him visiting all EAC OSBPs, holding fora with small-scale cross-border traders and Trade Facilitation Agencies to assess trade barriers and in turn advocated for their elimination," reads part of an EABC statement. Before joining the EABC, in October 2018, Mathuki was a lawmaker in the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) - from 2012 to 2017 - where he served on two standing committees. MP Aden Omar Abdikadir, a Kenyan member of EALA on Wednesday told The New Times that his compatriot is competent, and has good networking...