The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has adopted a regional strategy to accelerate the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement in the ECOWAS region and leverage on opportunities for growth and prosperity. The 90th Session of the ECOWAS council of ministers endorsed the ECOWAS implementation strategy for the agreement on July 6 and 7, 2023, in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau. This step follows the Strategy’s adoption by ECOWAS Ministers of Trade and Industry (ECOMOTI) at the 3rd ministerial meeting which was held on April 27 and 28, in Abidjan Implementation Strategy for the free trade agreement to effectively integrate West African economies into the continental market, by building on the progress and success of regional integration in West Africa to better take advantage of the economic gains of a common African Market. The ECOWAS implementation strategy for the free trade agreement is timely, as it responds to the African Unions 2023 ambition geared towards the acceleration of AfCFTA’s Implementation, which came into operation on January 1, 2021, marking the commencement of trade in a single African market of 54 countries, including 13 ECOWAS Member States. The strategy is geared towards improving the effectiveness of the region’s trade integration framework, increasing coordination between member states on their national implementation strategies, strengthening the productive capacity of Member States, building the capacity of member states to engage in strategic African trade policy and ensuring the AfCFTA is a positive tool for women’s and youth economic empowerment. “The strategy is...

The Burundi Revenue Authority (OBR) has launched a regional centre for electronic cargo tracking in Burundi thanks to the support of TradeMark Africa to the tune of $212,000. This will allow for real time tracking of cargo transiting through the country via the Northern and Central corridors or in transit to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). [caption id="attachment_67250" align="alignnone" width="241"] Jean Claude Manirakiza, Commissioner General of the OBR[/caption] Inaugurated on August 23, 2023, in Bujumbura by the Burundi Revenue Authority in collaboration with TradeMark Africa, the new electronic cargo tracking system will help to curb fraud, promote taxation and increase revenue collection, Jean Claude Manirakiza, Commissioner General of the OBR, noted. TradeMark Africa CEO, David Beer, who graced the occasion, said the regional electronic goods tracking system has been in operation is already operational in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and DRC. He noted that it will minimise the costly tracking processes that delay the movement of goods, reduction of excessive controls and cut down on the multiplicity or duplication of documentation: “Countries using this system have already experienced significant reductions in the time and cost to trade. We expect similar results for Burundi.” [caption id="attachment_67252" align="alignnone" width="300"] David Beer, CEO of TradeMark Africa[/caption] TradeMark Africa has already invested $60 million since the inception of its interventions in Burundi, with the aim of boosting regional economic integration and reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers. This Aid for Trade organization created in 2010 with the aim of promoting prosperity in East Africa through increased trade, plans...

Cairo-headquartered African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has started reviewing Kenya’s bid to host a pan-African settlement house for intra-African trade deals, a top official said in Nairobi Wednesday. Denys Denya, Afreximbank’s executive vice president for Finance, Administration and Banking services said the trade financier’s top decision-making organ has taken up Kenya’s application. Central Bank of Kenya Governor Kamau Thugge disclosed in July, Nairobi’s proposal to host the pan-African payment and settlement system (Papss) which facilitates intra-African payments in different national currencies on the continent. “The Kenyan government has decided to support the rollout of Papss. The President of Kenya [William Ruto] is actually championing this,” Mr Denya told reporters on the sidelines of a roadshow ahead of the third Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF2023) to be held in Cairo between November 9 and 15. “There’s a governance council that is considering that proposal. The decision will be made shortly and communicated.” The Papss system enables a trader in a participating country to instruct her local bank to pay in a supplier in a different country using the local currency. Her bank then sends instructions to Papss to settle the payment through the local bank of the supplier in the currency of their jurisdiction in real-time. Papss is tasked with doing validation checks before passing the instructions to the recipient bank. Afreximbank launched the system in January 2022 following a trial phase on six central banks in West African Monetary Zone (Wamz) from October 2021. Wamz countries — Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Guinea, Sierra...

The Democratic Republic of Congo on Wednesday lifted visa restrictions on Kenyans, reciprocating to a gesture by Nairobi announced five days earlier. The Directorate General of Migration in the DR Congo said the move, in fact, was effective on the same day Kenya lifted its visa requirements on Congolese on September 01, 2023. A circular publicised on Wednesday by the Directorate said Kenyan nationals will no longer be required to get visas before travelling to the DRC. This is a new policy between the DRC and Kenya, both sides say, is to facilitate the movement of people for better integration into the East African community to which both countries belong. The DRC says this could also offer an opportunity to increase trade with Kenya through which it imports goods to eastern regions of the country. With the size of 2.4 million kilometres squared and a population of 100 million, the DRC has been seen by Kenya as a potential market for its banking sector, and other sectors such as transportation. Less than 10 percent of the population have bank accounts and just 13 percent can access mobile financial services, according to official data. Kenya has already increased its investment in this sector with Equity bank and KCB Bank already in the DRC. DRC joined the East African Community in May last year, becoming the seventh member. It is yet to ratify some of the Community’s instruments, however. But it has received favourable welcome.  Tanzania has also lifted the visa requirement for Congolese citizens. In a...

Kampala, Uganda The British High Commission Kampala and TradeMark Africa (TMA) celebrated major milestones on Thursday when they attained in their partnership in reducing barriers to trade for Uganda and her neighbours over the last 13 years. The partners lauded the impactful interventions that have reduced the cost and time of trading across borders and reiterated the value of strengthened partnerships, building on lessons learnt along trade corridors across Africa. The British High Commission has since 2010 worked through TMA to support One-Stop Border Posts (OSBPs) and improve standards compliance. UK Trade Commissioner for Africa, John Humphrey, British High Commissioner to Uganda, H.E. Ambassador Kate Airey OBE, alongside TradeMark Africa Chief Executive Officer, David Beer, Uganda Minister of Works and Transport, Hon. Gen. Katumba Wamala, Ministry of East African Community Affairs; were joined by representatives from other TMA funding agencies and partners in public and private sectors at the event. Gen. Katumba Wamala lauded the UK Government and development partners such as the European Union, as steadfast partners in supporting Uganda’s development aspirations. He said; “We are pleased with the support that we have received in various trade facilitation facets such as construction and operationalisation of One Stop Border Posts, road upgrades; development of electronic cargo tracking systems, as well as supporting our farmers and traders in the grain sector to improve standards in commodities such as maize, a key export crop. These interventions have lowered the cost and time of cross-border trading, reduced the strain on human resources through...

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The first African Climate Summit opened Monday with heads of state and others asserting a stronger voice on a worldwide issue that affects their continent the most even though its 1.3 billion people contribute to global warming the least. Kenyan President William Ruto’s government and the African Union launched a ministerial session as more than a dozen heads of state began to arrive, determined to wield more global influence and bring in far more financing and support. The first speakers included young people, who demanded a bigger voice in the process. “For a very long time we have looked at this as a problem. There are immense opportunities as well,” Ruto said of the climate crisis, speaking of multibillion-dollar economic possibilities, new financial structures, Africa’s huge mineral wealth and the ideal of shared prosperity. “We are not here to catalog grievances,” he said. And yet there is some frustration on the continent about being asked to develop in cleaner ways than the world’s richest countries — which have long produced most of the emissions that endanger climate — and to do it while much of the support that has been pledged hasn’t appeared. “This is our time,” Mithika Mwenda of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance told the gathering, claiming that the annual flow of climate assistance to the continent is a tenth or less of what is needed and a “fraction” of the budget of some polluting companies. “We need to immediately see the delivery of the $100 billion” of climate finance...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0d4tfgGvlw Climate finance, loss and damage and climate justice were the big themes emerging from Africa Climate Week and the Africa Climate Summit 2023 held in Nairobi, Kenya. African heads of state, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres and Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Inger Andersen all spoke of the need for climate finance for Africa that is commensurate with the scale of the crisis facing the continent Policymakers, business leaders and environmental campaigners came to Nairobi to find solutions for mitigation, adaptation and finance for Africa – the continent least responsible for carbon emissions but suffering its impact the most. Temperatures are rising faster there than in many other parts of the world, causing more frequent extreme weather events and prolonged droughts, leading to food shortages and loss of lives. Africa Climate Week is one of four regional weeks held this year that will build momentum ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai. The Week is organized by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the UN Development Programme, the UNEP and the World Bank, with the support of regional partners. Read original article  

President William Ruto says reforms in the international financial system will help boost investor confidence in Africa. The President said de-risking Africa will foster better relations between public and private sectors for the common good. He noted that the current financial system that has falsely profiled the global south as a risky investment destination works against the continent. “There is no way you can get private sector money into Africa if we have not sorted out the issue of risk. Nobody will invest here,” he said. The President made the remarks during the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Presidential Dialogue dubbed “Kenya: a driving force in accelerating continental Trade and Investment”, Nairobi County. UNCTAD Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan, Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi and Cabinet Secretaries Moses Kuria and Njuguna Ndung’u were in attendance. The President said improved access to affordable development financing will help Africa revamp its infrastructure, deepen integration and spur intra-continental trade. He called for efficient trade facilitation and streamlined customs procedures to boost African trade. “We must eliminate non-tariff barriers, simplify trade documentation and facilitate the movement of business and people across borders,” he said. The President also said Africa must take bold steps to claim its fair share in international trade, saying the current 3 per cent is not commensurable to the continent’s population. President Ruto called on developed nations to use their technology and resources to unlock Africa’s green energy potential. He said climate change is a global challenge that requires joint...

Agricultural and allied experts yesterday raised another red alert on food insecurity in East Africa Agricultural and allied experts yesterday raised another red alert on food insecurity in East Africa, largely blamed on climate change. They have called for urgent interventions to address the crisis, noting that 63 percent of the bloc’s population is undernourished. “The impact of climate change is visible everywhere in the region. We should tackle it from the underlying causes”, warned Jean Baptiste Havugimana, the Productive Sector director at the East African Community (EAC) secretariat. He said that despite last-minute rains during the last farming season, he was still worried that there would be sufficient rains during the coming season. Mr Havugimana challenged governments and other stakeholders in the EAC partner states to waste no time in tackling the underlying causes of the crisis. He raised the alert here before a group of cyclists moving across the region to raise awareness of the impact of climate change at the Arusha Technical College (ATC). A programme manager with GIZ, a German aid agency, Max Middeke, said the situation was worrying because more than half of the bloc’s population (63 percent) was food insecure. “In East Africa, climate change is causing devastating impacts on food security, leading to harvest failure and livestock losses,” he pointed out. He implored the regional leaders to act swiftly to help manage the adverse impacts of climate change “and reduce the threat of food insecurity.” In the EAC, Mr Middeke went on to...

With abundant resources and growing consumer market, Africa can become a prominent manufacturing destination for tech-intensive industries and a key link in global supply chains. Geneva, 16 August 2023 African economies can become major participants in global supply chains by harnessing their vast resources of materials needed by high-technology sectors and their own growing consumer markets, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said in its Economic Development in Africa Report 2023 launched today in Nairobi. Supply chains encompass the systems and resources needed to develop, produce and transport goods and services from suppliers to customers. "This is Africa's moment to bolster its position in global supply chains as diversification efforts continue. It's also an opportunity for the continent to strengthen its emerging industries, foster economic growth and create jobs for millions of its people," UNCTAD Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan said. Africa's abundance of critical minerals and metals, including aluminum, cobalt, copper, lithium and manganese, vital components in technology-intensive industries, positions the continent as an attractive destination for manufacturing, as recent upheavals caused by trade turbulence, geopolitical events and economic uncertainty compel manufacturers to diversify their production locations. Africa also offers advantages such as shorter and simpler access to primary inputs, a younger, technology-aware, and adaptable labour force and a burgeoning middle class, known for its growing demand for more sophisticated goods and services. Strengthening African supply chains is key for the region’s growth The report highlights that creating an environment conducive to technology-intensive industries would help raise wages on the...