African business leaders have stressed the need for self-reliance and domestic resource mobilisation on the continent. This, they said, will attract new investments into Africa to boost economic growth and development, as well as job-creation, a statement by the organisers of the just-ended Africa 2017 Forum, indicates. The event was held in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm el Sheikh. “There is need to set up joint projects, particularly in infrastructure, to support investment and trade among African states, and implementation of programmes that encourage entrepreneurship and also increase youth participation in the African economy,” the statement added. Other recommendations include the promotion of women empowerment in all fields of economy and considering them as “active members in the process of developing Africa and achieving economic stability”, and enhancing the role of the private sector to increase investment rates in the continent. The three-day event, organised by Egypt’s Ministry of Investment and International Cooperation and the COMESA Regional Investment Agency (RIA), attracted over 2,000 delegates from 75 countries. President Abdel Fattah El Sisi of Egypt hosted five African Heads of State and top business leaders from across the continent during the event. Intra-Africa trade, China-Africa cooperation Meanwhile, the forum rooted for policies that will help increase intra-Africa trade and drive inclusive growth, and stronger China-Africa cooperation, especially in terms of technology transfer. According to the statement, the event also discussed the industrial revolution for Africa and China-Africa economic relations. Ambassador Helen Hai, the CEO of Made-in-Africa initiative, China, said the...

Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) has called for actualisation of policy prescriptions such as the action plan on Economic Diplomacy by the ministry of Foreign Affairs and ministry of Trade’s National Export Development Strategy to help more Ugandan firms expand business abroad. These policies, UCDA’s market intelligence manager James Kizito, told Daily Monitor have a component of increasing Uganda’s exports with an emphasis on value added exports and service exports. He says if the implementing agencies including Ugandan embassies abroad would coordinate, it would enhance business to business dialogue including linking entrepreneurs in the diaspora to their counterparts home. “Exporting a finished product or a service export like Endiro is doing in USA, which is, establishing a coffee shop, is commendable and applauded. It means producers of high quality coffee would be linking with Endiro directly thus shortening the supply chain with subsequent increment in farm incomes,” Mr Kizito said. He said: “It also means there would be consistent supply of high quality coffee to Endiro. That entails having strong farmer organisations/cooperatives capable of supplying high quality coffee to the US market. It also warrants an efficient system to transport coffee from origin to the final destination.” Endiro Coffee, a Kampala-born café, in May this year opened a café in Aurora, a suburb of Chicago, in Illinois, and after reaching “breakeven pace in daily sales” by August its director Cody Lorance says in September “we began outside coffee sales (green and roasted) to other cafes and restaurants in the US.”...

UK Export Finance (UKEF) is lending €270mn to the Ugandan government to help finance the construction of a new international airport. The money will help support work on the construction of the runway, taxiway and cargo terminal that will be carried out by UK infrastructure company Colas. Additional financing will be provided by Standard Chartered, which acted as the lead arranger for the deal. The airport, which will be in the Kabaale region, will be the country’s second international airport and will open access for the delivery of equipment, materials and services. With large-scale infrastructure and energy projects planned in the area, the airport, which is due for completion in 2021, is expected to have significant long-term benefits for the country’s developing economy and energy independence. A second phase of development is planned to improve the airport’s capacity to support tourism and international trade at a later stage. The project is the first major project in Uganda supported by UKEF and the export credit agency’s largest-ever loan to an African government. Director of strategic projects at Colas UK, Carl Ferguson, says: “With huge untapped natural resources, rapid urbanisation and attractive demographics, the requirement for investment in infrastructure to support continued regional development is clear, and this aligns well with the outward-looking international element of the Colas strategy, which seeks to expand our activities in East Africa.” Source: Global Trade Review

The Tanzania Freight Forwarders Association (TAFFA) has raised concern over failure of some members of the Rwanda Business Community to pay demurrage after exceeding 30 days for clearing shipment. TAFFA vice president Edward Urio said this during a brief tour of the Rwanda Business Community delegation at the Dar es Salaam port as well as Ruvu and Isaka dry ports. More than 80 per cent of Rwanda cargo passes through the Dar es Salaam port, Mr Urio disclosed that majority of the clearing agents have suffered losses after some of the Rwandan businesspersons decided to change agents for clearing their goods in order to avoid paying the demurrage. "After the cargo has been cleared and transported to Rwanda, they are required to bring back the container within 30 days and failure to do that they have to incur charges of which they have failed pay," he stressed, although he did not go to the details. For his part, Rwanda Freight Forwarders Association chairman Seka Fred said they are already working to enable their members to understand the importance of returning the containers after off-loading their goods. "I am saddened to hear that some of our members have not settled their bills. We will ask for their names from our Tanzanian counterparts and ensure that they pay their demurrage," he stressed. He added that the purpose of their visit was to see how things can be improved in order to ease the cargo passage. The delegation managed to tour the port...

 The International Monetary Fund (IMF) called on Tanzania to speed up reforms and spend more to prevent a slowdown in one of the world’s fastest growing economies. President John Magufuli pledged to reform an economy hobbled by red tape and corruption and begin a programme to develop public infrastructure after he was elected in 2015. But the IMF said in its latest review that progress has been slow, while a lack of public spending - coupled with private sector concerns over policy uncertainty - was curtailing growth in East Africa’s third-biggest economy. “Improvements in the business environment - policy predictability based on a strong dialogue with the private sector, regulatory reforms, timely payment of value-added tax (VAT) and other tax refunds, and eliminating domestic arrears — must be pursued with urgency,” the IMF said late on Tuesday. Tanzania’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth slowed to 6.8 percent in the first half of this year from a 7.7 percent expansion in the same year-ago period. The economy has been growing at around 7 percent annually for the past decade, but the World Bank said in November that growth will likely slow to 6.6 percent in 2017. The IMF said while Tanzania’s first half GDP growth in 2017 was “still strong”, a sharp fall in lending to the private sector - prompted by high non-performing loans - pointed to a continued slowdown in growth. In June, the IMF said Tanzania may have to delay implementing some of its infrastructure projects because its...

Ships arriving at the port of Mombasa may in the next three years be required to switch off their engines after docking for more than two hours in a move aimed at reducing pollution. Maritime and Shipping principal secretary Nancy Karigithu, in a statement Wednesday, said the rule will be implemented once the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) completes a power supply project at berths 11 to 14 as part of a Sh6.8 billion green energy technology initiative. The project, funded by the European Union through Trademark East Africa, is set for completion in 2020. It will ensure vessels are supplied with electricity in a bid to reduce carbon emissions from diesel engines. The shift to an alternative power supply by KPA, Mrs Karigithu said, will ensure the KPA fully complies with international regulations on energy efficiency for ships by cutting down on harmful diesel emissions. “As a country, we remain committed to reducing carbon emissions. We must protect the oceans. The rate of pollution we are seeing is too alarming,” she said in a statement. “As a country will have moved a major milestone in terms of environmental protection.” The PS said the KPA is working with Maritime Technology Cooperation Centre (MTCC) Africa— a global network for energy efficient shipping in improving compliance with international regulations — to implement the project. “We have already connected power stations and are committed as a port to ensure harmful reduction from ships that dock at the Mombasa port,” KPA managing director Catherine Mturi...

For the first time in the history of the World Trade Organization, WTO members and observers have endorsed a collective initiative to increase the participation of women in trade. In order to help women reach their full potential in the world economy, 118 WTO members and observers agreed to support the Buenos Aires Declaration on Women and Trade, which seeks to remove barriers to, and foster, women’s economic empowerment. Actions outlined in the Declaration will ultimately boost economic growth worldwide and provide more and better paid jobs for women. These actions will also contribute to UN Global Development Goals, including the Sustainable Development Goal to achieve gender equality through the empowerment of women and girls (SDG 5). Supporting WTO members and observers have specifically agreed to explore and find ways to best tackle barriers to trade, lack of access to trade financing and sub-optimal participation of women in public procurement markets. Participating members will exchange information about what has worked – and what has not – in their attempts to collect gender-disaggregated economic data and to encourage women’s participation in the economy. Within the WTO context, members will scrutinize their own policies through a gender lens and find ways to work together to increase women’s participation in the world economy. They will also seek to ensure that trade-related development assistance pays better attention to its focus and impact on women. Progress will be reported in 2019. Currently, many women worldwide stand on the sidelines of the economy. While women comprise about half...

Dar es Salaam. Deputy Minister for Industry, Trade and Investment, Engineer Stella Manyanya has outlined what Tanzania needs to attain the middle income economy. Ms Manyanya cited hard work, boldness and confidence as aspects, which would lift the nation to the middle income economy. The minister told reporters yesterday after visiting pavilions exhibiting industrial products produced locally at the Mwalimu Julius Nyerere International Trade Fair Grounds in Dar es Salaam that Tanzanians must shun cheap politics on social media platforms. Instead, they should build their confidence and start working hard on various entrepreneurial projects. “When we paint a bad image of our country on social media platforms, we must realise that we are our own enemies and we are bound to fail. We need to have a positive mentality as we strive to realise industrialisation,” she said. “We must be ready to air out our suggestions because the industrial economy is our salvation,” she said. She said local industrial products were highly competitive in the market, adding that the government sides with local small and big producers and investors. Ms Manyanya pledged quick solution to problems that would be raised. She called on local producers and investors to double their efforts, saying the government appreciates their endeavours in transforming the country’s economy. Furthermore, she asked to them to endorse voluntary tax compliance to enable the government to get enorevenue for the development of the nation. The Tanzania Trade Development Authority (TanTrade) Director General, Mr Edwin Rutageruka said rapid transformation hinges...

The Uganda Free Zones Authority (UFZA) has signed a Memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Trademark East Africa (TMA) to guide the formation of an investment, trade and logistics hub in Jinja District as well as promote collaboration between the two organisations. The logistics hub in Jinja is expected to boost economic growth, create employment and contribute towards sustainable and inclusive prosperity of the region by promoting the reduction of trade barriers and ensuring improved business competitiveness. Speaking during the MoU signing ceremony in Kampala recently, Mr Keith Muhakanizi, the Permanent Secretary ministry of Finance, said the Uganda Free Zones Authority was set up to establish, develop, manage, market, maintain, supervise and control Free Zones in Uganda under the Free Zones Act of 2014. “Free Zones are customs-controlled areas where goods introduced into the designated area are generally regarded so far as import duties are concerned as being outside the Customs Territory and include Export Processing Zones or Free Port Zones,” he said. The executive director of UFZA said: “This partnership is key in aiding us (UFZA) to deliver on our key objective of boosting export-oriented investment and trade. By putting in place the infrastructure and relevant facilities, TMA will have lifted the biggest impediments to investment and trade.” TMA, on the other hand is an aid-for-trade, non-profit, non-governmental organisation that was established with the aim of growing prosperity in East Africa through increased trade, funded by a range of development agencies. The partnership will be extended to a number of...

U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade chief said on Monday that the World Trade Organization (WTO) is losing its focus on trade negotiations in favor of litigation, and was going too easy on wealthier developing countries such as China. With Trump’s “America First” trade agenda casting a cloud over the WTO’s 11th ministerial meeting in Buenos Aires, representatives of other major members criticized protectionism and advocated a stronger multilateral trading system, while acknowledging the WTO’s shortcomings. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, who has said he does not want major agreements out of the meeting, voiced concern that the WTO was becoming a litigation-centered organization. “Too often members seem to believe they can gain concessions through lawsuits that they could never get at the negotiating table,” he said. “We have to ask ourselves whether this is good for the institution and whether the current litigation structure makes sense.” Too many countries were not following WTO rules, he complained, and too many wealthier members had been given unfair exemptions as developing countries. “We need to clarify our understanding of development within the WTO. We cannot sustain a situation in which new rules can only apply to a few and that others will be given a pass in the name of self-proclaimed development status,” Lighthizer told the conference’s opening session. He said five of the six richest countries claim developing country status at the WTO, without providing evidence to back up the assertion. A Lighthizer spokeswoman later said he was referring to the six...