Africa’s leaders, along with everyone else interested in US-Africa relations, have waited eight months for US President Donald Trump’s administration to explain its Africa policy. We aren’t there yet. But in recent weeks Trump has indicated the level and extent of his interest. And, senior African affairs officials at the State and Defence Departments are at last attempting publicly to outline US goals and objectives toward Africa. This, apparently without much guidance from their president. Trump’s inaugural address to the UN General Assembly said little about Africa – barely one paragraph towards the end. One sentence praised African Union and UN-led peacekeeping missions for “invaluable contributions in stabilising conflicts in Africa.” A second praised America, which continues to lead the world in humanitarian assistance, including famine prevention and relief in South Sudan, Somalia and northern Nigeria and Yemen. The next day Trump hosted a luncheon for leaders of nine African countries –Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, Uganda, and South Africa. Only his welcoming remarks have been published but they are nearly devoid of policy content or guidance. His opening gambit reminded me of a 19th century colonialist hoping to become rich, as he proclaimed: Africa has tremendous business potential, I have so many friends going to your countries trying to get rich. I congratulate you, they’re spending a lot of money….It’s really become a place they have to go, that they want to go. Trump called on African companies to invest in the US. Then, shifting to security cooperation,...

October 3, 2017 (KAMPALA) – The South Sudanese President Salva Kiir has commended his Ugandan counterpart, Yoweri Museveni for the continued support and solidarity with his government. Kiir’s message, State House said, was delivered to Museveni by the South Sudanese army chief of general staff, General James Ajonga Mawut. At the meeting, which was held in Mbale town on Tuesday, Museveni and Ajonga reportedly discussed cooperation and training of the Ugandan army (UPDF) and the South Sudanese military (SPLA). Details of Tuesday’s discussions were, however, not divulged to the press. Uganda and South Sudan have long standing economic and security interests. Currently, Uganda is also hosting more than one million refugees fleeing from the violent conflict in South Sudan. The East African nation was one of the first countries that recognised South Sudan’s independence from Sudan in July 2011. Source: Sudan Tribune

52 skilled youths graduated from an expanded East African SAP Skills for Africa program this week in Kenya. The graduation ceremony took place at the Kenya School of Government in Nairobi. All 52 graduates have already been placed at partner and customer organisations in the region. Head of SAP Skills for Africa, Meena Confait, said, “This year marked our first expanded East Africa program, with candidates from Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Ethiopia completing their training in key SAP solutions. In line with our commitment to diversity, we are also proud to announce that 40% of graduates are female. We wish all graduates well as they enter the regional workforce and apply their hard-earned digital expertise.” SAP Skills for Africa is a skills development initiative between SAP Africa, its customers, and various public and private sector partners, and focuses on training and certifying graduates in a broad spectrum of SAP software and business solutions. Since its inception in 2012, it has provided training and industry job placement opportunities for more than 400 consultants, with more than a third of them assimilated through the partnership with the ICT Authority. Valuable partner and customer ecosystem Considering the importance of SMEs in driving job creation and economic growth on the African continent, this year also saw the introduction of SAP Business One to the curriculum, which already supports more than 55 000 SMEs globally. “By focusing on developing practical digital skills related to actual market needs, SAP Skills for Africa graduates are able to...

Business Reporter Infrastructure experts from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa Member States are meeting in Zambia to review the status of domestication and implementation of programmes in transport and communications, energy and information technology in the region. Among the key programmes in focus are; the establishment of a navigational route between Lake Victoria and the Mediterranean Sea known as VICMED, the regional power interconnectors and the proposed establishment of cybercrime capacity building centre. This is the 10th meeting of the Comesa committee of infrastructure experts representing the 19 Member States. Noting that the estimated financing requirement to close Africa’s infrastructure deficit amounts to $93 billion annually until 2020, Assistant Secretary General for Comesa, Dr Kipyego Cheluget said the implementation of Africa’s Vision of an integrated continent free of poverty is inextricably linked to the existence of infrastructure. “The emphasis at regional and continental levels is on innovation and creativity, thinking outside the box to come up with feasible instruments to speed up the development of physical infrastructure,” he said, adding that the Comesa EAC-Sadc tripartite region requires US$50 billion,” said Dr Cheluget. During the session, a progress report on the implementation of Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya (ZTK) Power Interconnector was presented. The project is currently under implementation to interconnect the three countries thus creating a link between the Southern African Power Pool and the East African Power Pool. This will make it possible for transmission of power from Cape to Cairo. According to a market study conducted on the...

Also the regional local units were backed by agro-inflows and central banks’ monetary actions. Tanzania shilling Tanzanian shilling, the second biggest economy in the region, traded flat with modest demand from corporates. “We saw moderate demand from corporates on today’s trading session due to month end obligations,” NMB Bank said in a statement yesterday. The commercial banks quoted the shilling at 2230/2270 against the green back. Another bank, CRDB said the market experienced matching supply and demand for the pair but some pressure was still faced on the right hand side. “We expect this pressure to ease up due to central bank intervention and as well as the incoming cashew-nut season,” CRDB said. Ugandan shilling Ugandan shilling has inched up on flows from charities and helped by some typical end of month hard currency inflows from non-governmental organisations and coffee exporters. Last Friday, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 3,597/3,607, compared with Thursday’s close of 3,600/3,610. Kenyan shilling Kenyan shilling eased against the dollar last Friday due to dollar from some multinational companies, traders quoted saying. The shilling of the largest economy in the bloc was quoted by commercial banks at103.15/35 per dollar, compared with 103.20/40 at Thursday’s close. It was reported also that traders were assessing the level of hard currency demand from importers to figure out its potential direction. Rwandese franc The Rwandan franc relatively remained unchanged at 846.18 yesterday compared to a last Monday 845.45. The stability was attributed to Rwanda’s foreign exchange reserves that kept the...

Consumer prices of sugar are projected to reduce substantially on increased supplies in the global market after the European Union (EU) formally scrapped quotas on the production and sale of the commodity after nearly 50 years. The end of the quotas means that there are no further limits to production or exports, allowing production to adjust to market demand both within and outside the EU. “Producers will now have the opportunity to expand their trade on global markets,” Phil Hogan, EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, said in a statement following the close of production quotas on September 30. An analysis by the European Commission showed the end of the system will trigger a jump in sugar production. It said that between 2016 and 2026 the bloc’s sugar production will increase by six per cent while production of an alternative sweetener, Isoglucose, could triple from 700,000 tonnes to 2.3 million tonnes. Imports will, on the other hand, continue to drop from 3 to 3.5 million to 1.8 million tonnes and exports are expected to increase from 1.3 million tonnes to 2.5 million tonnes. “For the upcoming harvest, no longer bound by the limitations of the quota, an increase in production of roughly 20 per cent (20.1 million tonnes) is expected. This increase results from both an increase in area and higher yields because of good climatic conditions,” the EU said. The EU’s move could provide a boon to consumers in nations such Kenya where prices of the commodity remain...

The Kenya Maritime Authority (KMA) has hired a German consultant to conduct a study aimed at boosting its safety and security oversight and raising the country’s global competitiveness. The study, being conducted by HPC Hamburg, a subsidiary of Hamburg Port in Germany, is funded by the World Bank to the tune of Sh120 million. Acting KMA director-general Cosmas Cherop said the consultant will also assess the logistics costs incurred on imports and exports though Mombasa port and make appropriate recommendations. “The study is in the final stages of the first phase with stakeholders’ validation work- shop set for later this month,” Mr Cherop said in an interview at the KMA headquarters. One of the key areas of focus is involvement of industry stakeholders in the development of new regulations after a court blocked implementation of section 16 (1) of the Merchant Shipping Act 2009. “The court ruled that we did not carry out proper consultations, which was unconstitutional. We will engage all stakeholders with a view of explaining to them what the regulations mean and also consider concessions each party can make,” said John Omingo, the regulator’s head of commercial shipping. He said KMA would ensure that all parties were taken care of to avoid litigations that slow their work progress. “We are telling our stakeholders that we will to come up with realistic regulations that are acceptable by all parties. However there will be need for us to consider areas of concession,” said Mr Omingo. There have been murmurs...

Kenya has retained the railway development tax in its budget plan for the next four years, indicating its continued gamble on the Mombasa-Malaba route as a major trade highway for years to come. The National Treasury projects that the railway development levy (RDL), which generated Sh18.2 billion in the financial year to June 30, will grow gradually over the period, netting Sh31.8 billion in 2020/21. The RDL is collected at the rate of 1.5 per cent on imports from non-East African Community states. When Kenya first introduced the RDL in its 2013/2014 budget, the target was to raise Sh10 billion annually for the Mombasa-Nairobi -standard gauge railway (SGR). “We will continue to implement the previously announced tax measures,” Treasury secretary Henry Rotich says in the Budget Review and Outlook Paper published last week. “The government’s fiscal stance takes account of risks associated with the macroeconomic outlook, budget execution and the projected resource envelope.” Kenya has grappled with widening gap between imports and exports over the years. Last year, the import bill hit Sh1.4 trillion against a total export revenue of Sh578 billion. The Treasury seeks to tap into the huge import bill to upgrade the country’s railway network. Through the four years, the Treasury also expects the import duty to grow from Sh89.94 billion in the financial year ended June 30 to Sh150 billion by 2020/21. Despite the exit of Rift Valley Railways, which has been managing the Mombasa –Kampala train service, Kenya still sees the route as a high-potential...

Turkish construction company Yapi Merkezi Insaat VE Sanayi has secured a $1.92bn contract to build a 422km high-speed electric railway line in Tanzania. The contract was awarded by Tanzanian state-run railway firm Reli Assets Holding Company (RAHCO). Yapi Merkezi is said to have fulfilled all the technical and financial requirements for the project, which received bids from a total of 15 contractors. The deal will see Yapi Merkezi Insaat VE Sanayi be responsible for designing and constructing the railway line. It also includes the replacement of the existing century-old narrow-gauge line between Morogoro and Makutupora with a new standard-gauge railway. The line will be able to transport 17 million tonnes of cargo per year following the overhaul. The company is expected to complete the project in 36 months, reported dailysabah.com. Yapi Merkezi previously won a $1.2bn contract to build a 300km-long rail line between Dar es Salaam and Morogoro in February, as part of a collaboration with Portugal-based Mota-Engil Engenharia e Construção África. RAHCO is expected to award three additional tenders for the construction of nearly 700km of lines across the country in the near future under its plan to modernise Tanzania's aging railway infrastructure. The Tanzanian Government intends to invest around $14.2bn over the next five years to construct a 2,561km standard-gauge railway network, which will connect its Indian Ocean port of Dar es Salaam to the other regions within the country. Source: Railway Technology

A business forum between Tanzanian and Burundi was held on 30 September 2017, to discuss a number of factors that can help to increase trade between the two countries. Burundi and Tanzania aim to improve trade opportunities between them. After a trade fair that was organized as a follow up to the meeting of the two Heads of State, a business forum has taken place this Saturday 30 September. Jean Bosco Ntunzwenimana, Minister of Transport, Public Works and Equipment, says Burundi is already gaining more from the improvement of the relationship between the two countries: “We were not allowed to use Dar es Salaam port ten years ago but now we are using it. There is a 40% reduction on the cost of goods imported while using road transport”. Ntunzwenimana says there are great projects that both Burundi and Tanzania are working on namely the construction of Uvinza-Musongati railway line and a multinational road: Bujumbura-Rumonge-Nyanza –Lac -Kasulu -Manyovu. He also says those projects are developing significantly. “About the Uvinza- Musongati railway project, experts from the two countries will meet in a workshop to validate its study in Kigoma this 13 October, 2017”, Ntunzwenimana says adding that they will provide the best way forward. This railway is part of the Central Corridor Transit Transport Facilitation Agency (CCTFA) project to build a standard-gauge railway connecting Uvinza, Kigoma and Musongati. The public transport minister says there will also be capacity building in the trade sector between the two countries so as to help...