The African Union has launched an advocacy campaign to encourage more countries to ratify the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), ahead of the January 2019 deadline to implement the agreement. A business guide developed by the International Trade Centre (ITC) was launched to help the private sector and policymakers better understand and navigate the agreement. Albert Muchanga, the AU Commissioner of Trade and Industry, said the bloc was confident of getting the 15 remaining member states to ratify the agreement by December. So far, Kenya, Rwanda, eSwatini, Chad, Niger, Guinea and Ghana have ratified the AfCFTA, while three countries — Egypt, Kenya and Uganda — have ratified the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa), Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the East African Community (EAC) Tripartite Free Trade Area. At least 22 ratifications are needed for the AfCFTA to enter into force and 14 are required for the TFTA. Comesa Secretary General Chileshe Kapwepwe said overlapping activities between the TFTA and the AfCFTA needed to be harmonised. Ms Kapwepwe, who is the chair of the TFTA Task Force, said closer co-ordination between the AU and the regional economic communities will be key to successful implementation of both agreements. “The narrative of the regional economic communities being the building blocks of the ACFTA should be promoted to ensure complementarity,” she said. Source The East Africa

A chara, – Those proposing that Ireland should leave the EU have pointed to Ireland’s low level of exports to non-European markets, and especially so-called “emerging” economies, as representing a major opportunity for exploiting these markets in the event of Irexit. This viewpoint fails to appreciate that foreign (mainly American) firms account for 90 per cent of Ireland’s exports. Where these send their exports is determined by their global production and marketing strategies. Foreign firms, for the most part, use Ireland as a base for serving the so-called EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) market, the great bulk of which is accounted for by the EU. In 2016, two-thirds of Ireland’s exports of goods and services went to the EMEA region. The EU accounted for over four fifths of these exports. For some American firms based in Ireland, the US itself is understandably an important market. Hence, that country accounted for almost one fifth of 2016 exports. This means that the rest of the world absorbed just a sixth of Ireland’s exports in that year. However, the American firms operating out of Ireland typically have similar operations serving the other major global regions (the Americas and Asia/Oceania) from bases within these regions. Thus, the firms in question have little reason to expand beyond the EMEA market, since to do so would be to compete with their parallel operations elsewhere. Leaving the EU, therefore, would greatly undermine probably the key reason why American firms locate in Ireland, with little prospect of alternative...

TradeMark Africa (TMA) expanded into Ethiopia will bring with it a host of benefits into the country. The organisation recently signed a Host Country Agreement (HCA) with the government of Ethiopia  paving the way for TMAs expansion into the country. Since its formation, TMA has made a significant contribution to this growth by delivering large scale impact in its highly successful first strategic phase which was completed in December 2017. Ethiopia’s Foreign Affairs State Minister Professor Kassu and Transport State Minister Hiwot Mosisa represented the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia while TMA was represented by its CEO, Mr Frank Matsaert. According to a statement by TMA, the HCA now paves way for the establishment of TMA’s Ethiopia Country Programme, with physical presence in Ethiopia, budget and staff to manage the country programme. These are the three areas of focus once the organisation sets base in the country: Reducing trade costs on corridors: This focuses on the transport, logistics and infrastructure of particularly busy corridors (ports, roads and border posts), to reduce the cost of trade and transport. Improving the trading environment: This focuses largely on introducing new electronic systems to streamline ports, borders and corridors and to ease and fasten movement of goods and people. It includes wide policy and regulatory measures that apply global best practice to trade facilitation and export markets. Increasing private sector competitiveness: This focuses on increasing the role of business in public policy making on trade, and ensuring the private sector takes advantage of an improving trading environment, especially...

Aisha Inshuti holds dual Rwandan-Ugandan citizenship. Having completed university, the 24-year-old ventured into a cross-border business of selling women's hair products. She buys them in Uganda and sells them in Rwanda. "Crossing the border is sometimes difficult especially with politics these days," she tells DW. "Many Rwandans have dual citizenship. You can have both Rwandan and Ugandan nationality, but these days we hear there is a problem with the Ugandan and Rwandan government," she said. Nowadays, she claims, Ugandan immigration officials even go to the length of confiscating the Ugandan identity cards of people with dual citizenship. "It will take you ages – if not forever – to get it back, so we have resorted to only using the Rwandan national ID," Inshuti says. At a bus terminal in Uganda's capital Kampala, Joki Wanjeri, a 27-year-old Kenyan trader, waits for her bus back home to Nairobi. She deals in women's footwear and shares Inshuti's sentiments. Ugandan officials create obstacles that impede free trade between the two countries, Wanjeri says. "Once you reach the border on the Ugandan side they want money [bribes], otherwise you cannot cross," she laments. "It's easy for the Ugandans to cross from Kenya with our goods, but when it comes to us it's a different story." Political wrangling to blame While Akol Amazima, a Ugandan political analyst cannot confirm the traders' experiences, he does believe that the root of problems lies in intra-regional politics. The problems at the borders are often the result of political differences between the countries. "When the political situation...

Kenya has reached out to the East African Community (EAC) Secretariat in a bid to solve escalating trade disputes with some member states. EAC and Regional Development Cabinet Secretary Adan Mohamed yesterday said the executive arm of the trade bloc should come in where countries are unable to solve non-tariff barrier issues amicably. “The biggest issue is the interpretation of rules by officials at the border. To solve this, we want a different approach where the secretariat takes a leading role in resolving the issues rather than members resolving disputes among themselves,” he said at a press briefing in Nairobi. Blocked from markets Kenya Association of Manufacturers Chairman Sachen Gudka said despite efforts to solve a trade spat where Uganda and Tanzania slapped duty on Kenyan confectionery and sweets, some products were still being blocked from the two markets. Kenyan manufacturers are also frustrated by Tanzania’s push-back over duty-free sugar imports after the country slapped the commodity with a 25 per cent duty. Kenya invited the two countries to inspect companies using industrial sugars to produce sweets, cakes and ice cream, also known as confectioneries, to ascertain that what was being used was not brought under the duty-free window. “The issue of the industrial sugar expired on June 30. However, some products still cannot access the partner states,” said Mr Gudka. KAM members also met Tanzanian official to iron out longstanding trade disputes, including lack of preferential status on edible oil products, cement and lubricants. CS Aden said there were...

The current mismatch between capital seeking profitable ventures and the chronic deficit of large-scale investments in Africa can be addressed through closer collaboration with institutions such as the World Bank Group. This was said by President Paul Kagame on Tuesday during the opening of a two-day Development Finance Forum hosted by the World Bank Group in Kigali. Kagame said that despite the strong prospects in Africa in regards to investment opportunities, there exists a mismatch between capital seeking investment and large-scale investment funding. “In the global context, there is an excess of capital looking for profitable ventures such as these as we all know. Yet in Africa, there is a chronic deficit of large-scale investment funding. That is what we are here to address in practical terms,” he said. To make up for the mismatch and change status quo, the President called for close collaboration with the World Bank Group. The Group’s private sector support arm International Finance Cooperation, and Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, which offer targeted interventions to change status quo such as risk guarantee facilities. “We still have a long way to go but the direction of travel is clear and the necessary partnerships are increasingly in place. Among the most important is Africa’s partnership with the institutions that make up the World Bank Group,” he said. Kagame, who is also African Union chairperson, called on countries to make the most of the organisation’s expertise in aspects such as regulatory reforms and private sector development. “The heart of...

President Paul Kagame has told a World Bank Financing Forum in Rwanda that Africa is on the right track to attain its investment targets, despite remaining with some distance to move Addressing the World Bank’s annual Development Finance Forum in Kigali on September 11, Kagame said that in Africa, there’s a chronic deficit of large scale economic funding but such forums by development partners signal there are a positive way to development. The World Bank’s forum brings together public and private sector leaders to explore initiatives towards increasing private sector investments in East Africa’s priority sectors. This year’s two-day forum taking place at Marriott Hotel Kigali has picked Agribusiness, Tourism and Housing as key priorities for funding in East Africa. “The three priority areas have been chosen with consideration. Housing finance, tourism and agribusiness are all expanding rapidly in our region. These industries can energize the economy as a whole particularly the service sector,” Kagame told delegates at the forum. He, however, reminded that the region and the continent as whole still lack the capacity to produce high quality products. “But despite the strong prospects we are far from tapping the full potential or even meeting existing demand for affordable high-quality products,” he said. But President Kagame added: “It is gratifying to see such strong participation from around East Africa and even beyond joining the very substantial delegation from the World Bank Group. The focus this year is investment opportunities in the East African Community.” “The heart of the Bank’s...

Arusha. The East African Community (EAC) will embark on another bid to woo investors during the forthcoming regional business conference following a sharp drop in foreign direct investments (FDIs) to the bloc in the last two years. Statistics released here last week indicate that FDI inflows to the six-nation bloc went down to $6.6 billion last year from $8.8 billion in 2016, a 25.3 per cent drop. The situation is equally not rosy for intra-EAC investments during the same period. They plunged by 22.3 per cent from $254.1 million in 2016 to $197 million last year. Existing business opportunities in the region aimed to counter the declining trend will be key during the third East African Business and Entrepreneurship Conference and Exhibition slated for Kampala, Uganda end of next month. “The conference will showcase investment opportunities in the region,” said Lilian Awinja, the chief executive officer of the East African Business Council (EABC), which is organising the event. Statistics issued by EABC and seen by The Citizen showed another worrying scenario – decline of combined exports from the region to the outside world by 9 per cent from $16.2 billion in 2016 to $14.3 billion last year. No reasons were given by the Arusha-based business body on the reasons for the sharp fall of investments from abroad to the bloc. Efforts to reach officials at the EAC Secretariat to comment on the same were not successful although one of them downplayed the statistics, saying the region was still attractive to...

China will this week host a forum where development projects for the next three years will be discussed. African leaders are going to Beijing for the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation (FOCAC) Summit, hoping to get financing for their mega infrastructure projects. The summit themed "China and Africa: Towards an Even Stronger Community with a Shared Future through Win-Win Cooperation," is meant to link the Belt and Road Initiative with the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the AU’s Agenda 2063 and individual countries' development plans. But it comes at a time when some African countries are grappling with an external debt burden and a trade balance favouring Beijing. Credit rating firms and global financial institutions have been advising against taking out further loans, instead recommending fiscal consolidation to arrest the ballooning debt. Kenya, for instance, had taken over $5 billion from China as at the end of March 2018 while Uganda owed China $1.6 billion. Kenya’s National Treasury has recently been under pressure to slow down the growth of public debt, with the International Monetary Fund raising its concerns. Related Content If Beijing sneezes, East Africa will catch a bad cold Comesa defends deals with China Why Asian giants have eyes on resource rich EA China can deliver African continent’s growth miracle Even then, East African Presidents Paul Kagame of Rwanda — who is also the African Union chairman — Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya are expected to attend the summit and seek financing for their...

Around the same time last week, Germany’s Angela Merkel and the UK’s Theresa May visited countries in Africa. But the timing of the visits from leaders of two of Europe’s leading economies was conspicuous as, starting today (Sept. 3), nearly all African leaders will attend the Forum of China-Africa Cooperation summit in Beijing where China is expected to, once again, dole out large loan packages. For their part, Merkel and May had their own goals too. While they came bearing gifts, in the long run, they will be hoping for reciprocal benefits. Merkel’s talks at each of her three stops in Senegal, Ghana, and Nigeria focused on stemming the flow of migrants heading to Europe in search of a better life. The German chancellor, with nearly a dozenGerman CEOs in tow, pressed for increased investment to create jobs which will offer locals viable livelihoods and disincentivize migration. And she had some success: German car giant Volkswagen announced plans to expand operations in both Ghana and Nigeria promising more investment and jobs in two of West Africa’s largest economies. But there’s a political upside for Merkel too. Having come under pressure for her handling of the growing migrant influx in Germany, reversing the trend will be crucial for her party during the next federal elections. British prime minister Theresa May was more unabashed about the purpose of her first ever Africa tour with stops in South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya. As Brexit looms, May is looking to “deepen and strengthen” the UK’s “global partnerships,” even if it requires busting out awkward dance moves. May signed trade deals,...