The Trump administration may be about to throw spikes under the tires of three small but growing East African economies because they don’t want to import unlimited quantities of Chinese-made clothing that has been worn and tossed in charity bins by American consumers. Middlemen who profit from these donations insist they have a right to swamp African nations with American worn but foreign-made cast-offs even if it means undercutting those nations’ efforts to grow their own garment industries. It appears that Trump’s US Trade Representative (USTR), in a fit of misguided America First-ism, has bought the argument and will shortly announce sanctions against Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda suspending their access to the American market. Organized as the Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles Association (SMART), the middlemen contend that duties on pre-owned Chinese t-shirts levied by the three nations, the combined GDP of which is smaller than Hawaii’s, are threatening close to 200,000 US jobs. SMART members have refused to supply financial documentation to corroborate their outlandish fake news claim, insisting that USTR rely purely on self-serving member surveys. In any event, they have no way of knowing how much of what they export goes to East Africa because only a small proportion is shipped directly. SMART’s second-hand clothing that many Americans believe is going to charity, is actually sold to dealers in third countries, notably India, which bans imports of used clothing — with impunity — but allows them to be processed for re-export in special trade zones. To better...

The Africa 2017 Forum – held in Sharm el Sheikh in early December under the high patronage of President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi of Egypt – brought together seven heads of state and numerous political and economic decision-makers to discuss regional integration and job creation in Africa. Participants established partnerships and affirmed the forum’s theme of “Driving investment for inclusive growth”. The key narratives emerging from the public and private sector were the need to consummate African integration, to harness the power of entrepreneurial youth and to make the most of Africa’s growing investment climate. Speaking on the first day, President Sisi said: “Our priority is to support young entrepreneurs, especially those who come up with smart and innovative solutions in health, education and basic services. “The youth of the African continent are the future; you are our competitive advantage; you are the source of our wealth; we emphasise our will to support you and to be behind you to realise the ambitions of a brighter future on the continent.” During the same session, President Paul Kagame of Rwanda added: “The enormous wealth we have on the continent in terms of natural resources is outstripped by our human capital. Invest not only in youth entrepreneurs but also in the environment which helps them do what they are able to do to raise their game.” Fuelling startups The World Bank estimates that there now 200 innovation spaces across the continent when in 2010 there were just five. Tech startups and their associated financing...

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...

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...

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...

TWO continental organisations working for the welfare of people living with disability are happy with the East African Community for taking a leading role in the care of the disabled. The African Union of the Deaf (AUD) and the Africa Disability Alliance (ADA) say the EAC comes top (Number One) among the continent's economic blocs in taking care of their disadvantaged members, according to accolades shared during a fact-finding tour at the Community's head offices here. AUD president, Alex Ndeezi described the EAC as a leading regional bloc within Africa that has implemented a number of advocacy initiatives and policies touching on the people with disabilities. Mr Ndeezi who is also a Ugandan member of parliament commended the EAC Secretariat and the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) for its efforts at "mainstreaming and advocating" for issues that affect his fraternity. He said AUD was looking forward to supporting EAC initiatives aimed at improving the welfare of the 'physically challenged' members of society, and pledged further engagements in pushing "the mainstreaming agenda" both at the regional, continental and international levels The tour was, in turn, slated to call public attention and sensitise the EAC Secretariat on the mandate of AUD and ADA, in addition to familiarising themselves about the Community's social policy and legislative frameworks on disability. This corporate awareness drive within the EAC institutions was further intended to enlighten AUD and ADA on the process of the Africa Disability Protocol (ADP) in order to seek support for its ratification. ADA...

THE Batoka Gorge Hydro Electric Scheme (BGHES) and the Zambia-Tanzania Power Transmission Interconnector projects were showcased at the just-ended Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) conference. The PIDA conference curtain-raised the 6th EU-Africa Business Forum under the theme ‘Unlocking investment for regional infrastructure to accelerate job creation”. The BGHES to be constructed on the central portion of the Zambezi River Basin, extending across the international boundary between Zambia and Zimbabwe, will be producing 2,400MW of installed capacity when constructed. The project will add a further 1,200MW of installed hydro capacity each to Zambia and Zimbabwe and 2,400MW to the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP), a cooperation of the national electricity companies in southern Africa under the auspices of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Zambia’s current installed generation capacity is around 2,350MW made up of a range of hydro and diesel generation facilities, while Zimbabwe’s is around 1,960MW, made up predominantly of coal and hydro generation facilities. The project’s cost is estimated at US$3.5 billion, of which US$2.9 billion represents construction costs. The Power Transmission Interconnector, which will connect Kabwe to Iringa in Tanzania, is a project under which the governments of Zambia, Tanzania and Kenya have agreed to inter-connect their power systems by constructing a high voltage alternating current (AC) transmission line, traversing the three countries, covering a total distance of 2,300km2. The project, which spans three regional economic communities (RECs), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), East African Community (EAC), and SADC, and enjoys...

Hopes are high for the launch of an historic Declaration on Trade and Gender at the 11th World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial meeting taking place in Buenos Aires this week. The declaration – if adopted – will seek to promote a more inclusive trade agenda by enabling more women to participate in international trade. But can trade benefit from increased participation of women? And, as we undertake efforts to achieve gender equality under the objectives of the United Nations Global Goals, is trade good for women? As the world business organization we believe the answer to these questions is a resounding “yes”. Here we put forward five reasons why gender is good for trade and highlight some of the barriers preventing women business owners from accessing international markets. 1 – Women in trade supports better jobs According to research by the International Trade Centre (ITC), women-owned businesses that export employ an average of 42 people, compared with an average of only eight people employed by non-exporting women-owned businesses. Despite this, woman exporters face more trade obstacles than men, with 74% of woman-owned firms reporting challenging non-tariff measures compared to 54% of businesses owned by men. WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo said: “WTO Action is needed to better integrate women into the international trading system. All the evidence suggests that giving an equal economic chance to women is not only economically important; it results in beneficial outcomes for society as a whole.” 2 – Exporters pay better too… The average pay by...

 The East African Community (EAC) is pushing Burundi to catch up with the rest of the fellow members in the regional bloc in the development of its pharmaceutical sector. Under the programme, the country which joined EAC in 2007, will be assisted to fast-track the enactment and implementation of the Burundi National Pharmaceuticals Regulation Law that is currently before the Parliament. The government is also being implored to establish and operationalise the once proposed national regulatory body for the pharmaceutical industry, Abrema to effectively oversee regulation of food and medicinal products. “Burundi is still lagging behind thus denying the country the benefits of the harmonised EAC regional guidelines and standards for medicines evaluation and registration,” said the secretary general, Amb Liberat Mfumukeko. He was speaking in Bujumbura on Thursday during a high level meeting convened by the government authorities in collaboration with the EAC on how the country can be supported in strengthening its pharmaceutical sector. Amb Mfumukeko said while the other Community member countries have made progress in developing the sector, the result is minimal in Burundi apparently due to technical and governance issues. Burundi, he further argued, should establish relevant institutions to manage its pharmaceutical industry as well as strengthen and expand the governance and regulation of health professionals. The regulatory institutions proposed include the Burundi National Health Professions Body (BNHPA), Burundi National Nursing and Midwifery Council and the Burundi National Medical Laboratory Scientists, Technologists and Technicians Board. Others are the Burundi National Allied Health Professionals Council while...

East Africa’s intra-regional trade has declined for the second year in a row, due to the failure by partner states to agree on trade liberalisation and integration. These hitches are eroding the benefits of Customs Union and Common Market. The East African Community Secretariat, in a draft trade and investment report, says that the total value of intra-EAC trade fell by 14.6 per cent to $4.4 billion in 2016, from $5.1 billion in 2015. The decline, according to the report dated August 2017, was mainly due to a 33 per cent drop in total trade for Tanzania to $851.3 million, from $1.3 billion in 2015. The total trade for Kenya and Uganda fell by 10.1 per cent and 11.4 per cent respectively. According to the report, intra-regional trade constitutes only 9.4 per cent of the total trade of the bloc despite the implementation of the Single Customs Territory that provides for removal of tariffs and other barriers to trade among the partner states. The report cites a trading regime that restricts the export of certain commodities to partner states, lack of product diversification, and non-tariff barriers as hurdles to intra-regional trade. Kenya, however, continued to dominate intra-EAC trade, accounting for 34.8 per cent while Uganda and Tanzania accounted for 28.3 per cent and 19.4 per cent respectively. Common external tariff The Secretariat recommends a review of the common external tariff (CET) and the exemption regimes to allow goods produced in the region to enter the bloc’s market with few restrictions. “The region...