In Egypt more than 1,500 public and private business delegates and state leaders agreed in February to mobilize massive investments for the implementation of Africa’s largest trading bloc which was created last year by 26 African countries with a total of 620 million consumers and a combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) nearing $1.2 trillion. The agreement crowned the “Africa 2016” investment forum held in the Egyptian Red Sea resort Sharm El Sheikh. Business leaders convened with government officials and heads of international organizations to discuss trade and investment as engines of progress. African heads of state and government from Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Nigeria, Sudan and Togo took part in the forum. No official figures relating to the amount of these investments were released. An Egyptian diplomat talked to IPS on condition of anonymity. Corruption comes first on the list of impediments to investment along with instability, the source said. “The volume of trade between African countries does not exceed 10 percent of the continent’s foreign trade, and will not increase unless tariff barriers are reformed and needed infrastructure is built, such as roads and ports to transport goods, among other,” added the diplomat. Along with the installation of giant power generation plants, a 7,000-kilometres-long Cairo-Cape Town railways line is among large projects that attract private investors. ‘Development is no longer a dream’ “Times have changed in Africa,” said the Business for Africa Forum’s concept document submitted to the meeting. With interest in the continent growing exponentially, some of today’s...

Dar es Salaam — South Sudan has now been admitted into the East African Community (EAC), increasing the membership of the common market to six, with a population of 162 million people. The 17th Ordinary EAC Heads of State Summit in Arusha resolved to admit Africa's newest nation into the economic bloc on Wednesday. "South Sudan is a new member of the EAC," said the EAC secretariat on its social media site on Wednesday. A statement from the EAC headquarters in Arusha before the announcement showed that the issue was high on the agenda of the meeting. It said the leaders would decide "on the negotiations on the admission of South Sudan into the community," among other issues. South Sudan now joins Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi, and it will be part of the regional integration projects that have been the subject of discussion among member countries, some for years now. South Sudan applied for EAC membership soon after gaining its independence from neighbouring Sudan in 2011, upon being invited by the presidents of Kenya and Rwanda. There has been mixed reactions from various quarters, on whether or not it is the right time for South Sudan to join the EAC. Some critics have suggested that it would have been better for the cuntry to resolve its political issues at home first. Others say the tensions should not bar or distract South Sudan's desire to be part of one of Africa's biggest regional bloc. Another group of analysts believe...

An EAC Mobile Application meant to disseminate news, information and reports on a timely basis about the current state of affairs and development has been unveiled. The Secretary General of the East African Community, Amb. Richard Sezibera, unveiled the mobile application version 3.2 at the 4th EAC Secretary General’s Forum in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, yesterday. Amb. Sezibera hailed the EAC Youth Ambassadors’ Platform, the architect of the application, for the brilliant innovation. He singled out Brian Joseph Otim, Jacob Eyeru, Dennis Leku and Herbert Esemu from the EAC Youth Ambassadors Platform, Uganda Chapter, for developing the first-ever EAC mobile application product and making it accessible globally. In a statement from the EAC, Sezibera said the application, also known as EAC in the Palm, was free, open and easily accessed mobile platform dedicated to easing sharing and disseminating EAC related information as well as tracking reports on development programmes in the region. “This will increase information outreach and sensitisation on the EAC integration process in real time,” said Amb. Sezibera. At the launch ceremony, Otim, the head of the EAC Mobile Application Project at the EAC Youth Platform, outlined some of the benefits of the product, which include; prompt information outreach to all citizens of the Community and the rest of the world through individual smartphones. He said this would advance the “one to one” sensitisation efforts of the Community; rebranding EAC on the social global network where information on EAC activities as updated on the website is made available...

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) members have elected Xavier Carim of South Africa to head its dispute settlement body (DSB) in yet another effort aimed at putting developing states at the centre of global trading system. Mr Carim will begin by steering DSB’s next regular meeting scheduled for March 23 after WTO delegates elected him by acclamation to replace outgoing chairman Harald Neple of Norway. “At its meeting on February 26, the DSB appointed Ambassador Xavier Carim as the new chair,” WTO Secretariat said in a statement. With a Brazilian, Roberto Azevedo as its director-general, WTO has lately been pulling all stops to project itself as an Africa (and developing states)-friendly agency. In December, the agency settled on Nairobi as the first African city to host its ministerial conference with chairperson - Kenya’s trade and international affairs secretary Amina Mohamed - helping the world to break a 10-year deadlock. Brazil, India, China and South Africa had previously led developing states in championing the anti-domination protests against WTO, leading to collapse of previously ministerial conference. With key reforms already recorded in the negotiation and implementation arms of the WTO, the all-powerful DSB has been seen as the remaining “unfriendly” aspect of multilateral trading system. Kenya unsuccessfully pushed for the appointment of Prof James Thuo Gathii, an international trade scholar, as a member of DSB in part of international efforts to make it appealing to the developing states. When he took over as WTO boss, Mr Xavier Carim Azevedo identified reforms at...

By Zephania Ubwani Arusha — The East African leaders yesterday stressed that governments should be facilitators and not impediments to the smooth flow of business in the region. "Governments have to facilitate trade growth and not block it," stressed Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta during the official launch of the project to upgrade of the Arusha-Holili road into a dual carriageway that will extend to Voi on the Kenyan side. He said despite the pumping millions of dollars by donors for the improvement of transport networks that would ease communication in the region, unnecessary restrictions by governments have proved to be a drawback. The Kenyan leader said despite countless agreements made to remove the non-tariff barriers (NTBs), there were still many restrictions that hamper cross-border trade and movement of people, touching mostly the lower segment of the people. "It looks like the governments are still obsessed with the out-dated laws of fortified boundaries. But the wananchi are trading among themselves," he told the huge gathering at Tengeru township along the Arusha-Moshi highway in the presence of President John Magufuli and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, among others. He said during a similar road launch event at Taveta on the Kenyan side of the border last October, half of the hundreds of people who attended were Tanzanians who are small-scale traders doing business in the larger Taveta inside Kenya. President Uhuru, speaking in perfect Kiswahili, warned that unless the political leaders in East Africa discarded their isolationist notions, the region would continue to...

Last week we looked at visa openness in Africa and concluded that the continent remains largely closed with its citizens requiring visas to travel to 55% of other African countries. This week we take a closer look at free trade in Africa. There are currently 17 trade blocs in Africa, but intra-African trade falls below 10% versus 50% in Asia and 65% in Europe. So why is intra-African trade so low and what can African leaders do to encourage greater trade and integration in Africa? Last year, at the 25th African Union Summit in Cairo, Egypt, African leaders signed the Tripartite Free Trade Agreement (TFTA). Prior to its signing, the agreement had been in negotiations for seven years. TFTA intends to unite three existing trading blocks in Africa, namely Sadc, East African Community (EAC) and Comesa, into one unified region. In doing so, the agreement renews the long-standing dream of an economically-integrated entity stretching from Cape to Cairo. If ratified, the agreement will create the largest free trade zone in the continent’s history with a membership of over 26 African states, a population of 632 million, an area of 17,3 million square kilometres, total trade of U$1,2 trillion and 60% of continental output. The large number of borders has long divided Africa’s 54 countries, limiting economies of scale. Fixing common problems such as a shortage of roads takes co-operation, but will lead to more integration. Transport costs in Africa are twice the world average and are detrimental to trade more...

On Wednesday, the East African Heads of State unveiled a new generation e-passport in a summit held in Arusha, Tanzania. The e-passport is expected to help build a long lasting relationship amongst East African nations. The Secretary General of the East African Community (EAC), Mr Richard Sezibera, while speaking to newsmen said “This is the time for creating a truly African market, (Through the use of the e-passport) – In goods, and services including financial services. This is the time for shared industrialization, creating value chains across countries and regions. I am glad East Africa continues to be at the forefront of integration and growth.” The e-passport was scheduled to launch in November last year but was postponed to allow more time to address pending issues on the travel document. The summit was preceded by a meeting of the EAC council of ministers which took place early last year at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha . The EAC trading bloc includes Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya and Tanzania. The new passport will also be used for travel around the world while strengthening trade relations within the region. This latest development puts East Africa in the league of other regions like West Africa and North Africa where unified passports are already in use. Source: Ventures Africa

In this episode of In Focus, we discuss how African businesses can collaborate with governments to drive sustainable development across Africa with Mr. Ali Mufuruki, Chairman and CEO of the Infotech Investment Group. Mr. Ali Mufuruki is a Tanzanian entrepreneur, philanthropist, public speaker and leadership coach. He is the co-founder and chairman of the CEO Roundtable of Tanzania, a policy dialogue forum that brings together more than 100 CEOs of leading companies in Tanzania. This group engages regularly with the senior government leadership of Tanzania to find solutions for the country's economy. Mr. Mufuruki is also the owner, Chairman & CEO of Infotech Investment Group LTD, a family business that has interests in ICT, media, telecoms, private equity, retail and real estate across a number of countries in Africa and beyond. He currently chairs and serves on several Boards, including Trademark East Africa and AMSCO (Nedherlands). Source: Wavuti

Former Tanzanian President, Benjamin Mkapa; has been appointed by the East African Community (EAC) as facilitator of peace talks between rival factions in volatile Burundi. The announcement was made during the 17th Ordinary Summit of EAC heads of state in Arusha, Tanzania on Wednesday. The former leader is expected to discharge his duties under the leadership of President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda. “This was suggested by fellow presidents so as to deliberately speed up the end to the crisis in Burundi,” said President John Magufuli, the chairperson of the regional organisation. Former President of Tanzania HE. W. Mkapa new facilitator of the Burundi negotiations #BurundiCrisis pic.twitter.com/AX9GVzFGkK — Daily Monitor (@DailyMonitor) March 2, 2016 Mkapa was instrumental in brokering a peace deal in Kenya, when it was engrossed in a post election violence in 2007. Burundi’s foreign minister, Alain Nyamitwe welcomed the news and wished the former leader well. An African Union high delegation was recently sent to Burundi in an effort to facilitate talks between President Pierre Nkurunziza and the opposition. Source: Africa News

Somalia has been rejected to join the East African Community regional bloc after failing to meet the eligibility criteria, Horseed Media reports. Three years ago, Somalia first applied to join the regional integration but have not been given the green light due to unrevealed reasons. Somalia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdisalam Hadliye insisted that a committee from the organization will soon visit the country to assess the country’s readiness to join the bloc. ‘’They will visit here [Somalia] in April to assess whether we are eligible to join the organization. I believe that we are able to fulfill the requirements and reap the benefits,’’ he said in an interview with the BBC Somali Service. Mr Hadliye strongly denied that the members of EAC denied Somalia’s application due to the security situation of the country. According to the treaty establishing the EAC, new members are admitted if they respect the principles of democracy, rule of law, accountability, transparency and social justice. The treaty also says the countries must, besides being geographically near any of the existing members, practise “equal opportunities, gender equality as well as the recognise, promote and protect rights in accordance with the provisions of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.” On the same day Somalia’s application had been denied, the EAC members approved the new membership of war-ravaged South Sudan. Horseed Media Source: Hoseed Media