The U.S. ditched the Trans-Pacific Partnership, while across the Atlantic, the U.K. is trying to extract itself from the European Union and its single market. But while free trade is under threat in much of the world, African countries are heading in the other direction: the continent is on track to create the largest free trade agreement by population that the world has seen since the 1995 creation of the World Trade Organization. That organization has 164 member countries. On May 30, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will become a reality. All but three of Africa’s 55 countries have signed up, creating a free trade area that covers more than a billion people and a collective GDP of over $2 trillion, and includes most of Africa’s largest economies, including South Africa and Egypt. If hold-outs Benin, Eritrea and Nigeria—Africa’s largest economy—join in, that’s a total of 1.2 billion people and $2.3 trillion in GDP. By way of comparison, NAFTA and the EU-Japan free trade agreement each cover a collective GDP of around $22 trillion. But even when added together, they don’t cover as many people as the AfCFTA will if every African nation joins. Here’s what you need to know about the deal that could transform Africa’s business landscape. WHAT’S THE GOAL? Trade within Africa is in a dire state. A mere 17% of African countries’ exports go to other African countries—compare that with intra-regional trade levels of 59% in Asia and 69% in Europe. That means Africa doesn’t feature much in the way of cross-border value chains. Why? There’s currently a...

EAST African Community (EAC) partner states have been urged to continuously respond to emerging challenges to cope with aviation and non-aviation demands as well as strive to meet international standards. Speaking at EAC consultative meeting on air transport facilitation here recently, Principal Air Transport Officer with Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA), Benjamin Enyenze reminded the forum participants of the key role that air transport plays in promotion of trade, tourism and economic growth in the region. “Air transport facilitation is important aspect of aviation and the EAC airports have to continuously enhance capacity of existing infrastructure to ably cope with future aviation demands, meet international requirements and contend with ever changing threats against civil aviation,” he argued. The aviation expert underscored the importance of EAC Air Transport facilitation forum in ensuring smooth movement of passengers, goods and aircrafts at all EAC international airports. The two-day forum was attended by representatives from ministries, departments and agencies, civil aviation and airport authorities, airlines, customs, immigration and other stakeholders from all the EAC partner states. Among other things, the regional consultative meeting delved on issues that affect air transport in the region to comply with Annex 9 (Air Transport Facilitation) and Annex 17 (Aviation Security) of the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation. During the forum, the participants also suggested areas of improvements at the airport including, among others, the need to screen imported goods at the cargo terminals for security reasons, to put in place quarantine area for contaminated animals and ensure...

Policymakers and business leaders from across Africa, and representatives of Regional Economic Communities on the continent Monday started a two-day policy dialogue in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to map out a strategy for the successful implementation of the of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). The dialogue is co-organised by the AU and the Coalition for Dialogue on Africa (CoDA), a development platform for discussions and reflections. Participants are expected to map out a strategy for implementation of the trade agreement and set the pace for Africa’s aspirations outlined in Agenda 2063. Agenda 2063 is Africa's blueprint for transforming the continent into the global powerhouse. The first session on Monday was opened by the former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, the Chairperson of the CoDA Board of Directors. The session looked into key elements required to establish an efficient and active continental free trade area, beyond tariff liberalisation. Expected outputs include identification and prioritisation of recommendations to remove non-tariff barriers as well as address trade-related infrastructure constraints. The AfCFTA was first signed by African leaders on March 21, 2018 in Kigali and 23 countries have since ratified the deal with up to 52 of the 55 AU member states signatories. Benin, Eritrea and Nigeria are the only countries that have not yet signed the agreement establishing the AfCFTA. Only 22 ratifications were needed for the agreement to go into force. Among other benefits, experts project that the AfCFTA will increase intra-African trade by over 50 per cent and boost the...

Can the threats to the East African Community (EAC) trade bloc, including accusations of “trade wars” and border closures between Rwanda and Uganda, be turned into strengths through mediation by countries such as Kenya? And will the EAC continue taking a lead in Africa’s transformation into a continental economic bloc? The EAC is one of eight regional economic communities recognised by the African Union (AU). One of the ominous questions at its Council of Ministers meeting from 6 to 10 May in Arusha, Tanzania, was whether it would again survive the upheavals that brought it crashing down in 1977, at the height of a customs union success. Will political differences between leaders and feuds between member states halt the momentum achieved since its relaunch in July 2000? Will the new EAC remain possibly Africa’s most successful case for regional integration? Recent headlines highlighting the tensions between Rwanda and Uganda, and Burundi and Rwanda echo the difficulties that precipitated the collapse of the old EAC. These feuds threaten progress within the bloc of six countries with an estimated population of 195-million. The ministerial meetings were set to look at how regional integration could be strengthened. These included reviewing plans for a common currency and a political federation. Discussions of these proposals began at the February summit, where President Paul Kagame of Rwanda took over the presidency from his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni. The success of such plans will confirm the community’s reputation as the most rapidly integrating regional economic bloc over...

Egypt has announced that it plans to launch a regular maritime line from the port of Ain Sokhna, east of Cairo, to East African countries in October with the aim of ensuring the arrival of Egyptian goods as well as boosting exports to East African countries and landlocked countries, including Ethiopia, South Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. In a press statement May 19, Public Enterprise Sector Minister Hesham Tawfik said the new maritime line will help boost trade to Africa, transport goods and provide logistical services to exporters and importers, with the aim of promoting trade between Egyptian and African countries and reaching new markets to support the national economy. The minister also said the new maritime line will help Egypt enhance its role as a northern gateway to African trade with European countries. He added that the line will provide elements of logistical support from transport, warehousing and insurance services. Construction for the line started this month; the line is to start in October. The government did not announce the cost of the project and said it will be paid for by the Holding Company for Maritime and Land Transport. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Transport announced May 19 that a committee was set up to study the available transport capacities and the development of maritime transport services, in light of the government directives in this regard, in cooperation with the relevant ministries. Economists and transport experts have praised the establishment of the new shipping line, arguing that it will give a push to Egypt’s exports...

Some panelists at the Stakeholders Dialogue on Continental Trade and Strengthening Implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) have listed steps necessary for smooth takeoff of the Agreement. Speaking during the opening session of the dialogue on Monday in Ethiopia, the panelists were in agreement that it was not yet Uhuru for AfCFTA, despite successes already achieved. The stakeholders meeting was jointly organised by the African Union Commission (AUC) and the Coalition for Dialogue on Africa (CoDA). The News Agency of Nigeria reports that 22 countries have ratified the AfCFTA agreement, meeting the requirements needed for implementation. NAN also reports that Zimbabwe is ready to ratify the Agreement on Tuesday, to bring the number to 23. While Nigeria, Benin and Eritrea are yet to sign up to the AfCFTA agreement, 51 other countries have signed up. One of the panelists, the ECOWAS Permanent Representative to the African Union, Dr Nelson Magbagbeola, called attention to free movement of persons. He said there was need to borrow a leaf from the ECOWAS Trade Equalisation Scheme, adding that this was very critical to the efficiency of AfCFTA. Magbagbeola also pointed out that one of the fears of Nigeria, in withholding signing up to the agreement, is that most African countries do produce goods they lay claim to. “We know for a fact that some countries do not even have factories producing goods they claim are coming from them. “In most cases, what they merely do is to repackage finished goods. There...

The U.S. ditched the Trans-Pacific Partnership, while across the Atlantic, the U.K. is trying to extract itself from the European Union and its single market. But while free trade is under threat in much of the world, African countries are heading in the other direction: the continent is on track to create the largest free trade agreement by population that the world has seen since the 1995 creation of the World Trade Organization. That organization has 164 member countries. On May 30, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will become a reality. All but three of Africa’s 55 countries have signed up, creating a free trade area that covers more than a billion people and a collective GDP of over $2 trillion, and includes most of Africa’s largest economies, including South Africa and Egypt. If hold-outs Benin, Eritrea and Nigeria—Africa’s largest economy—join in, that’s a total of 1.2 billion people and $2.3 trillion in GDP. By way of comparison, NAFTA and the EU-Japan free trade agreement each cover a collective GDP of around $22 trillion. But even when added together, they don’t cover as many people as the AfCFTA will if every African nation joins. Here’s what you need to know about the deal that could transform Africa’s business landscape. What’s the goal? Trade within Africa is in a dire state. A mere 17% of African countries’ exports go to other African countries—compare that with intra-regional trade levels of 59% in Asia and 69% in Europe. That means Africa doesn’t feature...

THE East African Community (EAC) Leather Forum has urged the bloc to create readily accessible market for leather products. The forum has called for EAC to fast track the implementation of Regional Leather Strategy. The forum was convened by the East African Business Council (EABC) and brought together over 40 industry champions in leather manufacturing from Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. The forum has recommended for the creation of a readily accessible regional market for leather products and a conducive business environment to promote regional value addition in the leather sector. According to World Bank Kenya Leather Industry - Diagnosis, Strategy and Action Plan, Leather and Leather products are among the most widely traded agro-based commodities in the world. The industry has a global estimated trade value of over US$ 150 billion a year, more than five times that of coffee. Despite owning about 15 per cent of the world's cattle population, Africa accounts for only eight percent of the world production of cattle hides and four per cent of world leather production. Speaking at the opening session, Mr Christophe Bazivamo, EAC Deputy Secretary General (Productive and Social Sectors), said the EAC Secretariat and the Partner States have prioritised the development of the Leather Sector Value Chain for job creation and as a means of providing affordable, new and quality options for leather products to the citizens. The 19th Ordinary Summit held in February 2018 in Kampala, directed the Council to put in place mechanisms that support...

The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and United National Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) have today launched a Co-delegation Agreement to implement trade facilitation projects in the region. UNCTAD Secretary General Dr Mukhisa Kituyi and his COMESA counterpart Chileshe Kapwepwe launched the Agreement Friday at the COMESA Headquarters in Lusaka, Zambia. Under the Agreement, COMESA delegates to UNCTAD the design and development of national and regional Trade Information Portals (TIPs) and the Customs Automation Regional Centre (CARC). The two activities are worth 3 million euros and will be funded from an 85 million euros kitty provided by the European Union to COMESA under the 11th European Development Fund Trade Facilitation Programme. Out of this amount, 68 million euros will be used to implement trade facilitation and small-scale cross border trade. The TIPs will facilitate easy access to essential trade information in one platform while the CARC will support technical and functional training on the Automated System for Customs Data (ASYCUDA) World Platform thereby improving skills to develop and use applications. This is in addition to developing the latest ASYCUDA Applications to enhance trade facilitation systems at the national, regional and continental levels. COMESA Secretary General said the co-delegation was informed by UNCTAD’s experience and expertise in promoting trade facilitation, and capacity in modernizing Customs Administrations, and ASYCUDA being its intellectual property. “I am confident that UNCTAD will deliver the expected outcomes as enshrined in the Co-delegation Agreement,” she said. In his address Kituyi said the engine...

The African Infrastructure Guarantee Mechanism’ was organised as part of the 3rd African Pension Funds and Alternatives Investment Conference. It was well attended by an audience mostly composed of industry players – private pension fund administrators, trustees, asset managers, government pension funds and development finance institutions. This grouping clearly demonstrates the interest to develop such initiatives to scale up greater investments in the African infrastructure space. The session was moderated by Dr Morgan Pillay Senior Infrastructure Finance Expert from GIZ, who presented the objectives of the AUDA-NEPAD session. To objectives were; to gauge the appetite of institutional investors (pension funds) for the implementation of the African Infrastructure Guarantee Mechanism and discuss its financial potential; and to make use of the Pension Fund conference platform to consult on what can make the concept a reality. This includes possible implementation strategies and concrete action steps towards scaling risk mitigation and an African Guarantee Scheme to enable the mobilisation of African pension fund investment for African infrastructure. The session panel, with representatives from the AUDA-NEPAD, the African Development Bank; the Development Bank of Southern Africa and the Trade and Development Bank gave its interpretation of the African Infrastructure Guarantee Mechanism as instrument of risk mitigation. Industry players were requested to give their thoughts on how the development of such initiative could bring value in facilitating alternative investments in the African Infrastructure space. Deliberations included working with development partners in the development of similar initiatives such as the African Development Bank and its co-guarantee...