There has been much hype about a major Africa investment summit being hosted by the UK. Attended by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and an array of royals, a great deal of hopeful win-win-win rhetoric abounded linked to forging new partnerships for a post-Brexit future.At the summit, Ghana, it seems, is being given top treatment as a favoured destination, while Zimbabwe appears to have been snubbed despite being “open for business”.UK aid policy these days is focused on promoting UK trade interests abroad, with the government adopting a global business promotion approach for UK firms. The linking of aid and trade, of course, has a history in Britain.In 1994 the Pergau dam scandal – in which aid was used as a sweetener for an arms deal – led to the commitment to untie aid. It also led to the establishment of a separate development department and an Act of Parliament specifying how aid must be spent. This consensus on aid since the mid-1990s, however, is now under threat. Trade and investment can, of course, help reduce poverty, promote women’s empowerment and be good for children’s rights.But the opposite may be true too. There are many different business models – and so labour, environmental and rights regimes – with very different outcomes. We’ve been looking at some of these issues over the last few years across several projects.All were funded by the UK’s Department for International Development. The project compared three broad types of commercial agricultural investment: estates and plantations; medium-scale commercial farms;...

As the first UK-Africa Investment Summit came to end, African countries walked away with million dollar investments in renewable energy projects that are set to bring the African continent and the European Island even closer. Boris Johnson's government is set to invest over US $65.7m into renewable energy projects in Africa, as it works with selected African countries to develop sustainable energy sources. UK Prime minister Boris Johnson speaking during UK-Africa Investment Summit. (twitter/10DowningStreet) The approved projects include solar farms in Kenya, geothermal power stations in Ethiopia and clean energy storage in sub-Saharan Africa. “Our world-leading scientists and financial experts will work hand in hand with African nations to support their quest for energy security, powering new industries and jobs across the continent with a diverse mix of energy sources while promoting economic growth,” said UK’s Business and energy secretary Andrea Leadsom, construction review reported. The British Conservative politician added that close collaboration with African countries will be key as the UK prepares to host the UN climate talks (COP26) later this year. The African countries will receive funding and support as UK scientists and financial experts will work with their African counterparts to realise the continent’s significant renewable energy potential. The UK will further assist the countries with attracting investment for innovative renewable projects, such as wind and solar farms. Entrance to the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation Aluto Langano Geothermal plant. The government announced the winners of the investment packages for the continent’s clean energy infrastructure at the African Investment...

The Kenya National Highway Authority (KeNHA) has started the process to construct part of the 460-kilometre East African Coastal Corridor development project. Tenders were advertised for the two phases of the 13.5km Mombasa—Mtwapa (A7) section, which entails the construction of a four-lane dual carriageway. The works include construction of a grade separated junction, service roads, storm water drains, major and minor drainage structures, access roads and social amenities along the road. The project has already received funds from the African Development Bank (AfDB) and a grant from the European Union. Last June, Gabriel Negatu, East Africa director general of AfDB said construction of the road would begin this year. “Both the Kenya and Tanzania governments have finalised all their requirements to pave way for the construction of the coastal highway,” Mr Negatu said. The Coastline Transnational Highway project, conceived more than two decades ago, covers Bagamoyo-Tanga-Horohoro on the Tanzania side and Lunga Lunga-Mombasa-Mtwapa-Malindi on the Kenyan side, and is expected to cost $751 million. According to an agreement signed last November, AfDB will finance 70 per cent of the highway and the governments of Kenya and Tanzania will cover 30 per cent. Last December, AfDB approved of the $384.22 million financing package for the road construction a few months after the EU gave a grant of $33.41 million or 7.7 per cent of the total project cost to the government of Kenya. The road is a priority item in AfDB’s Eastern Africa Regional Integration Strategy and the Country Strategy Papers...

The UK this past week opened a new chapter in its relations with African countries at a summit to set the tone for the country’s trade and diplomatic ties with the continent after exiting the European Union. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson hosted leaders from 21 African countries in London, where 27 deals worth an estimated $8.5 billion (£6.5 billion) were signed at the UK-Africa Summit held on January 20. The summit came just months after Japan and Russia hosted African leaders in their respective capitals last year. “We want to build a new future as a global free trading nation, that’s what we are doing now and that’s what we will be embarking on, on 31st of January,” Mr Johnson told the gathering in London. “But I want to intensify and expand that trade in ways that go far beyond what we sell you or you sell us.” The tone of the meeting signalled a shift in Mr Johnson’s attitude towards Africa. Eight years ago, as mayor of London, he wrote a commentary in the Spectator Magazine suggesting that Africa would have been better off if the UK was still its colonial master. Britain expects to start an 18-month transition from being a member of the EU beginning January 31, to being an independent country capable of signing bilateral or multilateral trade deals. Britain may have to renegotiate all trade deals initially signed under the EU, including with African countries. In the EAC, for example, Britain had been a...

With the AfCFTA expected to increase intra-African trade by 52 per cent by the year 2022, the journey towards making it a reality is in high gear. The Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement seeks to have the removal of tariffs on 90 per cent of goods traded within the continent. Towards this, UNCTAD and the African Union have developed an online platform to help remove non-tariff barriers to trade in Africa. The tool became operational on January 13. Moving goods across the continent Traders and businesses moving goods across the continent can now instantly report the challenges they encounter, such as quotas, excessive import documents or unjustified packaging requirements. To improve the movement of goods across the continent and reduce the cost importers and exporters in the region face, the tool will help African governments monitor and eliminate such challenges which slow trade costing the continent billions of dollars annually. The African Union’s Agenda 2063 seeks to transform Africa into a global powerhouse of the future. The need to envision a long-term 50-year development trajectory for Africa is important as the continent needs to revise and adapt its development agenda due to ongoing structural transformations; increased peace and reduction in the number of conflicts; renewed economic growth and social progress; the need for people-centred development, gender equality and youth empowerment; changing global contexts such as increased globalization and the ICT revolution; the increased unity of Africa which makes it a global power to be reckoned with and capable of rallying support around its own...

The Epower forum, recently hosted at Nairobi’s Movenpick Hotel, unfolded the key issues regarding the way in which E-commerce can enable cross border trade for women in light of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AFCFTA). In attendance were over 150 women owned SME’s. The basis of the event touched on how cross border trade can be made simpler, more cost effective, whilst creating new business opportunities and enhancing social development. This comes at a time where the advancement of technology is at an unprecedented level. Eric Wainaina, from Africa’s talking, said “It is annoying to hear, that Africa is not at par with the rest of the world concerning technology. It’s not true” With regards to how E-commerce is relying on technology, it was made increasingly clear that the uptake of more technology will allow for seamless patterns, instead for operating in a fragmented manner, ensuring more out of the value chains. This was emphasized by Gloria Atuheirwe, Director Women in Trade East Africa, “ICT to facilitate trade, automating and making trade easier. ICT to be the building blocks for improving outreach, processes and efficiency”. Outlining trade issues from two perspectives, barriers and cost of trade, alluding to how technology can ease up those processes. Through the inception of the Epower forum, women globally have learnt how to plug into E-commerce learning to harness the power of internet skills. Source: CIO East Africa

The Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia-Transport (Lapsset) corridor project got its biggest boost yet after it was adopted as an African Union project. INFRASTRUCTURE It will be redesigned to link the Sh32 billion Lamu port on the shores of the Indian Ocean to the Douala port in Cameroon, on the Atlantic Ocean. The project will be implemented in two phases — starting with the Lamu-Isiolo-Addis Ababa-Djibouti route before embarking on connecting Lamu to Kribi/Douala via Juba and Bangui. The announcement has given Nairobi the much needed boost for its flagship multi-billion-dollar infrastructure project that has dragged on for years. Speaking during the signing of a memorandum of understating between Kenya, Ethiopia and South Sudan in Mombasa, AU High Representative for Infrastructure Development Raila Odinga said the organisation had adopted Lapsset as a continental project and this would now see it get implemented under the AU. “This project will now not only connect Kenya with Ethiopia and South Sudan, but with other West Africa countries once it is completed. As an AU project, it will link with other continental corridors such as East Africa Northern Corridor, East Africa Central Corridor and provide a land bridge through the African Great Lakes region,” Mr Odinga said PARTNER COUNTRIES The three countries signed the MoU that will now help the project to facilitate its infrastructure development and funding. Attending the three-day meeting were prospective financiers of the project, the African Development Bank (AfDB), a boost for the project that has so far been funded only by...

Kenyan traders can now access the continent’s investment regulatory data on one platform following the launch of an e-portal aimed enhancing ease of doing business. The tool, tradebarriers.africa, has been developed by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the African Union, and also seeks to make trade less costly for local investors. The platform became operational on January 13. UNCTAD and African Union (AU) said Kenyan traders and businesses moving goods across the continent will be able to report the challenges they encounter, such as quotas, excessive import documents or unjustified packaging requirements. UNCTAD and the AU trained 60 public officials and business representatives from across Africa on how to use the tool in December 2019 in Nairobi. “Non-tariff barriers are the main obstacles to trade between African countries,” said Ms Pamela Coke-Hamilton, director of UNCTAD’s trade division. “That’s why the success of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) depends in part on how well governments can track and remove them,” she said, referring to the agreement signed by African governments to create a single, continentwide market for goods and services. Complaints logged on the platform will be monitored by government officials in each nation and a special coordination unit that’s housed in the AfCFTA secretariat. The unit will be responsible for verifying a complaint. Once verified, officials in the countries concerned will be tasked with addressing the issue within set timelines prescribed by the AfCFTA agreement. Kenya’s manufacturing sector is betting big on the Africa-wide...

A decade since it came into force, the East African Community Common Market Protocol, is going through a reality check. This week, Uganda lodged a formal protest against Kenya, over blockage of its milk exports. Kenya also accuses Uganda of imposing hefty duties on some of its exports especially beverages. Tanzania has been involved in several trade skirmishes with Kenya even as they were united in disputing Uganda’s sugar surplus and for a while blocking Ugandan sugar from their markets. In a case of selective amnesia, Uganda also does not believe Tanzania has a rice surplus although many Ugandan entrepreneurs rent land in southern Tanzania to grow rice. When the common market was conceived, it was believed free trade would be a vehicle for efficient allocation of resources across the economic spectrum. For instance, free movement of labour would allow skills to move from areas of surplus to areas in the community that had a deficit. Theoretically, application of those skills would over time raise the productive capacity of such an economy, creating a degree of parity with the rest of the region. What the framers might have anticipated but did not state, was that open markets would trigger a realignment of the regional economy as investors look for the most cost efficient production bases. Uganda got a taste of this early on when multinationals Bata and British American Tobacco shifted their manufacturing operations from Uganda to Kenya. This seeming loss has however, been more than compensated for by the...

By CORRESPONDENT, MOMBASA, Kenya, Jan 15 – The commissioning of the Lamu Port, a crucial facility in the Lamu Port South Sudan Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) Corridor project, hangs in the balance as Kenya awaits the commitment of regional leaders to grace the event. The port was set to be commissioned in December, but the date was later vacated in a bid to ensure regional Heads of State attend the commissioning. Berth number 1 at the Lamu Port had been completed at the time. Berth 2 and 3 are scheduled to the completed this year. Next month, a large ship operated by Mersk Shipping Line, will dock at Lamu Port, Macharia said. Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia on Tuesday joined Ethiopian Ambassador to Kenya Meles Alam and South Sudan’s Undersecretary in the Ministry of Transport Capt David Martin to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on LAPSSET, the CS remaining noncommittal on the commissioning of the project. “Lamu Port is a regional project that was launched by the three head of states of Kenya, Ethiopia and South Sudan in March 2012. As a country, we cannot go back and commission it on our own. We want the same head of states to be present during commissioning,” Macharia said, declining to give a date for the official opening. Ambassador Alam allayed fears Ethiopia, having signed a peace deal with Eritrea in 2018, might backtrack from the LAPSSET project. “However, our presence in this meeting testifies the full commitment the Ethiopian government has towards implementation of...