It is an indisputable fact that African countries do not trade enough among themselves. To make any meaningful headway and register economic growth, countries within the continent must boost intra-regional trade. This will also help accelerate economic growth and development on the continent. The government of The Gambia through the Ministry of Trade, Industry, Regional Integration and Employment in collaboration with partners has been spearheading initiatives geared towards promoting trade within our continent. Regional trade integration has long been a strategic objective for Africa with some success in eliminating tariffs within regional communities. However, more still needs to be done. The signing of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement by the overwhelming majority of African countries is a historic step towards rationalising Africa’s regional trade arrangements, deepen economic integration and draw on economies of scale and development of regional value chains. These many believe, would further accelerate the process of structural transformation of African economies. As a flagship project of the African Union Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want, the AfCFTA seeks to bring on board all the 55 African countries with a combined population of more than 1.2 billion people and a combined gross domestic product (GDP) exceeding US$2.5 trillion, making the continent the largest free trade area created since the formation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Analyst believe that Africa could double intra-regional trade by easing non-tariff barriers, including customs procedures and improving the continent’s poor transport infrastructure; that doing this will help boost economic...

On May 30, 2019 Africa made history as the Agreement establishing the AfCFTA officially entered into force. With 54 out of the 55 member states of the African Union signing the agreement, Africa brought into being the largest trading block since the formation of the WTO. The entry into force of the AfCFTA is also marked by the speed at which African countries worked together within a year to establish a regional trading block to promote intra-African trade following the adoption of the AfCFTA on March 21, 2018 in Kigali, Rwanda. Following the ratification and entry into force of the AfCFTA, 5 supporting Operational Instruments were launched during the AU Summit held in Niamey, Niger in July 2019. These instruments are the key tools that will support the launch of the operational phase of the AfCFTA with start of trading scheduled for July 2020. The occasion also marked the announcement of the Republic of Ghana as the country to host the AfCFTA Secretariat. The operational instruments of the AfCFTA 1.The Rules of Origin: A regime governing the conditions under which a product or service can be traded duty free across the region. 2. The Tariff concessions: It has been agreed that there should be 90 per cent tariff liberalisation and the deadline is 1st July 2020. (Over a 10 year period with a 5 year transition, there will be an additional 7 per cent for “sensitive products” that must be liberalised). This will be supported by the AfCFTA Trade in Goods online portal...

In a couple of weeks, Kenya will open the first phase of its multi–billion dollar Lamu Port, the beachhead to the Lamu Port South Sudan Ethiopia Transport (Lapsset) Corridor. That will be the second new logistics corridor after the Djibouti-Ethiopia standard gauge rail that went into service a few years ago. Yet to be done, Djibouti is also in the middle of a mega project to expand its port while to the south, Tanzania which has in recent years completed upgrades to the Dar es Salaam port, is now betting on a new port at Bagamoyo. Invariably, all these projects target the Eastern Africa hinterland with all contenders aiming to be the logistics hub of the region. Looking at East Africa’s or even Africa’s logistics map, it is not in dispute that the region and continent suffers a huge infrastructure deficit. But must the projects be this grandiose? There is indeed a case for developing infrastructure but a sense of proportion and degree of co-ordination are needed to make these projects viable. Multiple corridors provide critical redundancy in the event of failure, if they are inter-linked. But their economic efficiency needs to be looked at in more practical than academic terms because the economies are racking up huge debt to build these projects. For instance, the Lapsset Corridor aims to link Lamu, South Sudan and Ethiopia along a logistics umbilical cord comprising rail, an oil pipeline, electric power and roads. At the same time, if at all the Kenya standard...

The government of Zambia has signed a US US $147m deal with Africa Inland Container Depot (AFICD) of Tanzania for the establishment of a dry port in the central town of Kapiri Mposhi. According to the signed agreement, the port will be an integrated logistics and industrial hub that will provide services to clients across eastern, central and southern Africa thereby increasing regional market access for Zambian products. Dry port project The project will be built on a Build-Lease-Transfer (BLT), Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) model. The area where the Kapiri Mposhi Dry Port is earmarked for is located on the northern side of New Kapiri Mposhi Railway station, measuring approximately 4.3756 hectares (10.81 acres), with an already installed gantry crane of 36mt lifting capacity. CEO of the IDC Mateyo Kaluba said that construction will be done in two phases. Phase one will involve construction of the dry port while the second phase will see an establishment of a multi-facility economic zone. Share holders The Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), the investment arm of the Zambian government, will hold 15% of shares in the project while the Tanzanian firm, Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) will hold 85%. The Dar es Salaam Corridor Group (DCG) will take hold of the four-hectare piece of land, construct the Dry Port, operate (lease) it for 25 years and, thereafter, transfer all the immovable assets to TAZARA. Approximately 500 jobs will be created during construction and up to 3,000 direct and indirect jobs will be created when the dry port becomes operational. “This is a...

Rwanda has opened the Masaka dry port for business with the launch on Monday of the $35 million-worth Kigali Logistics Platform, built and operated by Dubai World—a United Arab Emirates-based trade logistics firm. The facility provides services in container handling, loading and unloading from trucks, warehousing and cold storage; and is expected to reduce the time taken for cargo truck-turnaround from two weeks to three days. It was developed through a concession. Dubai World will run it for 25 years before handing it over to the government. The port’s construction began in early 2016 in Masaka, east of Kigali, close to the special economic zone and will link Rwanda to both the Northern and Central transport corridors, as well as save almost $50 million a year in logistics costs when operating at full capacity, according to the Rwanda Development Board. Patience Mutesi, the country director for Trademark East Africa told The EastAfrican that the logistics hub will help solve some of the persistent bottlenecks that dog the movement of goods to and from Rwanda. “Many challenges still exist for traders in the region. Offloading and reloading outbound cargo at both the Mombasa and Dar es Salaam ports takes days and sometimes even weeks to be completed,” said Ms Mutesi. The Masaka dry port was therefore developed as the logical termination point of the proposed standard gauge railway from both the Uganda and Tanzania line, to improve connectivity with the ports of Mombasa in Kenya and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. The Kigali...

Kwame Nkrumah famously proclaimed on the night of Ghana’s independence that “Our independence is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of Africa”.  Africa, a continent rich in natural resources, holding around 30% of the world’s mineral resources is at the same time home to 5 of the 10 poorest countries in the world. In a recent report, the World Bank projects that a staggering 90% of the world’s poor may reside in Africa by 2030. Barriers to free regional trade, political turmoil, inadequate infrastructure and weak financial institutions remain key hurdles to economic advancement. Despite how grey the narrative looks, Africa’s growth outlook remains buoyant and continues to attract high foreign direct investment. Nkrumah’s vision was to restore Africa’s identity, “We are going to see that we create our own African personality and identity. We again rededicate ourselves in the struggle to emancipate other countries in Africa”. His desire was to see a well-functioning continent capable of harnessing its rich resources to become a global economic powerhouse. Kwame Nkrumah saw the need for neighbourhood/regional political independence – for he knew Ghana cannot be the only free country in Sub-Saharan Africa. He accordingly spent a great deal of his time, Ghana’s time and resources supporting the political liberation of fellow African countries. The going together, working together approach that Kwame Nkrumah and our political forefathers adopted in the political sphere is needed in economic development. Though recognized, the focus and zeal with which it was deployed in...

olitical effort to make it happen since no one country can make it alone. He added: “Regional cooperation is highly required to deal with it.  High level regional political commitment is key. Due to different legal and regulatory regimes in different countries harmonization of the existing legal and regulatory regimes is required.” According to Ntegano, in countries that have not implemented ONA, “it is not a problem [caused by] telecom operators; it is the governments.” Sarah Kabahuma of the East African Communications Organization (EACO) noted that in the four countries that implemented ONA, call costs are at $10 cents per minute. The challenge, she said, is with grey traffic – the use of illegal telephone exchanges for making international calls bypassing the legal routes and exchanges. Regarding EACO’s recommendations, Kabahuma noted that besides the need to conduct an impact assessment to review ONA especially on price caps, feasibility and challenges, “Burundi and Tanzania should join.” She added: “We should also expand ONA beyond the EAC to other regional economic blocs.” Source: The New Times

Symposium on Inclusive Participation of Women in Trade, which took place in Nairobi in September, was co-organised by Professor Leïla Choukroune and attended by Nancy, who is a PhD Candidate in the Faculty of Business and Law. Nancy says: ‘The Symposium dealt with the broader perspective of emerging global issues in trade and narrowed down to inclusivity of women in trade from a gender perspective. The event attracted high-level dignitaries including Kenya’s Minister for Trade, UNCTAD Secretary General, Ambassadors and CEOs from various organisations across the globe. Various presentations were made by specialists ranging from information technology, data analyses and legal perspectives. My paper was titled:’Legal Framework for Inclusion of Women in Trade: Case of the United Kingdom vis a vis Kenya.’ This was informed by the 2030 United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development, which included 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aimed at ending poverty, hunger and inequality, supporting action on climate change, improving access to health and education, and building strong institutions and partnerships. The inclusion of a standalone goal (Goal 5) on women’s equality, as well as the mainstreaming of gender and inclusion through the other 16 goals, is a key achievement for the international community. Gender inequality in most spheres of development remains a major barrier to human development. The presentation demystified the legal and institutional framework of the rights of women in trade, reasons for the shift from exclusion and marginalisation of women for many decades and an increase in inclusion by creation of relevant legislation...

The EAC Regional Meeting on Trade Facilitation is the first meeting of the EAC Sub-Committee on Trade Facilitation under the UNCTAD Phase II project on Trade Facilitation, funded by TradeMark EA. The project is aimed at providing technical assistance to the EAC Secretariat and the EAC Partner States in trade facilitation reforms and simplification of trade procedures built upon the Trade Information Portals, all implemented by UNCTAD. The meeting will ensure a coordinated and harmonized implementation process of the trade facilitation policies in the EAC region. The EAC Regional Meeting will be held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on 22-25 October 2019 under the leadership of the EAC Secretariat with the participation of the Chairs of the NTFCs, Representatives of the Customs Authority and the East African Business Council. At the end of the EAC Regional Meeting, the EAC Secretariat will prepare recommendations to be presented and adopted by the EAC Sectoral Council on Trade, Industry, Finance and Investment in November 2019. Source: United Nations Trade and Development

Recently, there has been a widespread recognition towards agriculture as an engine of growth and poverty reduction in developing countries.  Yet the sector keeps under performing in many parts of our continent and other developing countries. Globally, women produce 50% of global food products and comprise, on average, 43% of the agricultural labour force in developing countries according to FAO statistics. In African countries, according to the UNDP, the economic and social discrimination against women actually costs Africa USD 105 billion a year or 6% of the continent’s annual Gross Domestic Product(GDP). In Tanzania, agriculture is a principal source of income and livelihood for about 65% of the population contributing an estimated 30%to the GDP. There is a greater participation of women than men in the sector split 81% and 73% respectively -the number increases to 98% for women in rural areas. Many of the world’s poorest countries rely on traditional agricultural crops for export however,it has been proven that participation in high-value export commodity chains such as horticulture and fisheries provides considerable opportunities for growth and poverty reduction. An analysis conducted by International Trade Center Non-Tariff Measures Surveys across 20 countries in 2015 revealed that when it comes to gender parity, far fewer women owned businesses are engaged in international trade than those owned by men. Diversification into high-value agricultural exports has been cited as a key means of linking the world’s rural poor to global markets. But how do we unlock this potential of agriculture for improved livelihoods...