East Africa remains a top destination for foreign direct investment, with new data for 2018 showing that the region attracted inflows of $4 billion. The latest World Investment Report 2019 by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development shows that despite flat growth in FDI in the larger East Africa, which remained largely unchanged at $9 billion due to contractions in Ethiopia, the East African Community partner states recorded impressive growth. In Uganda, inflows reached a historic high, increasing by 67 per cent to $1.3 billion, while Kenya posted a 27 per cent growth to $1.6 billion. In Tanzania, inflows grew by 18 per cent to $1.1 billion. During the year, investment flows were channelled to diverse industries, with manufacturing, chemicals, hospitality and oil and gas being the main attraction for foreign investors. Inflows to Ethiopia contracted by 18 per cent to $3.3 billion, although the country remains the biggest FDI recipient in the region, with investments in petroleum refining, mineral extraction, real estate, manufacturing and renewable energy. “Prospects in Ethiopia remain positive due to economic liberalisation, investment facilitation measures and the presence of investment ready special economic zones,” says the report. The report shows that Africa escaped the global decline in FDIs as flows to the continent cumulatively rose to $46 billion in 2018, an increase of 11 per cent. Flows to sub-Saharan Africa increased by 13 per cent to $32 billion. GROWTH The growth in Africa was attributed to rising demand for commodities that saw commodity prices surge. Africa...

President Paul Kagame has expressed his confidence that Africa will soon expand the horizon of opportunities through the recently established African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA). AfCTA will be formally launched next month at the African Union Summit in Niger. While attending the opening ceremony of this year’s European Development Days (EDD) under the theme “Inequalities: trends and challenges in the context of globalization, Kagame said that Africa is still lagging behind in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) implementation. In this Kagame said that there is more work ahead but all in all Africa is ready to kick start the deal but with a call for external collaborative help. “It is more imperative than ever that developing countries take more effective lead of their general development agenda, as well as raising the level of prosperity. It is not something that can be done by external actors alone,” Kagame said. This was not the first time the president attends EDD. Kagame participated in the 2017 and 2018 sessions with various leaders including the Belgian PM Charles Michel, and Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Union Commission. In the previous meets, Kagame also reminded global leaders of the need for Africa and Europe to see each other as partners and friends rather than foes. This year, Kagame acknowledged that there has been an increasing understanding and acceptance by development partners of the need for those on the receiving end of assistance to drive their own development agenda. Using the Rwandan example, Kagame...

Somalia has joined DR Congo in seeking to join the fast-growing East African Community. The community currently consists of six nations namely; Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and South Sudan. Somalia has been pushing to join the bloc since 2013 when it presented its application to the EAC secretariat. In July 2018, the Horn of Africa nation secured a place in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), a free trade zone comprising of 21 African nations. Since joining COMESA, Somalia’s standing on the continent has improved. The move has taken it a step closer to gaining membership in the East African Community. DR Congo submitted their official request to join EAC on 8th June through a letter addressed to the leader of the community President Paul Kagame. The country has a wealth of natural resources such as cobalt, gold, diamond, copper, and oil which could drive economic growth in the region. DR Congo already shares strong trade ties with most East African countries like Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Tanzania. By allowing the two countries into the East African bloc, the region will benefit from a large consumer market comprising of over 235 million residents up from roughly 150 million people currently found in the EAC. Additionally, intra-regional trade is set to increase with the addition of new members into the community. Somalia’s long coastline along the Indian Ocean is also likely to contribute to the economic expansion of the East African region. Even with the huge economic potential in...

  Tshisekedi expressed his wish for the DRC to become a member in a letter sent on 8 June to Rwandan president Paul Kagame, who presides over the regional bloc. The last country to join the EAC was South Sudan in 2016. Should its membership be ratified, the DRC would become the seventh member of the bloc. This request is “a confirmation of President Tshisekedi’s stated priority to focus his regional policy on cooperation and integration,” says Olivier Nduhungirehe, secretary of state for the EAC at the Rwandan ministry of foreign affairs. Tshisekedi’s request, the letter states, “follows the ever-increasing trade between operators in the Democratic Republic of Congo and those in the States of the aforementioned Community”. Among the examples of this cooperation, a few days after Tshisekedi’s first visit to Kigali the Rwandan national carrier RwandAir launched direct flights between Kigali and Kinshasa, beginning on 17 April. Security matters Tshisekedi, who was invested as DRC president on 24 January, has already visited several EAC member countries, starting with Kenya on his first regional tour and travelling to Uganda and Rwanda in March, followed by Tanzania and Burundi on 13 and 14 June. Discussions between the Congolese president and his counterparts have, so far, focused largely on security issues. Tshisekedi, who has promised to bring peace to the troubled North Kivu province, hosted a meeting of the region’s intelligence services in Kinshasa on 5 and 6 June. Burundi did not attend. Tshisekedi and Kagame, who succeeded Yoweri Museveni of...

The Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) could receive a big boost before it is officially launched in July this year – following news that Nigeria – the continent’s economic power house, is reportedly finalizing the process to ratify the agreement. In March last year, fifty African countries signed the historic Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) – an agreement that will create a single African market. Before the event, Nigeria had issued a statement saying it remained skeptical to endorse its signature. This attracted debate that the agreement would not be successful without Nigeria. However, after a post-launch press briefing, Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame insisted that Nigeria is “supportive” of AfCFTA. In the context, he said, “I think it’s a question of time and how fast they (Nigeria) address things they feel they should address before they make full pronouncement as to what position they ultimately want vis-avis this historic event we have witnessed today,” Kagame told the media in Kigali shortly after signing the agreement. On Monday, June 17, 2019, Dr. Abdu Mukhtar, the Director of Industrial and Trade Development at the African Development Bank – the key financier of mega projects on the continent, announced that Nigeria is on its way to join the market. “African Development Bank has expressed optimism that Nigeria, the largest country on the continent will soon ratify the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement,” AfCFTA quoted Dr. Abdu Mukhtar on its Twitter handle. Celebrations are expected to fill up Niamey –...

Legislators from the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) of the East African Community (EAC), and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, have convened in Nairobi to deliberate on the acceleration of the ratification process and entry into force of the Protocol relating to the free movement of persons in Africa before the end of year 2020. The three-day meeting looked into the harmonization and alignment of the EAC and ECOWAS free movement frameworks with the “African Union Protocol to the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community relating to Free Movement of Persons: Right of Residence and Right of Establishment” and its implementation roadmap. The legislators will also develop a plan to popularize the issuance of the African Passport, as a catalyst for the realization of free movement in Africa. Facilitated by the African Union Commission (AUC) Department of Political Affairs, the meeting is expected to develop a comprehensive ratification roadmap of the protocol and provide recommendations for the harmonization of the EAC and ECOWAS regional norms and policies on free movement of persons, as well as the border security management, aligned with the AU Protocol on Free Movement. The protocol needs fifteen (15) ratifications to come into force as a reflection of the commitment of African Union Member States to promote economic, social and cultural development, and the integration of African economies through seamless borders. AUC Head of Humanitarian, Refugees and Displaced Persons Division, Amb. Olabisi Dare, while urging the legislators to champion the ratification of the...

The government of Rwanda is planning to invest about $220 million to improve infrastructure and transport facilities in the country, The New Times reports. New projects cover, according to finance minister Uzziel Ndagijimana (photo), construction, rehabilitation and extension work on various roads in many regions. Particularly, projects target the construction of the Pindura-Bweyeye highway in the Rusizi district ($5.8 million) and the Satinsyi-Rubagabaga bridge in the Ngororero district ($3.6 million). Another $27 million will be used to rationalize public transport in Kigali and build new roads to facilitate the supply of agricultural products to national markets. Other projects include the purchase of boats and construction of ports on Lake Kivu ($9.4 million) to improve river transport. Let’s note that this investment program is part of the 2019/2020 budget, amounting $3 billion+, announced a few days ago. Most investments are directed to infrastructure projects which capture $603.7 million, ahead of education with $339.8 million and health with $257.2 million. Source: Ecofin Agency

East Africa Community (EAC) States are optimistic that the EAC Standard Gauge Railway once completed in different states, will enhance trading between the members as well as movement of goods and services. Development of railway lines within EAC has been underlined as a means for enhancement of connectivity and linkages between the ports and the inlands to enable cross border trade and heavy industrial development harnessed by the cheaper means of transport. According to the managing director of Kenya Railways, Atanas Maina, the development of the railway transport is one way through which EAC countries can attain middle income status. “The development of standard gauge railway is supposed to provide a transformative land transport infrastructure that will help the region move towards the middle income status” he states Kenya has been at the forefront in implementation of the Northern Corridor Standard Gauge Railway, having completed their part from Mombasa to Nairobi in 2018. Uganda and Rwanda are yet to start on the planned 1,500km-long railway from Mombasa to Kigali Although there have been delays in the implementation of the project, officials at the EAC council are impressed with the EAC states commitment to infrastructure development According to Libe’rat Mfumukeko, the Secretary General EAC, building the SGR remains a priority for all EAC and will be implemented fully as planned “Over the last three to four, most EAC countries have doubled their budgets for Infrastructure Development. This is a very good move because it is through infrastructure that we can push...

the Alliance for Commodity Trade in East and Southern Africa (ACTESA), German Society for International Corporation (GIZ) and the Kenya Agribusiness and Agroindustry Alliance (KAAA), at the 15th CAADP Partnership Platform Meeting in Nairobi, Kenya. CABI’s Dr George Oduor, Global Director Value Chains and Trade is leading the side event – entitled ‘Operationalizing AfCFTA – Partnerships and elimination of barriers to trade in Africa’ with a view to addressing some of the key challenges in agricultural value chains. Representatives from participating organizations, which also include various Ministries of Agriculture, FAO, AGRA, Common Market for East and Southern Africa, Economic Commission of West African States, Trademark East Africa and the East African Community (EAC), are taking part in the session which presents African countries and their development and technical partners with the opportunity to reflect together, share best practices and identify strategies and policies to foster integration, enhanced market access and intra-regional trade in agricultural commodities and services. “The agricultural market is growing and is currently estimated at more than US $3 trillion – about 70 percent of this comes from smallholder farmers, who are particularly vulnerable to production challenges including climate change”, said Dr Oduor. “Some of the key questions and talking points which will form the basis of the discussion will look at ways in which we can promote and attain sustainable and inclusive socio-economic development, gender equality and structural transformation.” Dr Oduor added that international trade and travel have expanded significantly in recent decades – increasing the rate...

On May 30, 2019, the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement secured the minimum threshold of 22 ratifications for its entry into force. Sierra Leone and the Saharawi Republic were the 21st and the 22nd ratifications, required under Article 23 of the AfCFTA Agreement, for it to enter into force thirty days after deposit of the twenty second deposit. The Chairperson of the AUC Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, hailed the two deposits as timely and significant steps towards removing the fragmentation of African economies and markets, a process that is likely to create a large market for trade and investments on the continent. To operationalise the AfCFTA Agreement, the signatories must be ready to adopt supporting instruments (such as rules of origin, schedules of tariff concessions on trade in goods, online non-tariff barriers monitoring and elimination mechanism, digital payments and settlement platform, and African Trade Observatory Portal) to facilitate the launch of the operational phase of the Agreement. This process has to be firmed up by an Extraordinary Heads of State and Government summit due to take place on July 7, 2019. It’s quite important, however, to stress that a strong and sustained advocacy to have all AU Member States sign and ratify the AfCFTA Agreement. Like the Paris Agreement, which entered info force on 4 November 2016, after securing the minimum threshold of 55 Parties to the Convention almost a year after its signing, the AfCFTA Agreement was signed in Kigali, on 31 March 2018, making it the second...