Heads of State in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have decided to speed up the construction of the highway between Abidjan and Lagos, a project for which the African Development Bank is playing a leading role in mobilizing funding. The Bank has already contributed USD 25 million to fund the preparatory phase of the project. Moreover, along with its partners, it mobilized USD 15.6 billion during the Africa Investment Forum (AIF) in 2022.  The highway will link the most economically dynamic cities and ports and the most densely populated urban areas in West Africa. Meeting on 9 July 2023, alongside an ECOWAS summit in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau’s capital, the leaders of Benin (Patrice Talon), Côte d’Ivoire (Alassane Ouattara), Ghana (Nana Akufo-Addo), Nigeria (Bola Tinubu) and Togo (Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé) – the countries the highway will cross – urged the ECOWAS Commission “to accelerate the completion of the detailed design study and the financial and implementation strategy and to produce the tender documentation to launch the construction phase” of the highway. They also instructed the ECOWAS Commission “to cooperate with the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) and the African Development Bank, along with other development partners and the private sector, to make sustained efforts to mobilize resources to fund the investment required to build the highway”. In a mark of their commitment to pressing ahead with the project, the leaders decided to set up the headquarters of the Abidjan-Lagos Committee Management Authority (ALCoMA) in Côte d’Ivoire. Made up of...

African governments have been urged to fast-track the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in order to solve food security issues that affect more than 20 per cent of the continent's 1.4 billion people. The faster implementation of the AfCFTA and supporting the agricultural value chain are two of the key recommendations of a meeting of more than 200 ministers, economists, and private sector players from Central and Eastern Africa, which was held from September 26-29 in Bujumbura, Burundi. Known as the Intergovernmental Committee of Senior Officials and Experts (ICSOE), the meeting organised by the United Nations Economic Community for Africa (ECA), discussed ways to improve manufacturing and food security in Central and East Africa and how to position the two sub-regions as preferred investment destinations. About 20 per cent of Africa’s population is undernourished. Over 62 per cent of the undernourished in sub-Saharan Africa live in Central and Eastern Africa, according to 2021 figures from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). According to the meeting’s report seen by The New Times, the leaders also called for government support for smallholder farmers and strong measures to reduce food waste which stands at around 40 per cent of all harvest in African countries. Rwanda’s Minister of Trade and Industry Jean-Chrysostome Ngabitsinze, who took part in the meeting said one of the ways farmers can be supported is through skills enhancement. “To improve productivity, we have to think differently and make sure that we don’t leave agriculture to the...

The EU is supporting efforts in the Horn of Africa that will boost regional economic integration and trade.  Djibouti’s major trading partner countries include Ethiopia and troubled Somalia. Trade Mark Africa is helping implement a single window system which is already in use across EAC. The EU has expressed its support for Djibouti’s plan to enhance connectivity within the Horn of Africa, a move that will promote trade with Ethiopia, one of the region’s biggest trade partners. This collaboration is in sync with the African Alliance for e-commerce, a consortium comprising 18 member countries, dedicated to advancing the Single Window concept. This alignment adheres to the recommendations set forth by international institutions. A pivotal project within the Alliance is the establishment of a Regional Single Window, designed to seamlessly interconnect all national platforms. The overarching goal is to streamline trade processes, bolstering the competitiveness of African nations on the global stage. The ninth edition of the International Single Window Conference went down in Djibouti from September 25 to 26. The conference focus was on investment opportunities and ongoing developments across the Africa that will enhance global trade efficiency. The EU’s involvement in the region is geared towards fostering regional economic integration and facilitating trade in line with the objectives outlined in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). A pivotal element of this partnership is the EU’s support for the Horn of Africa Initiative’s strategy, working in collaboration with the governments of the Republic of Djibouti and the Federal Democratic...

Addis Ababa, September 29, 2023 (FBC) – The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Executive Secretary Workneh Gebeyehu officially inaugurated the Moyale Cross Boarder Development Facilitation Office earlier today. According to IGAD Division of Health and Social Development, the office will support communities on Moyale – Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. Furthermore, the IGAD Executive Secretary arrived this morning in Moyale – the border town between Ethiopia and Kenya to preside over the inauguration of the facilitation office. Workneh and his entourage planted tree seedlings on arrival at the Moyale One Stop Border Post between Kenya and Ethiopia where the inauguration ceremony was presided over. The IGAD ES, in his remarks at the inaugural event, said; “IGAD has had a steadfast presence in the Moyale area for more than 2 decades. We’ve been working tirelessly to support our member states in implementing various borderland programs, along with numerous projects led by our divisions and specialized institutions and in partnership with the EuropeanUnion and German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ – Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit).” Mr. Workneh added, “Today, as we open the IGAD Cross Border Development Facilitation Office in Moyale, we are bringing all these various initiatives under one umbrella, united by the theme of “One IGAD.” Moreover, several infrastructure projects will be implemented in Moyale on both sides of the boarder following the normalization of peace in the community. Under the Regional Migration Fund several initiatives have been launched on Ethiopia’s side of Moyale supported by KfW Development Bank (KfW...

The Prime Minister of the Republic of Djibouti, Mr. Abdoulkader Kamil Mohamed, kicked off the 9th edition of the International Single Window Conference at the Kempinski Hotel on Monday, 25 September 2023. Several members of the government, including the Minister of Infrastructure and Equipment, Mr. Hassan Houmed Ibrahim, the Minister Delegate in charge of the Digital Economy and Innovation, Ms. Mariam Hamadou Ali, as well as the President of the Authority Ports and Free Zones of Djibouti (APZFD), Mr. Aboubaker Omar Hadi, took part in this conference. In addition to the Republic of Djibouti, the African Alliance for Electronic Commerce is a partner of this event organised with the support of the European Union (EU). The two-day international conference highlights investment opportunities and ongoing developments on the African continent that will improve trade efficiency globally. This involves putting in place mechanisms likely to stimulate regional economic integration and facilitate regional trade, in accordance with the objectives of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). This is one of the objectives underlying the economic and commercial strategy of the Horn of Africa Initiative to which Djibouti is part of and is a collaborative effort with the Federal Republic of Ethiopia. The EU has committed 32 million euros as part of the program "Promoting regional economic integration in the Horn of Africa through the development of the Djibouti corridor", implemented by the French Development Agency (AFD ) and trade-aid-organisation TradeMark Africa (TMA). The program aims to improve the efficiency of one of...

By providing the framework to establish robust regional value chains, the African Continental Free Trade Area will help to develop the continent's industry and agriculture and drive prosperity. The establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has been hailed, rightly, as having the potential to very considerably alter the continent’s fortunes for the better. A good deal of this conviction is based on the AfCFTA’s principal mandate which is to forge regional value chains (RVCs). Likewise, just as the AfCFTA fosters the establishment and consolidation of RVCs, so do strong RVCs provide the web of interconnected cogs and springs that keep the AfCFTA going deeper and further. The AfCFTA and RVCs are mutually reinforcing factors in the pursuit of Africa’s integration and development agenda. African economies have been characterised by a heavy reliance on the export of raw materials, often failing to capture the full value of these resources. This traditional export model not only limits economic diversification but also perpetuates vulnerability to external shocks. The AfCFTA offers a unique chance to reverse this trend by fostering intra-regional trade and encouraging the creation of RVCs. The development of RVCs involves a multi-step process that encompasses various stages of production within a region, from raw material extraction and processing to production of intermediate goods, to final product assembly. Read original article

What you need to know: Kenya, for example, produces wheat, which is mainly milled into flour that costs approximately Sh100 per kilogramme, or Sh100,000 per tonne. However, the country imports processed wheat products such as noodles expensively, yet they can easily be produced locally given a conducive environment. Kenneth Kurui, a smallholder wheat farmer in Narok County, sells unprocessed produce to local millers at Sh6,000 per 90 kg bag, or Sh66,000 per tonne. In the same breath, Indofood, an Indonesian company that adds value to wheat by making Indomie, sells the beef-flavoured noodles to Kurui at Sh45 per 120 grammes packet, which translates to Sh375,000 per tonne. With the difference of more than Sh309,000 between a tonne of unprocessed wheat and a tonne of indomie, still, Kurui has to lease the land on which he grows the wheat, cultivate it, buy the seed and other farm inputs, and weed before counting the cost of harvesting, activities that consume more than half of his gross income. “Due to poor local market prices against the ever-rising cost of inputs, coupled with devastating climatic conditions, we as smallholders are forced to invest with a lot of caution because many are times when we end up with losses,” said Kurui, who also works in Nairobi to supplement his wheat farming venture. However, the recently released 2023 Africa Agriculture Status Report (AASR) points out that there is still a window of hope for smallholder farmers like Kurui, but only if governments puts in place policies...

As fashion giants are imposing varied standards and requirements for clothing manufacturers and exporters in the developing countries, including Bangladesh, it impedes making factories environment-friendly and sustainable in transition process. In this connection, trade experts argue that there should be some harmonisation of standards regarding the green factories producing ready-made garments (RMG) so that more manufactures feel encouraged to join the rally on eco-friendly path of doing business. They made the observations in a working session of the WTO Public Forum 2023 on Thursday in Geneva. Panellists at the discussion, titled 'Green trade measures and their development implications: a focus on the textiles and clothing global value chain', also argued that urgent action is needed to address the emerging global climate emergency. They also noted that new sectoral initiatives driven by needs to achieve net-zero point on carbon emissions have increased, including in the textiles and clothing sector. As the sector has historically been typical in reducing poverty through trade, it has enabled many countries like Bangladesh to gain a foothold into industrialisation and global value chains, they said. Taking part in the session as a panellist, Dr Fahmida Khatun, executive director of the Dhaka-based Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), said the export-oriented textiles and readymade garment (RMG) sector is an important driving force of Bangladesh's economy as it is a source of employment generation and foreign-exchange earning. She mentioned that, in the fiscal year 2022-23, the sector earned US$ 48.36 billion which accounted for 87.06 per cent of the...

At least $85 billion worth of global trade is currently affected by trade restrictive measures aimed at addressing the spillovers of food insecurity brought about by the effects of the Russia-Ukraine War. This is according to the 2023 edition of the World Trade Report themed Re-globalisation For a Secure, Inclusive and Sustainable Future launched September 12 during the WTO Public Forum in Geneva. On July 17, the Black Sea Grain Initiative collapsed after Russia exited the arrangement which had paved the way since July 2022 for Ukraine, a key source of grains in global supply, to resume exports through the Black Sea, raising fears of further rise in inflation owing to re-emergence of supply related bottlenecks. Relatively high costs The World Trade Report further states that developing economies stand to lose the most if the geopolitical falling out between Russia and Ukraine is not resolved soon. Countries adopting trade restriction measures derail an ecosystem already is disadvantaged from a global standpoint owing to poor integration to global value chains. “World Trade Organisation (WTO) members have increasingly implemented new trade restrictions in the context of the war in Ukraine and food security crisis”, the global trade body states in its report. “Out of the 96 export restrictive measures on food, feed and fertilisers introduced since the start of the war in late February 2022, a whopping 68 were still in place by the end of February 2023 covering roughly $85 billion of trade”, the report added. The WTO is calling for efforts aimed...

Globally, much movement is underway in transitioning the transportation sector to cleaner fuel sources, and even more so across Africa. Of note is continent-wide efforts to resuscitate the rail sector. Due to its energy efficiency, reduced greenhouse gas emissions and lower cost per ton kilometre, rail transportation can play a crucial role in Africa’s industrialisation efforts. This market is vital to delivering on the promise of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement. Here is a snapshot of four projects addressing the need for rail transport infrastructure development this year so far. Apart from new build programmes, committing to continuous maintenance works on existing rail infrastructure is essential. One critical area for railway infrastructure is turnout sets. These rail configurations allow trains to change tracks smoothly without stopping. These sets also allow trains to re-route to avoid congestion and delays and to operate around maintenance work. For example, an important rail line in South Africa that connects the country’s coal to international markets experienced several such breakdowns, affecting mining companies’ ability to evacuate their coal export during H1 of 2023. Relief was reported in September after installing 18 sets during the annual July shutdown of the coal line from Lephalale in Limpopo through Mpumalanga to the Port of Richards Bay in KwaZulu-Natal. More work is underway. Register for Smarter Mobility Africa, taking place 1-3 October 2023 at Gallagher Estate in Gauteng. Use promo code ESI20MP to get the insider’s 20% discount on your ticket. DRC’s rail transportation momentum Of course, besides...