Japan and the African Development Bank on Friday announced a joint target of $3.5 billion under the Enhanced Private Sector Assistance for Africa initiative (EPSA4), during the 7th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 7). Both Japan and the Bank have set a target of $1.75 billion each, from 2020-2022, to enhance the fourth phase of EPSA to spur private-sector-led sustainable and inclusive growth in Africa. “Building on the successful achievements so far, Japan and the Bank have decided to upgrade EPSA in both quality and quantity to meet financial needs for infrastructure development as well as for the private sector development in Africa,” Japan’s State Minister of Finance,” Mr. Keisuke Suzuki said at the EPSA4 launch ceremony held in Yokohama and attended by government officials and a high-level delegation from the Bank as well as representations of the business community. “I wish that the new EPSA initiative will lead to business, investment promotion, and job creation in Africa,” Mr. Suzuki noted. Electricity, transportation, and health will be key priorities under EPSA4. Projects and programs for the three key priorities will be formulated and implemented in line with the G20 Principles for Quality Infrastructure Investment and G20 Shared Understanding on the Importance of UHC Financing in Developing Countries. African countries will also be provided with support to improve and create conducive business environments to attract private investments. “Today marks another day to celebrate the strong and impactful partnership between Japan and the African Development Bank. The African Development Bank...

South Sudan's chance to be the first major consumer of Uganda’s excess electricity may not be realised soon as the country still lacks interconnection lines to evacuate power. This was one of the items on the agenda at the August 24 meeting between President Yoweri Museveni and his South Sudan counterpart Salva Kiir at State House Entebbe. Also featured was the extension of the road to Juba. A source told The EastAfrican that the two leaders noted the plans were behind schedule, as power interconnection projects under the East African Community Power Pool were in 2015 planned for commissioning by 2020. South Sudan is an oil producer, but it exports crude and the government has a huge fuel import bill, spending $1.6 billion per year on fuel products, half of which goes to power generators. In addition, the United Nations peacekeeping mission and international humanitarian operations are almost exclusively diesel-powered, with a combined budget of more than $2 billion per year, according to a 2018 United States Institute of Peace (USIP) report. South Sudan presents a good export market for Uganda, whose installed capacity currently stands at 1,167MW. When the 600MW Karuma hydropower dam comes online, the country’s total installed capacity will be more than three times the current peak consumption of 600MW. Following up on a memorandum of understanding in 2015, Uganda signed an agreement with South Sudan in October 2017 to supply power via a 400kV line from Karuma hydropower dam, which authorities say is set for completion by the...

The Central Corridor of the East African Community (EAC) has embarked on various infrastructure projects that aim to facilitate trade in the region. However, lack of financing among other deterrents has been hindering their completion. Dieudonne Dukundane, Executive Secretary of the Central Corridor Transit Transport Facilitation Agency joins CNBC Africa for more. Source: CNBC Africa

Shippers demand high performing corridors that reduce cost and time spent on transport and logistics and increase the reliability and predictability of the corridors. Hence trade facilitation is key to continued trade growth. However, recent studies conducted by World Bank indicates that 75% of the delays in the movements of goods are from trade facilitation and that 25% is attributed to infrastructure. In this regard intra-regional trade, is often hindered by long procedures involved in passing through two sets of identical controls on each side of the border. Lengthy transit times increase the cost of trade and make African businesses less competitive. Given that Africa comprises 54 countries, 16 of which are land-locked, the negative impact of inefficient border controls on Africa’s economy is significant. Coincide with TICAD VII, where one of the main pillars empathizes on ‘Economic Transformation and Improvement in business environment and Institutions through private investment and innovation’’ shares the same aspirations of AUDA-NEPAD to create an enabling efficient environment to facilitate trade. To strengthen the development and operations of One Stop Border Post (OSBP), in each Regional Economic Community (REC), ‘’training of trainers (ToT) and data collection seminar for RECs’’ took place in Kigali, Rwanda from 29th to 31st July 2019. The objective of the seminar was for the REC participants to; share knowledge and experiences in the development and operations of OSBPs. The seminar was co-sponsored by African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and hosted by the East Africa Community...

Rwanda's dry port will ease trade not only in Rwanda, but also in the neighbouring markets, Mohammed Al Kamali the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Exports has said. Dubai Exports is the promotion agency of the Department of Economic Development - a government body entrusted to set and drive Dubai's economic agenda within the broader governance systems of the United Arab Emirates. Al Kamali and a delegation from the UAE yesterday paid a visit to the facility owned by Dubai Ports World (DPW), a Dubai based global port operator. The United Arab Emirates firm signed a 25-year concession agreement with government in 2016 to construct and manage the mega facility that sits on about 30 hectares of land. Located in Masaka the dry port is the country's largest inland cargo handling facility having become operational in June. It has mega cargo handling facility with features such as container yard and bonded warehouse. According to DPW, the first phase of the facility is now ready, with an annual capacity of 50,000 tonnes and 640,000 tonnes of warehousing space. A delegation of over 17 business executives from UAE look at spare parts imported from Sharjah City at the Dubai Port World in Kigali on August 30. Emmanuel Kwizera. Speaking to The New Times during the facility tour, Al Kamali said that the facility is as a solution that will ease trade in Rwanda, and close markets. "It is not only going to serve this country but it is going also to...

  Source: Financial Times

  Source: The Washington Post

JAPAN has pledged to allocate 20 billion US dollars (about 50tri/-) to African countries, Tanzania inclusive, in the next three years to support strategic projects and spur economic reforms in the continent. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe disclosed the hefty funding during the official opening of the seventh edition of the Tokyo International Conference for African Development (TICAD), which kicked off in Y okohama, Japan, yesterday. Mr Abe observed that Japan will continue to expand cooperation to develop Africa’s human resources, improve elementary education for children and help establish universal health care coverage. He noted that the established cooperation between Japan and Africa is further strengthened through TICAD, pledging to encourage the Japanese private sector to advance investment in the continent. According to Premier Abe, investments by Japanese companies in various African countries to date stand at around 20 billion US dollars. Expounding further on various programmes executed by Japan, including the ABE-African Business Education Initiative, the premier noted that over 350 youth are being supported to pursue practical trainings, with 3,000 others going through the programme as trainers. He maintained that Japan remains committed to support the health sector particularly on areas of medicines, nutrition and trainings on capacity building in the various African countries. He also pledged to continue supporting the continent in developing infrastructure, including roads, ports as well as technical support. Prime Minister K assim Majaliwa who is attending the meeting on behalf of President John Magufuli noted that Tanzania is among the largest producers of...

Freight forwarders, transporters and related industry representatives gathered at the Kigali International Convention earlier this week to discuss weighty regional freight issues at the 3rd Global Logistics Convention. And although it was a two-day global talk shop that strove to cover logistics from across the world, the emphasis fell on regional rail enhancement, the transportation of water, and corruption – three crucial elements that top the agenda in the East African Community. Rwandan daily, New Times, reported that at Monday’s opening session, the country’s permanent secretary for trade and industry, Michel Sebera, “said that the logistics sector is central to economic development and requires attention if countries are to succeed in their development initiatives”. Abhishek Sharma, transport director at TradeMark Africa, said: “The main player that invests money in logistics infrastructure is the government. “But the main user of the infrastructure is the industry, the freight forwarders, and others. It is very important that when we are planning logistics, there is a constant dialogue between the government and the logistics players.” In recent times, Sharma said, “constant dialogue” between all concerned have ensured significant logistical improvements for land-locked Rwanda’s central and northern corridors through Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya. It had resulted, he said, in the substantial reduction of transit times and road haulage costs. On the central corridor alone, Sharma explained, the average speed of a truck travelling cross-border had doubled, from 7km p/hour to 14km p/hour. Switching to corruption, Denis Karera, vice-chair of the East African Business Council, said it...

TradeMark Africa (TMA) has announced funding the Federation of East African Freight Forwarders Associations (FEAFFA) with USD3.5 million to support a four-year program that aims at enhancing skills for customs agents, freight forwarders and warehouse providers in East Africa. The program implemented by FEAFFA across East Africa will offer timely training that is in tune with changing technologies and logistical needs, thus enabling customs agents and freight forwarders to provide competitive and high-quality end to end services. The two institutions made the announcement as they signed a grant agreement at the ongoing Global Logistics Convention in Kigali. Speaking at the event, Ms. Ithau said, “The high logistics costs in East Africa are driven not only by the high cost of inputs required for delivery of goods but also the inefficiencies and poor quality of logistics service delivery.” On his part, Mr. Seka highlighted important components of the program saying, “One key component is the updating of the East Africa Customs and Freight Forwarding Practicing Certificate (EACFFPC) curriculum and training materials. A strong warehousing module will be introduced to address the skills gaps in this critical element of logistics. We have focused on enhancing FEAFFA’s online learning program as this will ensure that training is available and accessible in many parts of the region. With this funding, FEAFFA will introduce a higher – level qualification that will build on the success of the certificate program. The higher-level training program intends to expose practitioners to global practices and position them as global...