MBABANE - Secretary General of COMESA Chileshe Mpundu Kapwepwe is said to have signed the Protocol on Relations between the African Union (AU) and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs). Eswatini is among the 21 member States of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). According to a correspondence from COMESA, the Protocol is meant to consolidate relations with the continental mother body. Witnessed by the Chairperson of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat and East African Community (EAC) Secretary General Dr. Peter Mutuku Mathuki, the signing ceremony took place on February 4 this year at the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa. The Protocol aims to, among other things; formalise, consolidate and promote closer cooperation among the RECS and between them and the AU through coordination and harmonisation of their policies, measures, programmes and activities in all fields and sectors in line with the principle of subsidiarity and complementarity. Signed Other Regional Economic Communities that have already signed the Protocol include the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the Community of Sahel-Saharian States (CENSAD) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). This Protocol entered into force on November 10 last year after being signed by the Chairperson of the Commission and three Chief Executives of three Regional Economic Communities. Kapwepwe was in Ethiopia attending the 40th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council and the 35th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union. The Assembly of Heads of State and...

Africa has long been a complex market for many global businesses. Trade and commerce have been fragmented across its 54 countries, with currencies, consumer insights and regulations specific to each. At the local level, consumers have often bought and sold things in open air markets, with cash or even barter of mobile phone minutes. But a recent pan-African trade deal has begun to streamline the African market, and technologies are giving consumers and businesses new on-ramps. The result? The continent and its 1.5 billion are more accessible than ever. Aubrey Hruby has advised companies in and out of Africa for the past two decades and is a senior fellow at the Africa Center at The Atlantic Council, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the co-author of an award-winning book, The Next Africa. In this month’s Signal Conversation, Hruby shared insights on how commerce is evolving and the many opportunities for businesses to engage in what is now the world’s fastest growing region. Transcript John Battelle Welcome to another Signal Conversation. I’m very excited about this one. We have with us Aubrey Hruby, who is an advisor to companies with interest in African markets, working mainly with African policymakers and Fortune 500 companies across 20 distinct African markets. She’s a senior fellow at the Africa Center at The Atlantic Council, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the co-author of an award-winning book The Next Africa. Welcome, Aubrey. So good to have you here. Aubrey Hruby Thank you, John....

With the Covid-induced recession subsiding as vaccination rates increase, there was great hope for the AfCFTA to show that it could live up to its hype. So, what has worked? Since trading began on 1 January, some intra-African trade under AfCFTA arrangements based on anecdotal evidence has taken place, including alcoholic beverages and cosmetic products (recent data on trade flows are not yet fully available). Although intra-African agricultural trade remains below 20% compared to more than 60% for Europe and Asia, trade is projected to grow once negotiations have come to an end and trade barriers are progressively rolled back. To date, 42 out of 55 African countries have ratified the agreement, and 88% of the negotiations on product-specific rules of origin have been concluded, covering more than 70% of intra-African trade according to the AfCFTA Secretariat in 2021. However, a significant shortcoming of the agreement is that many nutrition-sensitive goods may not be fully liberalised or progressively liberalised over longer periods, as indicated by ongoing negotiations on tariff offers. Examples of protected goods include live animals, meat, fish, milk and dairy products, fruit and vegetables, coffee, tea, spices, oilseeds and sugars. Africa’s agricultural commodities and raw materials have traditionally dominated trade with the rest of the world (cocoa, coffee, cotton, tobacco and spices) with a mix of processed goods (cane and beet sugar, prepared or preserved tunas, wine and other food preparations). For the AfCFTA to reach its full potential by exploiting the full range of the agri-food value...

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is expected to increase intra-African trade in transport services by nearly 50 percent, according to the latest estimate by the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). The UNECA, noting that Africa’s transport sector is set to strongly benefit from AfCFTA, said in a statement sent to Xinhua Friday that a recent estimate entitled the “Implications of the AfCFTA for demand for transport, infrastructure and services” indicated that with AfCFTA in absolute terms, more than 25 percent of intra-African trade gains in services would go to transport alone; and nearly 40 percent of the increase in Africa’s services production would be in transport The study conducted by experts in the Energy, Infrastructure and Services Section of UNECA unpacks AfCFTA investment opportunities in the transport sector. According to the findings, AfCFTA requires 1,844,000 trucks for bulk cargo and 248,000 trucks for container cargo by 2030. This increases to 1,945,000 and 268,000 trucks, respectively, if planned infrastructure projects are also implemented. The largest demand for trucks to support AfCFTA is within West Africa at 39 percent; demand from West to Southern Africa is 19.8 percent and from Southern Africa to Western Africa by 9.9 percent. UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of UNECA Vera Songwe said the AfCFTA is “expected to significantly increase traffic flows on all transport modes – road, rail, maritime, and air,” but that such gains will only be optimized if the AfCFTA is accompanied by the implementation of regional infrastructure projects. On the...

The Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat and African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) have signed a fund management agreement to raise funding support for party states and commercial entities in the area of trade. As indicated by the secretariat, the estimated fund requirement for uninterrupted implementation of the AfCFTA agreement and to eliminate the adjustment cost is about US$10 billion over the next six years, and this agreement is to help raise funding in that regard. Speaking at the agreement-signing ceremony, Secretary-General, AfCFTA, Wamkele Mene, stated that the secretariat will not be going to World Bank or International Monetary Fund (IMF) for funding support but will depend solely on indigenous funding firms to raise the required amount to successfully implement AfCFTA. “We as Africans cannot continue to go to the World Bank, IMF, and others to finance our own trade as a continent. So, I will rather go cup in hand to Afreximbank, Trade and Development Bank, then go to the others in Europe and other parts of the world for support. We are not going to succeed in the implementation of this trade agreement without Afreximbank. This Adjustment Fund is being introduced because we know that as member countries are implementing tariff adjustment mechanisms, there would be some revenue loses in the short term and we want to ensure that their interest is accommodated. This is where the Afreximbank comes in as the pillar of implementation of AfCFTA by providing this facility of US$1billion, to make sure that we...

Originally published in the World Economic Forum Blog on 13 January 2022. Limited use of technology is inhibiting LDCs' path towards structural transformation. These countries can implement measures in several areas to build their technological capacity. Innovative approaches to resource mobilization should be explored to fund such transition. Structural transformation is the process of moving resources from low productivity to higher productivity and skill-intensive sectors, thereby setting development and economic catch-up into motion. While many countries have achieved structural transformation in a matter of decades, the least developed countries (LDCs) have been notoriously slow in this respect. One of the factors for this lack of structural transformation is LDCs’ overwhelming dependence on commodities for production and exports. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development's Commodities and Development Report 2021, over 75% of African LDCs depend on commodity production for over half of their export earnings, though Asian LDCs have a relatively diversified export basket. The report also suggests that it is extremely challenging to move away from the trap of commodity dependence and attain structural transformation. Fortunately, a combination of technology and global integration can help countries on this path. When it comes to technological advancement and its effective use, the LDCs are at the lower end of the ladder. According to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)'s Global Innovation Index 2021, which monitors the state of technological advancement in 132 countries, 21 out of the 32 countries in the bottom quartile are LDCs. Of the 22 LDCs ranked altogether, only one (Tanzania) is in the second quartile....

These include visual and performing arts, crafts, cultural festivals, photography, music, dance, film, fashion, video games, digital animation, publishing, architecture, and more. Africa’s Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is expected to be a boon for the creative sector and generate jobs for the youth. On 1 January 2021, trading under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) kicked off. The trade pact, which seeks to create a single market for goods and services and promote cross-border movement of capital and people, should boost intra-African trade — currently at only 18 per cent—and regional integration. It is also expected to be a boon for the creative sector. Key players in the creatives industry said as much when they met in Kigali, Rwanda, in 2019, even before the trade area launched. “We wanted to deconstruct the AfCFTA,” said Josh Nyapimbi, Executive Director of Nhimbe Trust, a pan-African creative civil society organization based in Zimbabwe, adding that the creative and cultural industries can “leverage the agreement to advance our economies.” Similarly, Wamkele Mene, the Secretary-General of the AfCFTA Secretariat, has emphasized the need for youth involvement in cross-border trade through the creative industry and technology. He says that the active participation of young people in the free trade area could boost jobs creation and catalyze economic development. Africa’s creative sector is diverse and includes visual and performing arts, crafts, cultural festivals, paintings, sculptures, photography, publishing, music, dance, film, radio, design, fashion, video games, digital animation, architecture, and advertising, according to the UN Conference on...

Summary First, Africa expects its leaders to take urgent action to speed-up access to Covid-19 vaccines, while also ensuring that health remains a permanent priority after the pandemic. Recent outbreaks of new Covid-19 variants reinforce just how interconnected the world is and why it is crucial to ensure everybody is vaccinated: a fresh breakout anywhere is a threat everywhere and no-one is safe until everyone is safe. The second priority for the AU Summit is to chart a roadmap for a resilient economic recovery post-Covid-19. The IMF estimates that Africa needs additional financing of $285 billion through 2025 just to respond to the pandemic, and at least $500 billion to get back on track to pre-Covid-19 levels of economic performance. As the African Union marks its 20th anniversary this year, there are three priorities that must top the agenda of leaders meeting at the Heads of State Summit in Addis Ababa in early February. First, Africa expects its leaders to take urgent action to speed-up access to Covid-19 vaccines, while also ensuring that health remains a permanent priority after the pandemic. The latest data shows that less than 11 percent of Africa’s 1.2 billion people have been fully vaccinated. In contrast, nearly 72 percent of high-income countries have been fully vaccinated and wealthier nations are now doling out booster shots and stockpiling vaccines for future use while Africa struggles to provide first and second doses to a fraction of the population. Recent outbreaks of new Covid-19 variants reinforce just how...

Finland Ambassador to Kenya, H.E. Pirkka Tapiola says his country is committed to doubling trade with Africa over the next decade. The ambassador spoke while touring the Port of Mombasa on Friday. The envoy commended the Government of Kenya and Development Partners for supporting Port Reforms and Modernisation Programme over the last decade that has dramatically improved evacuation of cargo at the facility. It for instance used to take 11 days to process imports through Mombasa in 2010, the time had fallen to only 5.5 days by 2017. The time to transport a container from Mombasa to Bujumbura also fell by 16.5% over the period. The Government of Finland, through TradeMark Africa has over the last decade invested more than US$13.1 million to support various projects in and around the Port of Mombasa. Finland also contributed US$445,000 to provide Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) through the Safe Trade Emergency facility by TradeMark Africa, a project that sought to keep ports, borders, and critical supply chains in the region safe for trade at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Ambassador was received by General Manager Human Resources and Administration Mr. Daniel Ogutu and TradeMark Africa Deputy CEO, Allen Asiimwe.  The KPA General Manager noted that the support provided at the outset of COVID-19 was critical in keeping the port running. He further noted that port output slowed down due to COVID-19-related interruptions, calling on all stakeholders to work together to address such challenges. TradeMark Africa Deputy CEO and Chief of Programmes...

Trade education is vital to further grow exports between the UK and Africa The Institute of Export & International Trade (IOE&IT) today announced a new investment in Africa with the opening of its first international office in Nairobi, Kenya. Building on the Kenya-UK Economic Partnership Agreement the IOE&IT is developing training, education and consultancy offerings for the entire African continent – unique and specific to Africa-world trade and intra-African trade. The opening of the office builds on a successful 2021 in Africa where the IOE&IT delivered qualifications in Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria. The Institute has worked with the International Trade Centres, along with the Ghana Export Promotion Authority and Nigerian Export Promotion Council, as well as developing a Trade and Information Pipeline (TLIP) with TradeMark Africa. UK exports to Kenya in 2021 were worth £530 million and imports from Kenya totalled £579 million. The TLIP project aims to increase trade for both sides and will help create greater visibility within supply chains and simplify the facilitation of trade between the UK and Kenya. The overall aim of the TLIP initiative is to reduce logistical time constraints for businesses by around 40%, reduce the cost of compliance by 20% – potentially worth an initial saving of up to £36m to UK Exporters. Marco Forgione, director general of the Institute of Export & International Trade “We are delighted to be opening our first office outside the UK in Kenya. It is a sign of how important we believe our work in Africa...