The current world trade system is not perfect and China supports reforms to it, including to the World Trade Organisation, to make it fairer and more effective, china’s top officials say. China is locked in a bitter trade war with the United States and has vowed repeatedly to uphold the multilateral trading system and free trade, with the WTO at its center. But speaking late on Thursday to reporters after meeting French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, Chinese State Councillor Wang Yi said some reforms could be good. While certain doubts have been raised about the current international trading system, China has always supported the protection of free trade and believes that multilateralism with the WTO at its core should be strengthened, Wang added. “At the same time, we do not believe that the current system is perfect and without flaws,” he said. “China supports necessary reforms and perfection of the current system, including to the WTO, to make it fairer, more effective and more rational,” Wang added. The basic tenets of the WTO, in opposing protectionism and supporting free trade should not change, but the rights of developing nations should also not be overlooked, he said. “The aim of reform should be to allow countries to enjoy the development fruits of globalization more fairly, not to further widen the differences between south and north,” Wang said. WTO reforms need to include listening to voices from all parties and broad consultation, and should especially listen to a respect the opinions of...

The African Union has launched an advocacy campaign to encourage more countries to ratify the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), ahead of the January 2019 deadline to implement the agreement. A business guide developed by the International Trade Centre (ITC) was launched to help the private sector and policymakers better understand and navigate the agreement. Albert Muchanga, the AU Commissioner of Trade and Industry, said the bloc was confident of getting the 15 remaining member states to ratify the agreement by December. So far, Kenya, Rwanda, eSwatini, Chad, Niger, Guinea and Ghana have ratified the AfCFTA, while three countries — Egypt, Kenya and Uganda — have ratified the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa), Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the East African Community (EAC) Tripartite Free Trade Area. At least 22 ratifications are needed for the AfCFTA to enter into force and 14 are required for the TFTA. Comesa Secretary General Chileshe Kapwepwe said overlapping activities between the TFTA and the AfCFTA needed to be harmonised. Ms Kapwepwe, who is the chair of the TFTA Task Force, said closer co-ordination between the AU and the regional economic communities will be key to successful implementation of both agreements. “The narrative of the regional economic communities being the building blocks of the ACFTA should be promoted to ensure complementarity,” she said. Source The East Africa

Opinion among experts is divided on how fruitful President Yoweri Museveni’s recent trip to the China-Africa forum was after it emerged he failed to ink a deal on funding for the the standard gauge railway. Before the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation summit held last week, officials in Kampala had said that firming up plans for financing the SGR would be high on President Museveni’s agenda. But these plans were scuttled after President Uhuru Kenyatta asked China to give Kenya a grant to complete the Naivasha –Kisumu leg of the SGR. The SGR has been promoted as the most important link for East Africa since the Uganda Railway was built in 1900. Initial plans envisaged a railway line from the Mombasa Port in Kenya to Uganda, Rwanda and connecting back to Tanzania and the DRC. A second line would connect South Sudan to the north. Currently the Kenya, Uganda and South Sudan links are the only ones in the discussion. Kenya’s failure to conclude a financing deal means Uganda is a long way from starting to build its side of the SGR. China had already told Uganda that it would only fund the Malaba-Kampala section of the SGR if Kenya committed to funding the entire Nairobi-Malaba leg of the project. “Once Kenya and China commit to finance the remaining leg of the SGR, Uganda will be ready to start. We in Uganda are ready to conclude the financing agreements,” said Kieth Muhakanizi, Secretary to the Treasury. Some economists say that it...

A chara, – Those proposing that Ireland should leave the EU have pointed to Ireland’s low level of exports to non-European markets, and especially so-called “emerging” economies, as representing a major opportunity for exploiting these markets in the event of Irexit. This viewpoint fails to appreciate that foreign (mainly American) firms account for 90 per cent of Ireland’s exports. Where these send their exports is determined by their global production and marketing strategies. Foreign firms, for the most part, use Ireland as a base for serving the so-called EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) market, the great bulk of which is accounted for by the EU. In 2016, two-thirds of Ireland’s exports of goods and services went to the EMEA region. The EU accounted for over four fifths of these exports. For some American firms based in Ireland, the US itself is understandably an important market. Hence, that country accounted for almost one fifth of 2016 exports. This means that the rest of the world absorbed just a sixth of Ireland’s exports in that year. However, the American firms operating out of Ireland typically have similar operations serving the other major global regions (the Americas and Asia/Oceania) from bases within these regions. Thus, the firms in question have little reason to expand beyond the EMEA market, since to do so would be to compete with their parallel operations elsewhere. Leaving the EU, therefore, would greatly undermine probably the key reason why American firms locate in Ireland, with little prospect of alternative...

Kampala. Truck drivers in the logistics sector will have to be certified if sanity is to be brought in one of the most fragmented sectors of Uganda. Speaking ahead of the Global Logistics Conference in Kampala next week, Dr Merian Sebunya the National Logistics Platform chairman structured under Private Sector Foundation Uganda, said the certification will be an attempt to maintain professionalism in the sub-sector. However, he said, this will be achieved through partnership across the economic divide given that logistics companies do not work in isolation. The logistics sub-sector, according to Mr Hussein Kiddedd, the Uganda Freight Forwarders Association chairman, has been affected because of its fragmented setting thus lacking a clear strategy. “Even at the policy levels, everything is fragmented,” he said, emphasising the need to draw up a clear strategy that can sufficiently develop the sector. Mr Kiddedde who is also the chief executive officer of Graben 4PL, a logistic and transport company, said the lack of skilled labour in the sector has also made it difficult for the industry to attract affordable credit from financiers. “It is only here where you entrust a huge investment with a primary school dropout. These things shouldn’t be happening. We need to professionalise the industry,” pointing to the lack of professionalism in the logistics sub-sector. However, speaking at the same function, Mr Gideon Badagawa, the Private Sector Foundation Uganda executive director, urged that for Uganda to attain the much needed competitiveness, there is need to bring down the cost of doing...

TradeMark Africa (TMA) expanded into Ethiopia will bring with it a host of benefits into the country. The organisation recently signed a Host Country Agreement (HCA) with the government of Ethiopia  paving the way for TMAs expansion into the country. Since its formation, TMA has made a significant contribution to this growth by delivering large scale impact in its highly successful first strategic phase which was completed in December 2017. Ethiopia’s Foreign Affairs State Minister Professor Kassu and Transport State Minister Hiwot Mosisa represented the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia while TMA was represented by its CEO, Mr Frank Matsaert. According to a statement by TMA, the HCA now paves way for the establishment of TMA’s Ethiopia Country Programme, with physical presence in Ethiopia, budget and staff to manage the country programme. These are the three areas of focus once the organisation sets base in the country: Reducing trade costs on corridors: This focuses on the transport, logistics and infrastructure of particularly busy corridors (ports, roads and border posts), to reduce the cost of trade and transport. Improving the trading environment: This focuses largely on introducing new electronic systems to streamline ports, borders and corridors and to ease and fasten movement of goods and people. It includes wide policy and regulatory measures that apply global best practice to trade facilitation and export markets. Increasing private sector competitiveness: This focuses on increasing the role of business in public policy making on trade, and ensuring the private sector takes advantage of an improving trading environment, especially...

Aisha Inshuti holds dual Rwandan-Ugandan citizenship. Having completed university, the 24-year-old ventured into a cross-border business of selling women's hair products. She buys them in Uganda and sells them in Rwanda. "Crossing the border is sometimes difficult especially with politics these days," she tells DW. "Many Rwandans have dual citizenship. You can have both Rwandan and Ugandan nationality, but these days we hear there is a problem with the Ugandan and Rwandan government," she said. Nowadays, she claims, Ugandan immigration officials even go to the length of confiscating the Ugandan identity cards of people with dual citizenship. "It will take you ages – if not forever – to get it back, so we have resorted to only using the Rwandan national ID," Inshuti says. At a bus terminal in Uganda's capital Kampala, Joki Wanjeri, a 27-year-old Kenyan trader, waits for her bus back home to Nairobi. She deals in women's footwear and shares Inshuti's sentiments. Ugandan officials create obstacles that impede free trade between the two countries, Wanjeri says. "Once you reach the border on the Ugandan side they want money [bribes], otherwise you cannot cross," she laments. "It's easy for the Ugandans to cross from Kenya with our goods, but when it comes to us it's a different story." Political wrangling to blame While Akol Amazima, a Ugandan political analyst cannot confirm the traders' experiences, he does believe that the root of problems lies in intra-regional politics. The problems at the borders are often the result of political differences between the countries. "When the political situation...

Kenya has reached out to the East African Community (EAC) Secretariat in a bid to solve escalating trade disputes with some member states. EAC and Regional Development Cabinet Secretary Adan Mohamed yesterday said the executive arm of the trade bloc should come in where countries are unable to solve non-tariff barrier issues amicably. “The biggest issue is the interpretation of rules by officials at the border. To solve this, we want a different approach where the secretariat takes a leading role in resolving the issues rather than members resolving disputes among themselves,” he said at a press briefing in Nairobi. Blocked from markets Kenya Association of Manufacturers Chairman Sachen Gudka said despite efforts to solve a trade spat where Uganda and Tanzania slapped duty on Kenyan confectionery and sweets, some products were still being blocked from the two markets. Kenyan manufacturers are also frustrated by Tanzania’s push-back over duty-free sugar imports after the country slapped the commodity with a 25 per cent duty. Kenya invited the two countries to inspect companies using industrial sugars to produce sweets, cakes and ice cream, also known as confectioneries, to ascertain that what was being used was not brought under the duty-free window. “The issue of the industrial sugar expired on June 30. However, some products still cannot access the partner states,” said Mr Gudka. KAM members also met Tanzanian official to iron out longstanding trade disputes, including lack of preferential status on edible oil products, cement and lubricants. CS Aden said there were...

The current mismatch between capital seeking profitable ventures and the chronic deficit of large-scale investments in Africa can be addressed through closer collaboration with institutions such as the World Bank Group. This was said by President Paul Kagame on Tuesday during the opening of a two-day Development Finance Forum hosted by the World Bank Group in Kigali. Kagame said that despite the strong prospects in Africa in regards to investment opportunities, there exists a mismatch between capital seeking investment and large-scale investment funding. “In the global context, there is an excess of capital looking for profitable ventures such as these as we all know. Yet in Africa, there is a chronic deficit of large-scale investment funding. That is what we are here to address in practical terms,” he said. To make up for the mismatch and change status quo, the President called for close collaboration with the World Bank Group. The Group’s private sector support arm International Finance Cooperation, and Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, which offer targeted interventions to change status quo such as risk guarantee facilities. “We still have a long way to go but the direction of travel is clear and the necessary partnerships are increasingly in place. Among the most important is Africa’s partnership with the institutions that make up the World Bank Group,” he said. Kagame, who is also African Union chairperson, called on countries to make the most of the organisation’s expertise in aspects such as regulatory reforms and private sector development. “The heart of...

Uganda is set to host global logistics convention that is aimed at providing opportunities for the public, private sector, development partners and civil society organizations to promote mutual understanding and create shared course of action. Speaking at Sheraton hotel, Chairperson National Logistics Platform and board member Private Sector Foundation (PSFUG) Merian Sebunya said the convention brings together all players in the freight and logistics industry to discuss and stop time wastage. The convention is an annual freight logistics event of the Federation of East African Freight Forwarders Associations and will be organized by Uganda Freight Forwarders Association (UFFA) under the National Logistics Platform in collaboration trade mark east Africa. “Kenya and Uganda jointly are able share data and manage the Electronic Cargo Tracking System (ECTS) with introduction of Integrated Customs Management System (ICMS) security of cargo guaranteed,” She called for benchmarks and shared best practices to put into practice to improve their operations in Uganda towards economic growth in the industries to be put in place. Last year, Trade Mark East Africa transitioned from the 2010- 2017 Strategy which focused on reduction in time and costs to import a container to the 2018-2022 Strategy that is focusing on driving job creation. The Executive Director Private Sector Foundation Gideon Badaggawa said an economy cannot thrive without transport no matter what you are dealing in, “you will not be able to transport goods from Uganda to Kenya and to the rest of East Africa. Uganda is in the middle of the East...