GENEVA – According to an old African proverb, “When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.” The same is true for full-blown trade wars: when major economies clash, developing countries will be among the hardest hit. On June 1, the US administration imposed import tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum. The levies will affect not just China, but also Canada, Mexico, and the countries of the European Union. As Cecilia Malmström, the EU Commissioner for Trade, observed at a recent event held by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), “We are not in a trade war, but we could be.” It is a situation that should concern everyone. We know from history that nobody “wins” in a trade war. Tariff hikes by major trading countries represent a reversal of efforts since the end of World War II to eliminate trade barriers and facilitate global commerce. Since the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade took effect in 1947, the average value of tariffs in force around the world has declined by 85%. That is no coincidence; rather, it is the result of multilateral cooperation, and eight rounds of global trade negotiations, first under the GATT, and then under its successor, the World Trade Organization. Tariff reductions, together with technological advances, drove the extraordinary expansion of global trade that we have witnessed just in our lifetimes. In 1960, trade as share of world GDP stood at 24%; today it is nearly 60%. The expansion of...

"The best is the enemy of the good" is an expression associated with Voltaire. It just might have critical relevance for the relation between the African Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA), the Common Markert for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa)-the East African Community(EAC) and the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) and the regional economic communities (RECs) in Africa. But on June 8, 2018, Kenya deposited with Comesa Secretariat in Lusaka, the instrument of ratification of the TFTA, having ratified ACFTA as well and deposited the instrument with the African Union Commission. Both South Africa and Uganda were also taking the same approach of ratifying both. Just a year ago, it all looked impossible to many around the world that Africa could have a Continental Free Trade Area. But for some, this was de javu, for it was the same trepidation in 2015 just before the TFTA was launched on 10 June in Egypt. The TFTA was an African revelation, for it demonstrated the palpable possibility of and spurred strategists towards a continental equivalent. Having missed the deadline of December 2017, ACFTA was duly launched a mere three months later on March 21, 2018 in Kigali, with 44 out of the 55 African countries signing the Agreement on the spot. World history was made, despite entrenched skepticism rooted in pessimistic narratives about Africa but delighting and vindicating optimists around the world. There was some pending work though. Precise time frames were duly set. Annexes (with detailed...

Kampala. East African currencies, including the Ugandan and Tanzanian shillings as well as the Rwanda franc have taken a beating as they continue to weaken against the dollar. The Ugandan shilling has edged downwards by 3.6 per cent against the dollar since January while the Tanzanian shilling has edged by 1.8 per cent. The Rwanda franc has been a bit resistant only weakening by 0.9 per cent. The Uganda shilling has been the worst hit closing last Thursday at Shs3,824 against the dollar, according to Bank of Uganda. The weakening trends present a tricky situation for the region, which has been recovering from a difficult period characterised by a rapid increase in imports, relatively violent elections and slowed economic growth. This has not been helped by stagnated or reduced growth in the export sector. The Uganda shilling, according to Mr Stephen Kaboyo, the Alpha Capital managing partner, has been undermined by surging dollar demand amid low forex inflows. “Bank of Uganda’s intervention [last week] provided a short period of relief,” he said, highlighting the likelihood of continued weakening of the Uganda shilling in the weeks ahead. “Outlook indicates sustained weakening in the coming days on account of intense demand from importers and commercial banks,” he said. The Central Bank, Mr Kaboyo said, had last week only sold Shs101b worth of dollars against the targeted Shs180b after the unit lost almost Shs50 of its value in just three days. Earlier, Bank of Uganda had said it would not intervene in the...

President Museveni and visiting top Chinese communist party’s executive, Mr Wang Yang, on Friday launched completed sections of the 51.4km Entebbe expressway. Mr Wang, who is chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, described the expressway as a “starting point in Uganda’s economic takeoff.” “Travel time [on the expressway] will be cut from two hours to 40 minutes. I hope the road will give Uganda the wings to fly to industrialisation and Vision 2040,” Mr Wang said. He said the road is part of China’s Silk Road belt project, the initiative to enhance connectivity from mainland China to Africa and Europe, launched by President Xi Jinping in 2013. Mr Wang, the number four in the Chinese communist party’s politburo, was accompanied by senior Chinese government officials, who included vice president of Exim Bank. They arrived in Uganda from the Republic of Congo-Brazzaville on Wednesday for a three-day state visit. Chinese-African support President Museveni described the Entebbe expressway as an outcome of enhanced Chinese-African support, which includes bankrolling the Shs1.5 trillion expansion of Entebbe International Airport, and the Karuma and Isimba hydropower dams, with combined cost Shs6.7 trillion. He urged China to deal with African countries, not as narrower regional economic groupings such as East African Community, Common Market for East and Southern Africa, Economic Community of West African States and Southern African Development Community, but as one trading bloc after the recent signing of the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) treaty in Kigali, Rwanda in...

KAMPALA, June 15 (Xinhua) -- Bridging over a swamp fully covered with green weeds, the 1,450-meter-long Nambigirwa bridge in southern Uganda is one of the longest bridges in East Africa. The bridge is part of the Chinese company-built Kampala-Entebbe expressway that links the Ugandan capital Kampala and the country's main gateway Entebbe International Airport. The whole expressway project consists of a four-lane dual carriageway with the length of 49.56-kilometers, bridges, major interchanges, underpasses and toll plazas. The construction of the project started in 2012. China Communications Construction Company Limited (CCCC), the constructor, handed over a 4.1-kilometer-long reconstruction section on Nov. 12, 2017 and a 37.21-kilometer-long toll section on May 18, 2018. Currently, the expressway is capable of being open to traffic and is in trial operation. Funded by the concessional loan from China, the expressway is expected to alleviate problems in terms of travel time and comfort, and to enable people to do business more efficiently, according to Edward Katumba-Wamala, Ugandan Minister of State for Works. Over the years, travelers passing through the Entebbe airport have increased hugely, and the number of the travelers is likely to increase with time, Wamala told Xinhua. On the other hand, the traffic volume in Uganda has been increasing over the years and roads that were made for the traffic of the 1970s can no longer accommodate the traffic of today, he said. One of the pains people are facing when travelling to and from the airport is that at times they would miss...

Enterprise Singapore (ESG) opened a centre in Kenya yesterday - its third in Africa - to help Singapore companies enter the region and boost trade and investment between both markets. The centre in the capital Nairobi will serve as a regional hub for East Africa and complement ESG's outlets in Johannesburg, South Africa, and Accra, Ghana. ESG assistant chief executive Yew Sung Pei said: "Today, over 60 Singapore companies operate in Africa across more than 50 countries. Interest from Singapore companies is growing. "Our (Nairobi) office will identify opportunities for Singapore companies, broaden our networks and strengthen the Singapore brand in the fast-growing region." ESG has identified several growth sectors in East Africa where Singapore firms can contribute, including fintech, e-commerce, logistics, light manufacturing and urban solutions and energy. The official opening coincided with a state visit to Kenya and Rwanda by Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who is also Coordinating Minister for Economic and Social Policies, and Dr Koh Poh Koon, Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry. The delegation is being accompanied by 20 Singapore firms on a business mission organised by ESG and the Singapore Business Federation. East Africa is the fastest-growing region in the continent and accounts for 22 per cent of Sub-Saharan Africa's total gross domestic product. It grew 5.9 per cent last year to $467.6 billion. The region is home to some of the fastest-growing economies in Africa, including Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. Singapore's economic ties with the region have been...

Parliament has begun the ratification process of the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) agreement, which will create an integrated market between 26 African countries. Parliament’s trade and industry committee was briefed on the agreement on Wednesday by Department of Trade and Industry chief director Wamkele Mene, who said ratification by SA would send a strong signal of its commitment to regional integration. SA is also engaged in negotiations on the Continental Africa Free Trade Area and the department’s director-general, Lionel October, told the committee that it was now ready to sign it. SA signed the TFTA agreement in July 2017. It will enter into force once it has been ratified by 14 member states. So far only Egypt, Uganda and Kenya have ratified it. The TFTA will include members of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern African States (Comesa) and the East African Community. These countries have a combined gross domestic product of $1.2-trillion and a combined population of about 626-million people. Some TFTA countries, such as Rwanda, Ethiopa and Tanzania, are among the fastest-growing economies on the continent. SA’s trade with TFTA countries represents about 16% of its total trade with the world. In 2017 SA’s total trade with TFTA countries amounted to $27.6bn. "SA will build on its current share of the African market and have access to a larger, more integrated and growing regional market. This has the potential to stimulate industrial development, investment and job creation," Mene said. He...

ADDIS ABABA, June 11 (Xinhua) -- East African countries, under the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), on Monday disclosed their interest in penetrating Southeast Asia's meat and live animals market via Hong Kong. IGAD member countries, which usually export live animals and meat to Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, said Hong Kong's meat and live animals market could help to mitigate some of the challenges faced while exporting to MENA region, IGAD said in a statement. According to IGAD, despite the close proximity and East Africa's rich animal resources, the region was only able to meet 50 percent and 10 percent of the annual demand of the Middle East and North African markets respectively. Noting the seasonal nature of MENA's meat and live animal market, which reaches its high peak during religious seasons when millions of live animals exported especially to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for festivity slaughter, IGAD stressed "the need to mitigate the seasonal demand and promote continuous exports." "It was necessary to explore new markets in Southeast Asia while at the same time expanding the existing market in MENA," the statement read. The East African bloc IGAD, which recently sent its trade mission to Hong Kong to explore opportunities of entering the market for meat, also hailed the possibilities to penetrate the region's meat market via Hong Kong. "Hong Kong can serve as a gateway to different cities that have a combined population of 66 million people that can provide good market for imported...

Trade policy cooperation and coordination are more than ever of utmost importance to us. Increasing protectionist tendencies provide us with a clear incentive and opportunity to express our strong support for the multilateral trading system. Joint press release by Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde, OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría, ILO Director-General Guy Ryder, WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo, World Bank Group Chief Executive Officer Kristalina Georgieva and AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina on the occasion of their meeting in Berlin on 11 June 2018. Our common approach of fostering international economic policy cooperation remains necessary to address global challenges, set new standards and improve the prospects for inclusive and sustainable growth. To this end, we remain committed to strengthening both institutional and informal links among national governments, international organizations and other stakeholders, including such fora as the G7 and G20. The global conjuncture remains favorable. World growth rose to 3.8% in 2017. The IMF projects a slight pick-up in global growth to 3.9% in 2018-19. Among advanced economies, expansionary fiscal policy is expected to drive the US economy above full employment, while excess capacity in Euro Area economies is projected to narrow with support from accommodative monetary policy. Among emerging and developing economies, prospects are for continued strong growth in emerging Asia and Europe but are more subdued elsewhere. Inflationary pressures remain contained, despite the increase in commodity prices. Financial conditions are generally supportive, but with some signs of differentiation across countries. The WTO anticipates merchandise trade volume growth...

NAIROBI, June 11 (Xinhua) -- East Africa Community (EAC) member states have agreed to complete cross-border frequency coordination by the end of 2018, an official said on Monday. Ally Simba, Executive Secretary of East African Communications Organization (EACO), told a media briefing in Nairobi that that people living at border areas in the region have for long experienced forced roaming as a result of cross-border mobile network interferences. Simba said that this has resulted in those residents paying high roaming charges to access mobile telecommunications services. Speaking during the 25th East African Communications Organization (EACO) meeting of assemblies, Simba said cross-border frequency coordination for mobile services has been done in 90 percent of the borders and the verification exercise by the regulators is ongoing. He noted that the aim of the coordination exercise is to reduce forced roaming so that users are able to connect to their home networks without interference from the neighboring country's networks. Simba added that cross-border frequency coordination for broadcasting services has also commenced and the work of implementing the cross-border framework for broadcasting should be complete by the end of the year. Peter Munya, Kenya's Cabinet Secretary in the EAC Ministry, said the EAC member states and private ICT firms in the region have in the past initiated projects that are not only fostering integration among people but have also lowered the cost of doing business in the region. Munya said among the most successful is the multi-country initiative that harmonized the regional mobile roaming...