The Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr. Rob Davies says the development of infrastructure is an essential and absolutely fundamental catalyst for regional integration for increased inter-regional trade and for industrialisation in Africa. Minister Davies was speaking during the opening the two-day Infrastructure Africa Business Forum that started in Sandton. “As the government of South Africa we categorically stated that the development of infrastructure is an essential and absolutely fundamental catalyst for regional integration for increased inter-regional trade and for industrialisation in Africa. Therefore, infrastructure develop lies in the very heart of our efforts to promote high levels inclusive growth and development throughout the continent,” said Minister Davies. Minister Davies added there was a huge deficit in the infrastructure that is necessary to support high levels of inter-regional trade that connects African countries to one another. “As a continent Africa has an infrastructure deficit estimated at $93 billion per annum for the next 20 years. Colonialism has createdinfrastructure that was only geared towards the continent fulfilling its role as mere producer and exporter of primary commodities that were taken to other people’s economies.  There is a huge amount of catch-up that we need to undergo as a continent in order to achieve regional integration,” said Minister Davies. He explained that in addition to the infrastructure deficit, Africa was losing over 40% of its competitiveness as a continent due to the absence of infrastructure or inefficiency of established infrastructure. “The critical role of infrastructure development in achieving integration, growth and development in Africa can never be overemphasised. Through Infrastructure development we can provide roads, rail, ports, energy transmission lines and ICT connectivity that are all necessary to facilitate economic development.  Also, infrastructure can be an important counter-cyclical tool because by infrastructure development we can to generate...

Just when Africa started to embrace the world, it is now being confronted with the rising tide of populism and nationalism from the developed nations. The outcome of Brexit in the United Kingdom and the election of Donald Trump in the United States resulted from popular rejection of free trade and globalisation. As a result, this popular outrage against the political establishment is forcing many political leaders in the developed world to re-assess, focus on and tackle their own domestic issues. Hence, the African continent is falling off from their main agenda. Unlike in the past, when Africa mainly depended on the assistance of the developed economies, the rise of the Asian economies brings about new opportunities for economic cooperation and partnership for Africa. Africa and Asia trade relationship According to data from the International Trade Centre, from 2006 until 2016, trade between the two largest continents in the world increased from US$167bn to $292.9bn, a 75.4% increase. This is in spite of the fact that the Africa-Asia trade dropped from its peak of $423bn in 2014 due to the fall of commodity prices. The main exports from Africa are hard and soft commodities, while Asia exports machinery and manufactured goods to the African continent. Africa exported about $108.1bn to Asia in 2016; the top-three African exporters are South Africa ($22.3bn), Angola ($18bn) and Egypt ($11bn). Their combined exports represented 47.5% of the total African exports. As for imports from Asia, the top-three African importers are South Africa ($32.4bn), Egypt ($24.7bn) and Algeria ($15.6bn). They represent...

THE East African Community (EAC) is moving towards getting energy solutions for the regional block as part of the integration factors. The EAC Deputy Secretary General, (Productive and Social Sectors), Mr Christophe Bazivamo, informed the second executive board meeting of the East African Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (EACREEE), that as the EAC integration was business oriented, energy was key to promoting trade in the region. A communiqué made available by the EAC Secretariat here from Kampala, Uganda where the meeting was taking place had the secretary noting that for some time now the region's development was troubled by low access rates of energy, where high price of the services and poor cooking solutions were partly to blame for the situation. "Low energy access rates, expensive electricity and poor cooking solutions have been hampering the region's development," Mr Bazivamo was quoted as saying. He reminded the meeting that the original plan of EAC was to have EACREEE as an EAC institution, but due to financial constraints, other innovative ways were devised and hence College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology (CEDAT) was selected to host EACREEE as a Centre of Excellence. The secretary disclosed that efforts were underway for the EAC through the Inter -University Council of East Africa to ensure effective management of the EAC Centres of Excellence through the harmonisation of management guidelines. The meeting was attended by members from partner states except South Sudan and was a follow up of the first meeting that was...

Japan and India have finalised a blueprint for developing Special Economic Zones (SEZ) in African countries, an attempt aimed at countering the expanding Chinese footprints in the continent. The first SEZ, Indian companies will be taking part of, will come up around Mombasa port in Kenya, which is being developed with Japanese assistance. Around 10 Indian companies have evinced interest in being part of the SEZ which will focus on infrastructure, pharmaceutical, fertilisers and manufacturing. Mombasa port is the gateway to the East African market, where Indian firms have considerable influence and presence. “Indian companies have large presence in the region and Japanese companies have advanced technologies, both of them coming together for Africa is a win-win situation for both countries,” Japanese ambassador to India Kenji Hiramatsu told Hindustan Times in a recent interview. India and Japan are warming up to Africa in a way amid China’s rapidly expanding economic and strategic influence in the resource-rich continent. Both the countries aspire to become permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and the African union has 54 members, one third of the total membership of the United Nations. Indian officials said New Delhi has been partnering with Japan for the development of African continent based on what two countries can do together for “economic prosperity and capacity building and development of the countries in the continent.” China’s new military base in Djibouti — first in the region — has raised concerns in many world capitals as this showed China’s...

The EAC Deputy Secretary General, (Productive and Social Sectors), Mr Christophe Bazivamo, informed the second executive board meeting of the East African Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (EACREEE), that as the EAC integration was business oriented, energy was key to promoting trade in the region. A communiqué made available by the EAC Secretariat here from Kampala, Uganda where the meeting was taking place had the secretary noting that for some time now the region’s development was troubled by low access rates of energy, where high price of the services and poor cooking solutions were partly to blame for the situation. “Low energy access rates, expensive electricity and poor cooking solutions have been hampering the region’s development,” Mr Bazivamo was quoted as saying. He reminded the meeting that the original plan of EAC was to have EACREEE as an EAC institution, but due to financial constraints, other innovative ways were devised and hence College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology (CEDAT) was selected to host EACREEE as a Centre of Excellence. The secretary disclosed that efforts were underway for the EAC through the Inter -University Council of East Africa to ensure effective management of the EAC Centres of Excellence through the harmonisation of management guidelines. The meeting was attended by members from partner states except South Sudan and was a follow up of the first meeting that was held on June 10, 2016. Addressing the board members, the Chairman of the Executive Board and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry...

A new report has called for increased efforts to boost industrial development in the region, particularly through design and implementation of well-ground strategies and action plans, in order to achieve industrialisation objectives at both regional and East Africa Community (EAC) partner state level. Exploiting opportunities offered a the dynamic EAC market, and diversifying and upgrading through realistic, well-defined and comprehensive strategies are some of the relevant and concrete policy recommendations listed in a new regional industrial competitiveness report. Others are: strengthening of forward and backward linkages to boost industrial and overall economic growth, and supporting development of key industrial drivers to boost production and exports. The draft of the first regional Industrial Competitiveness report which is set to be officially made public in October by the EAC Secretariat is a joint initiative with the UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), aimed at tracking industrial development performance in the region. Alphonse Kwizera, the assistant executive director of Rwanda Association of Manufacturers (RAM), was a member of the team of experts from partner states that compiled the report. He said it was developed to provide a compass to help the region navigate its way towards the industrialisation goals of the Community. Kwizera said: “It shows the competitiveness of our industries, as an entire region, and also highlights how countries trade; which products are mostly exported… and all this is to help industries to strategise. “It will help us determine what additional strategies can be used to increase competitiveness in the region. It will,...

Kenya’s move to adopt a regional electronic passport is on track after the government announced that electronic passports would be rolled out from September. The new generation passports are aimed at easing travel for East African residents. Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda are also set to roll out the electronic passports. They will feature a microchip containing details of the owner and will allow information contained in it to be verified with information displayed on the passport. One of the major hurdles to the integration of East African Community member states has been failure to ease travel, which hampers movement of goods and people as a result. According to the Immigration Department, the current passports in use will be phased out over two years. The electronic passport has been touted as a great step in curbing fraud and easing clearance at international passports. The new look passport will also curb counterfeit travel documents and tampering. Eradicating trade barriers is the only way that the EAC member states can help foster business in the region. The adoption of the electronic passport by the EAC member states will hasten the free flow of goods from one point to another and attract investment. Among the major hurdles to regional trade are bureaucracy and corruption. While trade in the bloc has increased exponentially after the launch of the Common Market Protocol in 2010, there is still a lot more that needs to be done. For the economies of East African Community member states to grow, there...

The East African Community (EAC) has declined to establish another institution, citing financial constraints. Proposals to upgrade the EA Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (EACREEE) into a full-fledged body under the Community hit a wall after the technocrats said it was short of funds for the purpose. "The original plan of the Community was to have EACREEE as an EAC institution. However, due to financial constraints other innovative ways were devised", said the deputy secretary general (Productive and Social Sectors) Christophe Bazivamo. He said instead the College of Engineering,Design, Art and Technology (Cedat) of the Makerere University in Uganda was selected to host the renewable energy facility as one of its centres of excellence. Mr Bazivamo revealed this last weekend when he was addressed the board meeting of the centre whose creation received support from the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (Unido) and the Austrian Development Agency (Ada). The principal of Cedat Prof Henry Alinaitwe informed the meeting held in Kampala that efforts were underway to formally register EACREEE as a semi-autonomous legal entity so that it can function smoothly. However, the meeting concurred that while the regional energy centre would continue to be hosted at the Makerere University, a road map should be drawn to make it a full-fledged body of the EAC. "Since its inauguration, Cedat has been working with several stakeholders to advance the centre's activities", said the Cedat principal Prof Alinaitwe. Despite failure to register the renewable energy centre as an additional institution under...

At their recent summit in July, African presidents reiterated their determination to launch the Continental Free-Trade Area (CFTA) by December. Modalities for negotiating goods and services have been agreed and adopted and a draft text for the CFTA Agreement has been put on the table for negotiation. Some believe the job is more or less done and two or three negotiation sessions are needed before the CFTA can be launched at the end of the year. The stakes are high. If it is not launched in 2017, Africa will be the laughing stock of the world for failing to meet the deadline that was set in 2012. There is a sense of pride and duty. The agreement must cover the essential elements — establishment, principles and objectives, nondiscrimination, tariff elimination, customs and trade facilitation, standards, transparency and notification, institutions, disputes and the usual final provisions. Outstanding work such as details of trade remedies can be continued afterwards. A good strategy for quick progress is to construct the CFTA Agreement using the provisions already available in the agreements of the African regional economic communities that countries have been using over the years. To supplement this, instruments on customs and trade facilitation and health and technical standards can be constructed on good practice from the World Customs Organisation and global standards-setting bodies. African administrations and regulatory agencies happily use instruments and documents from these organisations. There are areas of difference among regional economic communities, such as the settlement of trade disputes. This...

Are you curious what the most economically developed countries in Africa are? You don’t need to search on the internet because Insider Monkey has investigated it for you and published an article about this topic. When talking about certain countries and their development, it is of enormous importance to discuss their economy in order to get to know the overall picture.  In African case, this is even more important, because it will also help us to break the wrong picture of this amazing continent. n order to get the relevant data related to the economic development, the gross domestic product (GDP) is the most important indicator to look at.  In very simple words, this stands for the overall dollar value of everything that is produced in a certain period, and it is usually expressed in comparison to the previous period, making it easier to follow the potential development or possible decline. Later in the same article that explains what GDP actually is, there is also the explanation on how it is actually measured. Apparently, and if I may say, quite logically, this can be done only by economists, taking into consideration two aspects; what everyone earned in a year and what everyone spent. This is called income approach and expenditure method. Now without a further ado let’s see what Insider Monkey has investigated for us. We have picked two counties from their list. Tanzania is the first now. Nominal GDP is $45.899 billion. This country has been through a lot in the past...