Friday, September 23, 2016 Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg Trade Report U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker hosted Sept. 20 a roundtable in New York with East African heads of state aimed at accelerating regional integration through practical and actionable private sector driven proposals in the areas of infrastructure, agribusiness technology, and travel and tourism. The Department of Commerce indicates that the East African leaders agreed to support these proposals, which are viewed as critical steps to expanding the bilateral trade and investment relationships between their respective economies and the United States. East African countries represented at the roundtable included Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya. In the area of infrastructure, for example, East African leaders and Secretary Pritzker agreed to work together to address challenges in building large-­scale infrastructure with the goal of convening an infrastructure summit with U.S. investors and companies across the infrastructure value chain focused on specific projects in the critical areas of electricity, transport and water infrastructure. According to the DOC, the roundtable built on the achievements from the CEO regional integration roundtable that Secretary Pritzker co-chaired with Rwandan President Kagame in January 2016 during her trip to Africa with members of the President’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa (PAC­-DBIA). The DOC also announced this week the appointment of 23 private sector leaders to the PAC­-DBIA, which is tasked with advising the president on strengthening commercial engagement between the U.S. and Africa. Specifically, the council provides information, analysis and recommendations that address the following issues. -...

DEVELOPING countries are set to dump controversial trade agreements with the European Union en masse following the Brexit vote, leading economists have said. Up and coming nations in Africa and the Caribbean will no longer see any worth in being tied to dictatorial Brussels policies now that the UK is no longer part of the bloc. And they could be about to torpedo the EU’s roll-out of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA), which are designed to create a free-trade zone between Europe, Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. That is the view of top academics Christopher Stevens and Jane Kennan, from the Overseas Development Institute, who say Brexit has given many governments an excuse to pull out of the deeply unpopular scheme. Tanzania has already ditched a proposed deal between Brussels and the East Africa Community (ECA) countries, citing the “turmoil” engulfing the EU following the Brexit vote and the skewed terms of the agreement. The country’s Foreign Affairs permanent secretary Aziz Mlima blasted: “Our experts have established that the way it has been crafted, the EPA will not benefit local industries in East Africa. Instead it will lead to their destruction as developed countries are likely to dominate the market.” And now the two trade experts have predicted that a number of other African and Caribbean countries will follow suit, because for most Commonwealth countries Britain is by far the biggest market for their exports. In an essay on the future of Britain’s trade policy post-Brexit, the pair wrote: “Although...

The proposed Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the East African Community and the European Union is not ideal for the region and could stifle the infant industries if passed as it is, some European Union Members of parliament told The New Times, yesterday. The agreement, they said,  could pose a risk to regional economies as their infant industries will face unfair competition due to products from the European Union. Marie Arena, a European Parliamentarian, told The New Times that the agreement was unfair as it is and, if enforced in its current form, it could promote unfair competition in the region. She pointed out that the European Union had pushed a hard bargain in the deal largely by ‘arm twisting’ Kenya which risked to lose access to the European market. “I think this kind of agreement is unfair for the East African region. Europe is pushing a very hard satance and they have taken Kenya as a leader. Kenya is the only one that has interest in this trade agreement because they are not a least developed country. They (Kenya) need the agreement to maintain access to the European market,” she said. There were fears that if the deal is not signed by September 30, 2016, Kenya could lose its access to the European Union market as it is not grouped among Least Developed Countries like her partners in the bloc who are granted duty free access to the EU for all products, except arms and ammunition. Arena, who is...

On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker hosted the East African Heads of State roundtable in New York City. Held alongside the United Nations General Assembly meeting and the U.S.-Africa Business Forum, the roundtable brought together East African leaders to discuss business development, investment opportunities, and economic growth in their respective countries. Hailemariam Desalegn, Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, President of Uganda, Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, and William Ruto, Deputy President of Kenya participated, along with multiple U.S. and African CEOs from companies doing business in the region. The roundtable built on the achievements from the CEO regional integration roundtable Secretary Pritzker co-chaired with President Kagame in January 2016 during her trip to Africa with members of the President’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa (PAC-DBIA). Secretary Pritzker facilitated yesterday’s discussion aimed at accelerating regional integration through practical and actionable private sector driven proposals in the areas of travel and tourism, agribusiness technology, and infrastructure. The East African leaders agreed to support these proposals, which are critical steps to expanding the bilateral trade and investment relationships between their respective countries and with the United States. The impact of the travel and tourism sector on the economic and social development of a country can be enormous. Given this, Secretary Pritzker facilitated an agreement among the East African leaders and the U.S. Departments of Commerce and State to launch an annual rotating U.S.-East Africa Travel and Tourism Dialogue to promote East Africa as a top global travel...

Africa’s immense economic potential, increasing integration into global markets, expanding infrastructure, and demographic boom provide a remarkable opportunity to enhance U.S. trade and investment ties across the continent.  African countries are tackling economic challenges by diversifying their economies, streamlining regional and global economic cooperation, and innovating to overcome barriers to trade and investment.  The United States is committed to being a partner in these efforts, including through initiatives such as the Doing Business in Africa Campaign, Power Africa, and Trade Africa.  Taking into account these and other efforts, at the 2014 U.S.-Africa Business Forum (USABF) co-hosted by the U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) and Bloomberg Philanthropies, $33 billion in commitments, including $14 billion in private sector deals and commitments, were made to support economic growth across Africa.  Over the last two years, Commerce has tracked nearly $15 billion in additional private sector deals reached between U.S. and African partners, and from 2008 to 2015 U.S. direct investment in Africa rose from $37 billion to $64 billion on a historic-cost basis - an increase of more than 70 percent.  That’s more than double the total global official development assistance that went to Africa in 2015.  ‎Today’s U.S.-Africa Business Forum builds upon the partnerships created in 2014 with new commitments to mobilize an additional $9.1 billion in trade and investment to support the development of Africa’s consumer goods, construction, energy, healthcare, manufacturing, telecommunications, and transportation sectors. The U.S. Government has Expanded its Presence and Economic Engagement in Africa Since 2008, Commerce has doubled...

Clearing your closet of last season’s gently worn clothes and donating them to an aid group probably makes you feel pretty good. After all, you may be helping someone in need and breathing life into items that might otherwise decompose in a landfill. But a number of countries in East Africa are fed up with the onslaught of secondhand items they receive from Western nonprofits and wholesalers, and want to ban such imports altogether. In 2014, a handful of East African countries imported more than $300 million worth of secondhand clothing from the United States and other wealthy countries. The used items have created a robust market in East Africa and thereby a decent amount of jobs. But experts say the vast amount of these imports have devastated local clothing industries and led the region to rely far too heavily on the West. In March, the East African Community, which is made up of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda, proposed banning all imported used clothing and shoes by 2019. The goal is to stop relying on imports from rich nations, boost local manufacturing and create new jobs. However, the law is unlikely to pass. There is resistance from the U.S., which unloads hordes of secondhand clothes all over the world, and from sellers in East Africa whose livelihood depends on these shipments, as well as from experts who think an outright ban won’t be enough for these countries to restore production at home. Proponents of the ban say it...

Talks to end Burundi crisis which has rocked the country for around 18 months have stalled. The East African Community (EAC) has had to accept extra funding from international donors including China, Switzerland and the European Union after it was forced to call off the Burundi peace talks. After months of painstaking mediation stalling due to the reluctance of the Burundian government and opposition to participate in peace talks, the issue of national dialogue on the Burundi crisiswhich has rocked the country for just under 18 months remains in the lap of the EAC. The regional organisation has, however, so far failed to secure a sustainable peace agreement between the warring parties, and the facilitator, former Tanzanian president Benjamin Mkapa, was forced to call off meetings five times due to lack of funds. In August, representatives of the EAC reiterated concerns over the worsening diplomatic relations between neighbours Burundi and Rwanda, warning that the growing political tensions could jeopardise the stability of the region. The five partner states – Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda – ratified the EAC Protocol in 2010, effectively establishing a common market and, in 2014, the Protocol on Peace and Security, aimed at bolstering cross-boundary security and stability in the region. EAC considering funds from China and EU It has now emerged that the EAC is considering an additional budget for the peace talks after receiving support from donors including China, Switzerland and the European Union, according to The East African. The EAC's Secretariat received...

The first significant summit of the European Union without Britain, that was held in Bratislava last week, raised concerns about the preparedness of the bloc to handle its post-Brexit future ‘European leaders did not mince words on the state of the European Union [EU] as they headed into a meeting in Bratislava to chart the union’s future after the British vote in June to leave the EU,” said theNew York Times in an editorial. The paper went on to examine the reasons behind the disappointing turn of events. “Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany warned that Europe was in a critical situation, or what the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, called an existential crisis. Reeling from terrorist attacks, an influx of refugees from Africa and the Middle East, and persistent high unemployment and low economic growth, millions of Europeans are coming to the conclusion that the EU has let them down. And they are turning in increasing numbers to populist movements and nationalist politicians who promise to protect their jobs, their way of life and their security by closing national borders and rejecting Pan-European solutions,” it said. It added: “If the European Union is to survive, European leaders must restore people’s faith in its ability to address Europe’s problems. As the European Council President, Donald Tusk, put it, “History has taught us that this can lead to a massive turn away from freedom and the other fundamental values that the European Union is founded upon.” The Guardian took a...

NYERERE BRIDGE: According to the organizers, an efficient transport infrastructure is critical in ensuring Africa truly benefits from its rich natural resources and the World Bank estimates that the cost of moving goods in Africa is, on average, two or three times higher than in developed countries. DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA - The 7th East & Central Africa Roads and Rail Infrastructure Summit 2016 is expected to start on September 27  in Dar es Salaam.  Top on the agenda are discussions about the bottlenecks, challenges and the way forward since infrastructure is a key aspect for economic growth in the region. A statement availed to the East African Business Week from Magenta Global the organizers of the summit indicates that the summit will once again provide the authoritative platform that will synergize, strategize and reshape discussions to inspire new blueprints and dissect the critical issues hampering the successful execution of planned projects in the region. The statement added that following successful editions in Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya, the 7th East & Central Africa Roadsand  Rail Infrastructure Summit 2016 will now return to Dar es Salaam as its geographical area is more conveniently. Statement said the summit will featuring dedicated country sessions plus insightful presentations by industry experts, that event will once again provide the a useful platform to government policy makers, politicians, contractors and engineers in the region. According to the organizers an efficient transport infrastructure is critical in ensuring Africa truly benefits from its rich natural resources and the...

By Dorothy Nakaweesi Kampala — The East African Community (EAC) member countries' decision to extend the signing of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union may have consequences in the due course, the EU has said. The EU head of delegation to Uganda, Ambassador Kristian Schmidt, in a statement issued to this newspaper last week, said: "There are no immediate effects but there may be consequences in due course that only the EPA can prevent." EAC heads of State during their 17th Summit that sat in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania recently agreed to push the signing of the EPAs with the EU for another three-months (January 2017) until a harmonised regional position has been arrived at. Tanzania's President John Magufuli, the chairman of the EAC summit, said they need more time to discuss the EPA agreement. So far, Kenya and Rwanda have already signed the agreement. Uganda has also expressed strong interest to sign while Tanzania and Burundi are still skeptical. But the EAC heads of State during the negotiations expressed a willingness to move ahead as a region. Mr Schmidt said the EU understands that the EAC partners need some time to continue their internal process. "This is why we pursue a situation in which the EAC EPA is implemented by all EAC countries as a bloc, in order to provide a predictable and uniform trade scheme for all EAC members that respects their customs union and preserves duty-free quota-free access to the EU market for all of them,...