The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is ranked third in regional integration out of eight regional economic communities assessed by the Africa Regional Integration Index – Africa’s first effort to measure progress on regional integration. The Africa Regional Integration Index Report launched recently in Addis Ababa, is the result of a collaboration between the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the African Union Commission (AUC); and follows calls for systematic measurement of regional integration. On a scale of 0 to 1, ECOWAS came third with a score of 0.509, behind the Southern African Development Community (SADC) which scored 0.531, and the East African Community (EAC) which came first with a score of 0.540. The Arab Maghreb Union (UMA) came fourth with 0.459, followed by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in the horn and its western area, with 0.457; and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) in sixth, scoring 0.454. The joint research also examined integration in two wider regional blocs: the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), which cuts across North-Eastern, East, Central and Southern Africa, and includes some member countries of the UMA, IGAD, ECCAS and SADC; and the Community of Sahel Saharan States (CEN-SAD) made up of ECOWAS and some North, Central and East African states (from UMA, ECCAS and IGAD). COMESA scored 0.415 and CEN-SAD, 0.395. Regional integration in the report was measured using 16 indicators in five dimensions: trade integration, productive integration, free...

The African Union Commission (AUC) and the European Commission will hold their annual College-to-College meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 7 April. This is the biggest political EU-Africa meeting of the year. The Africa-EU Strategic Partnership is the formal channel through which the European Union and the African continent work together. It is enshrined in the Joint Africa-EU Strategy (JAES): a partnership of equals, determined to tackle together issues of common concern. Adopted by Heads of State and Government at the second EU-Africa Summit in 2007, the JAES is the first and only intercontinental partnership strategy of the EU. The current Roadmap 2014-2017 sets out concrete targets within five priority areas of cooperation agreed at the 4th EU-Africa Summit in 2014: Peace and Security Democracy, Good Governance and Human Rights Human Development Sustainable and Inclusive Developmental Growth and Continental Integration Global and Emerging Issues EU-Africa Relations Several cooperation frameworks govern EU cooperation with Africa, among which (i) the Cotonou Agreement with Sub-Saharan Africa, (ii) Euro-med Partnership with North Africa and the European neighbourhood policy, (iii) and the Joint Africa-EU Strategy. These frameworks include political, economic and development aspects. Africa is the main recipient of collective EU (EU and its 28 Member States) Official Development Assistance (ODA). Approximately €141 billion were allocated between 2007–2013. The EU's development cooperation with Africa is channelled through different financial instruments, of which the European Development Fund (EDF) is the most important. Between 2014-2020, total European Commission's ODA allocations for Africa will amount to over €31...

Africa, it is often said, is a continent that leapfrogs various intermediary stages of technology. From fixed to mobile telephony, Africa leapfrogged the usual phases of technological advancement. It does not come as a surprise, therefore, that on a global level, the East African Community is one of few regional blocs that have scrapped mobile roaming charges. And this is just the beginning. Introduced in October 2014, the One Network Area aims to harmonise tariffs on mobile voice calls, SMS and data transmission within the EAC. Today, roaming charges between Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda have been removed, making all mobile calls between the three countries local. This has led to a minimum 400 per cent increase in the volume of calls — a direct benefit to EAC citizens and African businesses operating across the region’s borders. Previously, making calls across the EAC was more expensive than calling Europe, America or Asia. The second phase of the ONA initiative is underway, with telecom operators revising SMS and data charges downwards. Rwanda began this process in August 2015, and the idea is to have a truly integrated regional bloc with all mobile telephony barriers removed. Compare this with older and more advanced regional blocs in the West or in Asia. The European Union for example, only recently voted new rules that will scrap mobile roaming charges — a reality that will happen in 2017. This has taken the EU almost a decade of negotiations and an interim cap on roaming charges is...

Rwanda’s economic managers face the daunting task of crafting new measures to bridge the ballooning trade deficit. The country continues to import more goods and services, eating up its narrow foreign-exchange earnings due to sluggish growth in exports. Despite ongoing efforts to boost exports, the latest central bank figures released this past week show that Rwanda’s trade deficit widened by 12.7 per cent in the first two months of 2016, from $263.55 million to $297.02 million due to high import demand, which increased by 7.2 per cent in value. Meanwhile exports decreased by 9.7 per cent. There is growing concern that the widening current account deficit could discourage foreign investors worried about losing their money, while making it difficult for the country to pay its foreign debt as the currency depreciates further. Figures show that formal exports covered 20.6 per cent of formal imports against 24.4 per cent in the same period of 2015. As a result, the deficit intensified pressure on the foreign exchange market with the franc depreciating against the dollar by 2.6 per cent on March 24 compared with December 2015. The economy remains vulnerable to domestic and global shocks, in particular lack of foreign exchange, which could undermine growth. READ: Huge import bill strangles Rwandan industries, slows down growth “If the current deficit becomes unsustainable, it will ultimately force the country’s currency to weaken; and if you have invested in the country, then obviously the value of your investment drops,” said Andre Roux, co-head of emerging...

IN SUMMARY WOMEN IN BUSINESS. MTN’s Women in Business dinner attracted women and men from both professional and business circles, who shared and learnt from each other’s experiences. Step up. These two words uttered by Jennifer Mwijukye, chief executive officer and founder Unifreight Group, the keynote speaker, were both the conviction and inspiration that the women gathered at the 2016 MTN Women in Business awards dinner needed. “CEOs who are seated in the office can no longer sustain their businesses. You must go out there. Think beyond profits and think about how to sustain your business and impact society,” Mwijukye said. Set against the backdrop of women adapting ICTs to boost their different businesses, the evening at Kampala Serena Hotel last month, brought together both professional and business women, as well as a few men, to sip from the wisdom of different experiences. Right from the former finance minister Maria Kiwanuka, to the admirable panellists, the speakers quipped that technology goes a long way to improve one’s business, especially the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), giving them a competitive edge and also helping one minimise costs. Data from Uganda Communications Commission puts the number of internet users in the country at 8.5 million, thus women in business are able to take advantage of this fast growing technology to provide business solutions. The panel, moderated by Marketing and communications specialist Susan Nsibirwa comprised Knight Frank’s managing director Judy Kyanda, TradeMark Africa Country director Allen Asiimwe, MTN’s chief marketing officer Mapula Bodibe...

A new report unveiled at the ongoing African Development Week meeting at Addis Ababa indicated the cross-border movements were easiest between Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania. EAC's leadership in integration, which identified various matrices including roaming costs and volume of trade, is a major indicator towards achieving the dream of a unified Africa by 2063. "Deeper regional integration means larger markets and industrialisation and productivity as part of value chains," said Erastus Mwencha, the deputy chairperson of the African Union Commission, adding: "It means talent mobility thanks to greater visa openness." Kenyan citizens, for instance, only need to produce their national identification documents to enter any of the countries in the bloc, while work permit requirements are minimal as the region works towards the dream of a common currency. A regional parliament made of 54 members, which has been sitting since November 2001, is charged with streamlining the respective country laws with the vision of the five-member community. Several firms have had their shares cross-listed at the various stock exchanges. Integration in the EAC was ranked ahead of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) bloc where Tanzania has a cross-membership. South Africa is the most developed economy in the trading bloc, and is naturally the biggest exporter into the 15-member community. Africa's largest bloc, the Community of Sahel–Saharan States (Cen-Sad), which draws membership from 27 countries in the northern part of the continent including Kenya and Somalia, is ranked worst. Among the reason for the poor score is the...

By Marc Nkwame Arusha — AS the new Secretary General for the East African Community is set to report at the Secretariat this month, the East African Employers' Organization already has some tasks ready for him. "We want the new EAC Secretary General, Mr Liberat Mfumukeko, to push the five governments of the member states in fast-tracking free movement of workers, persons and labour," stated the chairperson of the East African Employers' Organization (EAEO), Ms Rosemary Ssenabulya, who is also the Executive Director of Uganda Employers' Association. Ms Ssenabulya was delivering a joint statement from heads of employers' associations from Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi who gathered here under their EAEO umbrella to discuss the implementation of the East African Community's Common Market Protocol, launched back in July 2010 but until now, many figure that the CMP remains a far-fetched theory. Free movement of people, capital and labour were among the things stipulated in the East African Common Market Protocol. However the EAC stated earlier that, free movement of people will only be viable once each member state issued machine-readable Identity Cards. "We are however happy that, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda have waivered work permit fees in their respective borders, which by itself is great achievement of the East African Community under the outgoing Secretary General, Dr Richard Sezibera," added the Executive Director of the Association of Tanzania Employees (ATE), Dr Aggrey Mlimuka, the Secretary General of EAEO. They were of view that, it is high time Tanzania and...

The U.S. trade deficit widened more than expected in February as a rebound in exports was offset by an increase in imports, the latest indication that economic growth weakened further in the first quarter. But the growth picture should brighten in the months ahead, with other data on Tuesday showing that activity in the vast services sector picked up in March as new orders rose strongly, and sustained strength in the labor market. "There are some green shoots appearing this spring in the economic data which makes us more confident that 2016 is going to be a good year after a step-down in expectations and hopes at the start of the year," said Chris Rupkey, chief economist at MUFG Union Bank in New York. The Commerce Department said the trade deficit increased 2.6 percent to $47.1 billion in February, worse than economists' forecasts for a reading of $46.2 billion. When adjusted for inflation, the shortfall rose to $63.3 billion, the largest since March last year, from $61.8 billion in January. That prompted economists to cut their first-quarter gross domestic product growth estimates by as much as half a percentage point to as low as a 0.4 percent annualized rate. They see trade subtracting at least seven-tenths of a percentage point from GDP growth in the first quarter, up from 0.14 point in the fourth quarter. The economy grew at a 1.4 percent rate in the final three months of 2015. Though the trade report joined data on consumer and business...

KAMPALA, UGANDA - 1.2 billion people currently live without access to electricity and more than 2.7 billion people are without clean cooking facilities. With over 95% of these people located either in sub-Saharan Africa or developing Asia, clearly there exists a vast gap which must be closed. But how? The 18th annual Africa Energy Forum (AEF) will take place from 22-24 June 2016, to try to uncover solutions to Africa’s energy deficit and present opportunities which will drive project investment on the continent, acting as a catalyst for economic development. AEF is the global investment meeting for Africa’s power, energy, infrastructure & industrial sectors, expected to welcome 1,000 investors, 500 public sector stakeholders, 300 technology providers, 270 developers and 70 countries in June later this year. Widely regarded as the most important networking event of the year for Africa’s energy community, global investors attend to collectively find solutions to the challenges currently limiting the development of Africa’s power sector. The conference will include country and regional focus sessions, panels on mergers & acquisitions, the impact of COP21 & COP22 on investment, off grid solutions, and discussions which will explore the relationship between Africa and countries such as the UK, USA and China. The Forum also features a buzzing exhibition of over 80 solution providers who supply to the African continent. 125 speakers have confirmed to date including several from the East Africa region, such as: Brigadier General Emeldah Chola, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Energy and Water Development, Zambia, Benon Mutambi,...

CHISHALA MUSONDA, Ndola THE Zambian and Malawian governments have shown interest to revive transportation of petroleum products using Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (Tazara) line. Malawi transports freight using Tazara from Dar-es-Salaam to Mbeya where they have a government-owned inland container depot and storage tanks for fuels. From Mbeya, the cargo is moved by road into Malawi. Company deputy managing director Betram Kiswaga said Tazara has improved its operations and increased cargo transportation in volume. This follows renewed confidence shown from its customer base following improvement in Tazara’s operations which confirms that it has now attained some levels of stability. Briefing the media recently, Dr Kiswaga said the authority has received positive response from key customers who have increased their monthly volumes of cargo transportation. “We have received renewed commitment and are expecting huge volumes of freight from customers that had lost confidence in Tazara including the Zambian and Malawian governments that will be resuming transportation of petroleum products using Tazara line,” he said. Tazara is determined to continue building on its achievements to raise its operation performance even higher even though it faces challenges. “The authority faces challenges, but we take these challenges as an inspiration and a motivation to every employee to work even harder to survive and turn around this great facility,” Dr Kiswaga said. In November, Tazara received 10 diesel-electric locomotives and 18 coaches and Dr Kiswaga said this will help improve operations for the company. The equipment was bought through the 15th Protocol of Economic and Technical...