News Tag: South Sudan

Dubai Chamber trade mission to Ethiopia concludes with meetings with public and private sector reps

· MOU worth AED 184 million signed between S.S. Lootah International and Oromia International Bank SC of Ethiopia · Al Ghurair: Our aim is to get accurate information on setting up business, highlighting investment regulations and sectors while identifying challenges for investors · Buamim: We look forward to stimulate economic partnerships between the business communities in both countries · Ethiopia is Dubai's 60th trading partner with trade value of AED 2.2 billion in 2015 · Trade mission promotes Africa Global Business Forum by calling on public and private sectors to participate in the fourth session of the forum next year in Dubai 09 October 2016 Dubai, UAE: The Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry-led trade mission to Ethiopia concluded with the signing of an AED 184 million agreement between S.S. Lootah International and Oromia International Bank SC of Ethiopia to collaborate in supporting the coffee and other agricultural and livestock sectors with the financing and supply of needed inputs to boost their production and exports. The MoU covers financing requirements for the inputs and exports of production and value addition inputs products, export financing, warehousing and logistics for the agricultural sector including coffee and livestock production. The initial value of the agreement will be increased in its next stage with the rise in demand for the products. H.E. Yahya Bin Saeed Lootah, CEO, S.S. Lootah International, said that the agreement with the Ethiopian partner, which follows the signing of another agreement a few days ago with a Kenyan company reflects the...

Harmonized standards can sharpen EAC competitive edge

Standards are a vital element in trade, because they help business interaction and access to markets in the economy.  Standards and compliance can also encourage trade by providing valuable information about product requirements or consumer preferences which all add to competitiveness. A standards regime helps open-up markets. It allows customers to compare offers from different suppliers, making it easier for smaller and younger enterprises to compete with larger and stronger companies. They also give small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) a competitive advantage by enabling them to compete on a level playing field with bigger enterprises internationally and to increase market share. With a total population of about 146 million people, the East African Community (EAC) offers fertile ground for companies to do business.  By doing so, this leads to economic growth generated by higher levels of intra-East African trade. The EAC has developed East African Standards to harmonize requirements governing quality of products and services across the Community. Companies rely on these standards and their own conformance to increase efficiency, reduce costs, and boost sales of their products and services. Implementation of common standards has put the EAC at the fore front of competition policy in sub-Saharan Africa.  It is foreseen that through harmonized standardization and compliance, any trade barriers encountered during the exchange of goods and services within the EAC is limited or avoided altogether. On the other hand, compliance with strict standards of regulations can often be expensive for companies. However research points to the fact that...

Africa Makes Progress On Trade and Economic Integration

Geneva — African countries are boosting intra-regional trade and deepening economic integration at a time when politicians in the global North are raising doubts about the benefits of trade, says the head of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. UNCTAD Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi told the World Trade Organization's annual public forum in Geneva: "Africa is widely noted for its low levels of intra-regional trade, but in fact the levels are much higher when North Africa is removed from the analysis." Speaking at a session on inclusive trade at the recent forum, he said economic integration will be key to Africa's long-term success and African nations must integrate more. "Africa has to know that there is no part of the world which has been successful in trading globally without learning first to trade with its neighbors," Dr. Kituyi said. UNCTAD says that in East Africa, intra-regional trade is closer to 26 percent, the same level as in Latin America. At the opening of the forum, Nigeria's Trade and Investment Minister, Okechukwu E. Enelamah, presented remarks for President Muhammadu Buhari which underlined the importance of an inclusive trade agenda. "This is a key question, particularly at this moment, when leaders are grappling with the challenge and consequences of inequality which has emerged as a major risk to peace and security," Enelamah said. 'Inclusive Trade' "Nigeria believes that a meaningful approach to inclusive trade will combine action by multilateral institutions for updated and more flexible rules, on the one hand, with...

Ethiopia-Djibouti railway big boost to China’s Africa projects

Chinese employees of the new railway that links Addis Ababa to Djibouti take pictures in front of the Chinese-made Ethiopian trains in Addis Ababa on September 24, 2016. The construction of the 752.7-km Ethiopia-Djibouti railway adheres to China’s level-two electrified railway standards. PHOTO | AFP  In Summary As many African countries have been following different gauge standards of Western countries, they are not in a position to form an integrated African railway network. A consortium of the two Chinese contractors, CREC and the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), beat their Western rivals to win the bid. ADDIS ABABA Ethiopia and Djibouti launched Africa’s first modern electrified railway connecting their respective capitals Thursday. It also marked the first time that the complete spectrum of an overseas railway industry chain is fully backed by Chinese standards. The construction of the 752.7-km Ethiopia-Djibouti railway adheres to China’s level-two electrified railway standards. It has a designed hourly speed of 120 kilometres and a total investment of $4 billion. As many African countries have been following different gauge standards of Western countries, they are not in a position to form an integrated African railway network. In January 2004, African countries proposed an integrated railway network on the continent. With support from regional organisations like the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas), the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the East African Community, construction projects at transnational and intra-regional levels have been put on agenda. Before official planning was set for the Ethiopia-Djibouti railway...

New EAC rules of origin ‘will spur regional manufacturing industry’

The revision of rules of origin for products manufactured within the East African Community (EAC) have encouraged investment and boosted manufacturing sector within the region, the business community and officials have said. In Article 1 of General Agreement on Tariff and Trade, rules of origin are defined as laws, regulations and administrative determinations of general application applied by any member to determine the country of origin of goods leading to the granting of tariff preferences. Different stakeholders were speaking during the 7th session between the Ministry of East African Community and the Rwandan private sector, last week. The meeting sought to learn from the private sector’s experience on the implementation of the revised EAC Rules of Origin, and to share updates ahead of another meeting later this month that is envisaged to carry out a comprehensive review of Common External Tariff (CET). The 25 revised EAC rules of Origin (RoO) came into effect on January 23, 2015. While expounding on the revised rules, Fred Nuwagaba, a senior customs officer at Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA), said they are more flexible, clearer and more explanatory. “They encourage investment in manufacturing, encourage investment in agriculture and aim at boosting processing industry in the region.” He warned the business community that, recently, there have been problems with people from some EAC member states who export cooking oil to Rwanda after only purifying and packaging crude oil commonly imported from Asia, a practice he said does not qualify for the preferential treatment under the new...

UN pledges to help EAC handle South Sudan, Burundi conflicts

THE United Nations has promised to assist the East African Community (EAC) in tackling conflicts in South Sudan and political unrest in Burundi in efforts to promote peace within the region. The Director General of the United Nations Office in Nairobi, Ms Sahle-Work Zewde, said that the UN was keen on collaborating with the EAC and other Regional Economic Communities (RECs) in conflict prevention and conflict management. Ms Zewde, who was in Arusha over the weekend, revealed that the United Nations priority was preventive diplomacy in preventing conflicts, adding that it would cooperate with the EAC addressing the conflict in South Sudan, radical extremism in East Africa and supporting Burundi peace process . The envoy added that the UN mission in Burundi had been through several stages including peacekeeping and a political mission and emphasized the importance of home-grown solutions and mediation in addressing national conflicts, adding that electoral disputes were the cause of political instability in Africa. She was speaking at the occasion in which her delegation had paid a courtesy call on the EAC Secretary General, Ambassador Liberat Mfumukeko, at the EAC Headquarters here. Ambassador Mfumukeko on the other hand briefed the UN Director General on the progress of the Inter-Burundi Dialogue and the efforts being made by the EA C Secretariat to facilitate the peace talks even further. On the entry of the Republic of South Sudan into the Community, the SG said that the EA C Secretariat was working on a roadmap to integrate the world’s...

East Africa: UN Pledges to Help EAC Handle South Sudan, Burundi Conflicts

Arusha — The United Nations has promised to assist the East African Community (EAC) in tackling conflicts in South Sudan and political unrest in Burundi in efforts to promote peace within the region. The Director General of the United Nations Office in Nairobi, Ms Sahle-Work Zewde, said that the UN was keen on collaborating with the EAC and other Regional Economic Communities (RECs) in conflict prevention and conflict management. Ms Zewde, who was in Arusha over the weekend, revealed that the United Nations priority was preventive diplomacy in preventing conflicts, adding that it would cooperate with the EAC addressing the conflict in South Sudan, radical extremism in East Africa and supporting Burundi peace process . The envoy added that the UN mission in Burundi had been through several stages including peacekeeping and a political mission and emphasized the importance of home-grown solutions and mediation in addressing national conflicts, adding that electoral disputes were the cause of political instability in Africa. She was speaking at the occasion in which her delegation had paid a courtesy call on the EAC Secretary General, Ambassador Liberat Mfumukeko, at the EAC Headquarters here. Ambassador Mfumukeko on the other hand briefed the UN Director General on the progress of the Inter-Burundi Dialogue and the efforts being made by the EA C Secretariat to facilitate the peace talks even further. On the entry of the Republic of South Sudan into the Community, the SG said that the EA C Secretariat was working on a roadmap to integrate...

Kenyan traders hit hard by currency fall in South Sudan

Abel Kidambi knows too well the impact of the slump of the South Sudanese currency on his young family living in Kitale. Three years ago, he would afford to send home Sh100,000 a month earned from his eateries. But today, he struggles to send Sh30,000 even though business is still vibrant despite the recent shocks in Juba occasioned by political wrangles. “Times have changed very significantly for me and I think it has everything to do with the deprecation of the money here,” Mr Kidambi told The Standard at the Konyokonyo, the biggest market in Juba city. Shortage of dollar inflows relating to disruption on the production of crude oil and withdrawal of the support of the international community has caused the sharp depreciation of the South Sudan Pound. The fall has been compounded by the fact that hardly any commodities including vegetables are produced in the country of about 11 million – traditionally pastoralist community. The South Sudan pound is said to have depreciated by 85 per cent. The exchange rate for pound per US dollar declined to 18.5 pounds a dollar on exposure to market forces of supply and demand, down from a rate of 2.96 pound to the dollar. The few dollars that come into the country are still spent on paying for imports, key among them being fuel for motoring and electricity generation. A free fall on the value of the pound means that traders like Kidambi struggle to find dollars to pay for supplies, and...

New Study shows how TIR, the World’s only Universal Customs Transit System, can Radically reduce Trade Costs in Africa

The International Road Transport Organisation (IRU) (https://www.IRU.org) report, “Transit costs in East and Southern Africa” clearly demonstrates how African countries implementing the TIR Convention can reduce the costs of trade in southern and eastern Africa thus saving billions of dollars and increasing GDP in African countries. Since 1949, TIR has made international freight transits faster, more efficient and more secure, helping increase trade, boosting economic growth and making communities stronger. With TIR, goods are contained in sealed load compartments, and the contents are detailed in a TIR Carnet. This essential document accompanies the driver and the cargo along its journey. Customs simply have to verify the Carnet and that the seals are intact, rather than spend time to open the container and physically check the load. Umberto de Pretto, IRU Secretary General said “Some of the world’s highest trade costs can be found in Africa and the world’s road transport organisation, IRU, is working to support governments and the private sector to reduce these costs.” He continued “The report results show that TIR is up to 16 times less expensive than the national bond system on the Northern Corridor between Walvis Bay and Lubumbashi, and is also substantially more cost efficient on the three other African trade corridors in the study.” The report unequivocally concludes that the TIR system is the most cost effective transit bond method and could be deployed on all trade corridors in Africa. TIR, the world’s only universal customs transit system and one of the most successful...

EU says it may have alternative ways of dealing with EAC states

The European Union flag. PHOTO | AFP  The European Union says it may have alternative ways of dealing with the East African Community member states should they fail to meet the deadline of signing a joint trade agreement in January next year. EU Head of Delegation Stefano Dejak told reporters on Wednesday that the three-month extension from October this year should give all the East African Community member states who have not signed to endorse the pact. But should they fail, he said the European bloc will negotiate appropriate arrangements with the region. “This was the case to October the 1st and thanks to our relations, we have found a way to address this and extend the period,” he said at his residence when asked if individual countries will have to negotiate separately if the agreement is not endorsed by the entire region. “If that would turn out to be the case (in January), we would certainly look out how best to partner with the government of Kenya and other member states of the East African Community to do the best for both, I think, especially for Kenya but it is the same in other countries.” The Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) is a set of agreements that allow African countries specific privileges to export to the European Union markets without being subjected to customs. The agreement covers trade in goods and development cooperation and covers on agriculture, fisheries and economic and development cooperation. RATFIED PACT On Wednesday, Kenya through its...