UN Environment Executive Director Erik Solheim and World Trade Organization Director-General Roberto Azevêdo announced today that their organizations would join forces to launch a new dialogue on promoting innovative ways of using trade to generate greater opportunities to strengthen our economies and our environments at the same time. The two leaders underscored the urgency of facilitating a dialogue among all stakeholders to identify ways of ensuring that trade and environment policies are mutually supportive. At the same time, they recognized that any meaningful action towards bringing trade into closer alignment with a sustainable, inclusive and prosperous world economy would have to be underpinned by new forms of collaboration and innovative partnerships involving consumers, firms, governments and organizations. The two organisations will aim to provide a platform for interested stakeholders from all sectors of society to exchange ideas, showcase successful experiences and improve understanding of how trade can more effectively help bring about inclusive and sustainable development, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. In this way, the initiative is intended to serve as a springboard for stakeholders around the world to seize the trade, investment and job opportunities resulting from the emerging shift towards more sustainable modes of production and consumption. Executive Director Solheim said: “While trade has brought prosperity to many, we must ensure that it also works for our natural resources, for our climate and for all people. Governments, the private sector, and civil society need to understand that trade can and must work for the environment. By...

Businesses should seize a $6 trillion opportunity to invest in tackling climate change over the next two decades, the head of an Indian multinational said at Davos on Thursday (25 January). “Climate change is the next century’s biggest financial and business opportunity,” Anand Mahindra, chairman of the Mahindra Group, a $19 billion conglomerate, told the World Economic Forum (WEF), an annual meeting of global business and political leaders held in the Swiss Alps resort of Davos. Mahindra likened the transformation to when cars were first introduced and the industry that developed around them. Climate change will also bring new appliances, technologies and retrofitting of old ones, he said. “Why on earth are we talking about this as a compulsion or a burden?” he asked the audience. The idea that companies face a trade-off between improving the climate and their growth or profits is a “myth”, he added. “Everything our group of companies has done to try and improve energy (consumption) or to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has given us a return,” he said. “We have to dispel the idea that there is a trade-off (for business),” said Mahindra, who is co-chair of a climate action summit taking place in California in September. On Wednesday, Philipp Hildebrand, vice chairman of BlackRock, the world’s biggest asset manager, told the WEF a new generation is ramping up pressure on asset managers to put money into investments with a strong environmental agenda and to push companies to play a bigger role in addressing climate change....

The revival of railway connectivity is one of Africa’s top priority, African Union (AU) Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy, Abou-Zeid Amani, affirmed Friday. Addressing the media on the sidelines of the 30th AU assembly of heads of state and government at its headquarters in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, Mr Amani added that railway connectivity is one of AU’s flagship projects. ‘I urge for implementation of AU’s Vision 2040 for Railway Revitalization in Africa that was adopted by the AU member states in June 2014,” he said. Part of this programme include the creation of an integrated high-speed train network that connects all African capitals and commercial centres on the continent, facilitating the movement of goods, people and services. Compared to other continents, Africa is the least interconnected thus hampering trade. “Until we begin to connect our countries, our trade will not be meaningful in terms of making a dent in the development that we need to undertake,” says Adama Deen, Head of Infrastructure at NEPAD. In recent years, rail construction has picked pace in some parts of the continent. In East Africa for instance, Kenya has completed the first phase of its standard gauge railway(SGR) running from the Coastal city of Mombasa to the capital Nairobi and has embarked on the second phase. Ethiopia on the other hand has inaugurated a major railway line connecting the landlocked country to Djibouti. The railway line links the capital Addis Ababa, to the Red Sea port of Djibouti – a stretch of more...

African economies have been resilient to negative shocks, yet poor infrastructure remains a key obstacle to the continent’s inclusive growth, according to the 2018 edition of the African Economic Outlook (AEO) presented to delegates at the African Union Summit on Friday. Africa’s average real gross domestic product (GDP) growth in Africa registered at 3.6% in 2017, increasing from 2.2% in 2016, according to the report. The report forecasted that Africa’s GDP growth will accelerate to reach 4.1% in 2018 and 2019. The main driver behind the witnessed growth was the overall improvement of global economic conditions, better macroeconomic management, recovery of commodity prices (mainly oil and metals), sustained domestic demand, and improvements in agricultural production. However, job growth remains a problem in Africa, as the continent still suffers from jobless growth as a result to limited structural change. Consequently, the report points out that sustained high growth did not substantially impact job creation. “Basically, a growth acceleration period is one in which the average growth rate of GDP per capita over a period of eight years is at least 3.5% per annum,” the report notes. “These studies present the behaviour of African economies in the face of difficult external conditions and announce the revival of growth with an estimated rate of 4.1% in 2018. We all know that growth is not yet inclusive in Africa, and unemployment affects more women and young people,” said the Commissioner for Economic Affairs at the African Union Commission Victor Harrison. Harrison urged member states...

Kenya is third in the usage of the dollar for domestic transactions in the East African Community countries according to a newly released report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The report shows that Uganda has the most dollarised economy in the region, followed by Tanzania while the least dollarised is Burundi. The latter also happens to be the smallest in terms of the annual gross domestic product in the Community. The IMF measures financial dollarisation in an economy to be represented by the foreign currency deposits and loans in commercial banks. Kenya has in the past few years kept high amounts of dollars in reserves and has also a facility with the IMF to access up to Sh155 billion ($1.5 billion) in the case of emergency. Currently Kenya and Uganda hold official foreign currency reserves equivalent to 4.7 and 5.1 months of imports, respectively. The multilateral lender has in the report recommended that countries with big transactions in dollars also keep a bigger amount of reserves in the same currency, indicating that Tanzania and Uganda should have dollar amounts of not less than 4.5 months of imports. “Given the high level of financial dollarisation, staff recommended maintaining international reserves at about 4.5 months of prospective imports rather than the earlier target of four months of imports,” the IMF said in its latest report on the Tanzanian economy, but also focusing on the other EAC countries. In a working paper released last year, the IMF staff indicated that dollarisation was...

Can citizens afford new, locally made clothes? And how will Chinese factories change the landscape? In 2015, shareholders of manufacturing corporations from across the East African Community (EAC) — including Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, and Tanzania — met for a summit in Uganda to discuss “a new dawn in the history of manufacturing in [the] East Africa region.” During the summit, resolutions were made, including one stipulating that the EAC would develop a policy to support the development of sectors such as textiles and apparels, “which are crucial for employment creation, poverty reduction, and advancement in technological capability.” A year later, a handful of countries in the EAC proposed banning imported used clothing in an effort to boost the development of local textile and clothing manufacturing. In Rwanda, the Ministry of Trade and Industry developed a new strategy for “Made in Rwanda,” a campaign it had started in 2014 to boost local economy by celebrating Rwandan designers and products. Linda Mukangoga, co-founder of Haute Baso, a clothing and design shop in Kigali, Rwanda, is excited about what the future holds for Rwandan designers. “Made in Rwanda,” she says, “means being able to create clothing and services in collaboration with Rwandans for both local and international consumers.” “Made in Rwanda means being able to create clothing and services in collaboration with Rwandans for both local and international consumers.” Although efforts to stimulate East African domestic markets might appear to some to be a promising sign of the EAC’s dedication to growth, the United...

Arusha — The East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) wants speeded up removal of trade barriers hampering regional integration. Newly-elected Speaker Martin Ngoga said in Kampala on Tuesday that non-tarriff barriers (NTBs) in particular were a matter of concern. "We should continue to address these challenges in order to secure East Africa's future for prosperity," he said when the fourth Assembly began its business. Mr Ngoga, a Rwandan member who was last month elected as new Speaker for Eala,insisted NTBs in particular should be stamped out quickly in order to enhance free movement of goods, labour and services. "We need to venture into new areas of integration and consolidate those we have agreed upon," he pointed out. The Speaker cited problems which have impacted the education sector in the region such as lack of uniform fees as among issues that must be sorted out quickly. Ugandan President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni reiterated increased productivity and free trade within the bloc when he addressed the Assembly on Tuesday. He said at a time of reports Uganda was facing a shortage of food, there was a huge stock of five million tonnes of maize capable of sufficiently meeting the current needs. "We need a situation where all producers in the partner states are able to freely sell their produce," the Uganda leader said in his address, according to a dispatch to The Citizen. President Museveni also called for the region to effect better use of the existing common natural resources for its own prosperity,...

Thursday, 25th January 2018 President Yoweri Museveni has said that integration will ensure the survival of Africa. The President made the remarks in a meeting held with the Ugandan legislators in the East Africa Legislative Assembly (EALA) aimed at identifying areas of national interest that the legislators should focus on during their tenure. President Museveni told the legislators yesterday at State House, Entebbe, that their main focus should be on the integration of East Africa, which he observed will enhance the region’s prosperity, security, identity and protection of shared resources. “African leaders who do not talk about the prosperity of the continent are enemies of the people. There is no way African business people can blossom without a big market,” he said. Mr. Museveni told the legislators that they should utilize their time in EALA to monitor the progress of the common market so that the region becomes one market for business. “Although on paper, the East African Community has already removed the trade barriers, tariff and non-tariff barriers still hinder trade and inter-state borders continue to delay and increase the business costs,” he said. The President said that because of the colonial divisions, borders still remain an inconvenience to the unity of the people. “While growing up, although there were no buses to take people to and from Goma, Juba or Kigali because of the division by the French, Arabs, British and Belgians, people still managed to communicate informally,” he said. On security, President Museveni said that through collaboration,...

RETIRED Permanent Secretary and investment consultant, Dr Adelhelm Meru, has called on state and private sector decision makers to adequately use existing economic processing zones to speed up the country's industrialisation drive and make Tanzania a middle-income nation in the next seven years. Dr Meru told a Public-Private Dialogue meeting that attracted senior government officials and members of the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF) in Dodoma recently that present zones should be profitably used and more zones created. He said at the moment creation of industrial parks is inevitable. He defined an industrial park as an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development, further explaining that the park is one form of special economic zone (SEZ). Dr Meru described an SEZ as selected geographical area which is provided with special business environment to promote priority economic activities, adding that the SEZ may include industrial parks, economic processing zones, free trade zones, free ports, tourist parks and science and technological parks. The consultant said Ethiopia, Kenya and Rwanda have made significant economic gains by making good use of economic processing zones. Outside Africa, he named China as the country, which he said has used the zones to make economic wonders within three decades. He explained that since l978, China has focused on producing and exporting products from EPZs, turning itself into a world economic giant. "China has made miracles in the world of industries. It has made huge development strides using industries. In 2010 Chinese economy was declared...

In downtown Nairobi, George Kimondo runs a shop selling second-hand women’s clothes, or mitumba. Since quitting his job with a security company to start his business eight years ago, George says he now earns as much as four times his previous monthly salary. He started by hawking clothes in offices and on the streets, before setting up a shop after one year. “Business is good during the holidays and at the end of the month,” he says, when he can generate as much as US$1000 per week. But George’s success as a businessman might be coming end. In March 2016, the six members of the East African Community – Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and South Sudan – jointly agreed to phase out the importation of second-hand clothes and shoes over three years. In a joint statement issued during a 2016 summit in Arusha, Tanzania, the EAC presidents said the move would help boost local cotton, textile, apparel and leather industries. Currently, imported second-hand goods are big business throughout Africa. According to USAID, second-hand clothing generates approximately 355,000 jobs in the EAC and some US$230 million in income (which USAID describes as a conservative estimate). From second-hand cars to medical equipment and clothes, critics say the continent is a dumping ground for used consumer goods from the Global North and they commend the EAC for taking steps to reverse the current situation. However, opponents of the ban say it will cut off an important source of inexpensive, good quality clothing from trading blocs such as...