The contrast couldn’t be starker. As U.S. President Donald Trump’s government continues to champion isolationism and undermine decades-old international relationships, China is rolling out its Belt and Road Initiative, or BRI, a project to build a new “Silk Road” that could change the meaning of globalization itself. Africa is at the margins of both of these developments, but its future will be determined by them. As someone who grew up in Africa, the project stirs a tangle of emotions. While it will directly affect East and North Africa, there is the chance that it could spur desperately needed development all along Africa’s eastern seaboard, where countries are still trying to recover from the proxy conflicts of the Cold War. For me, it comes down to African agency: Are African governments doing enough to achieve gains that can be shared? Or are their citizens being left to pick up the tab? The issue isn’t just about an increasing amount of Chinese power in Africa, but about what local leaders will allow outside forces like China to do with that influence as well. The breakdown of trust between African leaders and the African population is being put to the test ― and even exacerbated ― by ventures like Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative. Breaking Down The Belt And Road Initiative The Belt and Road Initiative breaks down into two parts, one over land and another over sea. The former, known as the Silk Road Economic Belt, is made up of interlinked rail lines, communications networks, and oil and gas pipelines running from Chongqing in China...

President Paul Kagame has said that the African tourism sector can accelerate its pace of growth by increasing regional and continental collaboration which would ease movement of citizens. Kagame was speaking Tuesday at the opening of the 41st Annual World Tourism Conference which is currently underway in Kigali. The three-day forum is convened by The Corporate Council on Africa and Africa Travel Association to look into how tourism can be utilised as an engine for economic growth and job creation through innovative business models, new technologies and strategic partnerships. Kagame said collaboration in areas such as open sky policies, appropriate visa regimes across the continent and visa free movement among others can play a huge role in facilitating the growth of the sector in Africa. "We need more cooperation on the continent in order to increase the numbers of visitors as well as facilitate trade and investment within Africa. Implementing existing agreements on open skies and easing visa restrictions are steps in the right direction," the Head of State said. In light of this, Kagame said that Rwanda had begun implementing initiatives such as as the passport free travel to encourage intra-African tourism and the single tourist visa alongside some members of the East African Community. "In Rwanda, we also want to strengthen the collaboration in our region and across the continent. A single tourist visa and passport free travel between Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda is already a reality. So is visa on arrival for all Africans," he added. The...

Today, over 40 percent of people living in sub-Saharan Africa live in absolute poverty. It is this grim reality and the urgent need to sharply reduce the poverty percentage in Africa through trade that dominated the Regional dialogue on World Trade Organization (WTO) accessions for the greater horn of Africa being held in Nairobi. Speaker after speaker bemoaned among others erection of non-barrier tariffs in African borders, lack of product diversification and weak border governance as the main challenges hampering trade growth in Africa. Speaking at the event, Gabriel Negatu, African Development Bank Director General, East Africa Regional Centre challenged African markets to diversify to have a chance at being competitive in a rapidly changing world. “Africa faces major challenges. Our economies aren’t adequately diversified, our manufacturing sector isn’t adequately differentiated,” he said, adding that “we tend to draw from somehow similar resource and end up manufacturing similar products; it becomes very difficult to trade with each other.” Negatu noted that the only way African regional blocs can attain competitiveness is to specialize. To achieve this, he urged the markets to hit a ‘pause’ button first, carry out a thorough audit to establish each nation’s strengths and weaknesses. “For example, Ethiopia has 100 million people. Their power is sold at 3 cents but the man power is not as trained. But Kenya has a very wide natural resource base, access to the port and skilled labour. We need to take a step back, look at the region. Each one should look at what they do best and focus...

THE agenda of an East African federal government, euphemistically sold as an EAC 'political federation' was back on agenda at a meeting of the bloc's council of ministers here. The agenda is up for discussion by the 26th meeting of the Sectoral Council of Ministers responsible for EAC Affairs and Planning (SCMEACP) at the EAC Headquarters here. The head of Corporate communications and public affairs, Mr Owora Othieno, revealed this, saying: "The meeting is considering several reports ... including the directive by the Summit (Heads of Partner States) ... to appoint a team of experts to draft the constitution of EAC Political Confederation." Political Federation is considered the ultimate goal of the EAC regional integration, the fourth step after the Customs Union, Common Market and Monetary Union - provided for under Article 5(2) of the treaty establishing the Community itself. It is also founded on three pillars of common foreign and security policies, good governance and effective implementation of the prior stages of regional integration. So attainment of the political federation is, in itself, a process and not an event. Though the process has been slow, the EAC heads of state resolved at a special summit held in Nairobi (August 27 to 29, 2004) to examine ways and means of deepening and accelerating the process through a fast-track mechanism. At the time, the summit meeting set up a committee to fast-track the Community's political federation, dubbed 'the Wako Committee' to carry out wide ranging consultations and finalise its work on...

The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Business Council (CBC) will this week launch a regional tourism and wildlife heritage handbook to promote the bloc as a single tourist and wildlife destination. The handbook is part of the COMESA Sustainable Tourism Development Strategic Framework that has been adapted by member states as a model to develop national tourism action plans to boost competitiveness of the sector. It seeks to raise awareness on sustainable tourism and wildlife conservation among the 19 member countries, according to the CBC Chief Executive Officer Sandra Uwera. The publication titled, ‘The COMESA Tourism and Wildlife Heritage Handbook’ will be launched during the ongoing 47th Africa World Tourism Heritage Summit taking place in Kigali. Uwera said the handbook showcases the different tourism and wildlife products in all the 19 COMESA countries. “This initiative will promote cross-border linkages and partnerships between stakeholders in the tourism industry in COMESA. It will also help to advocate for responsible business practices towards environmental sustainability in tourism sector.” Osborn Kinene, the Rwanda Eco-Tours boss, said the handbook is a timely intervention that will help market Rwanda as a tourism destination, thus increasing tourism revenues. The publication will operate under the theme “Single Market–Countless destinations”. Rwanda projects to earn $444 million (about Rwf370 billion) from tourism this year compared to $404 million recorded last year. Source: New Times

Asmita Parshotam unpacks the continent-wide agreement aimed at accelerating integration and economic development. The Continental Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) is an Africa-wide free trade agreement (FTA) designed to boost intra-African trade and pave the way for the future establishment of a continental customs union. The CFTA builds on existing Tripartite FTA negotiations amongst three African regional economic communities (RECs): the Southern African Development Community (Sadc), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africsa (Comesa) and the East African Community (EAC), although it would like to incorporate all other African RECs too. The decision to establish the CFTA was adopted as early as 2012 by the heads of state at the 18th ordinary session of the African Union (AU), and negotiations officially begun in June 2015. In bringing together all 54 African countries with a combined GDP of more than US$3,4 trillion, the CFTA is an ambitious project that will connect more than one billion people to a variety of cross-continental goods and services through enhanced trade facilitation and greater movement of people and investments. Why do we need it? The CFTA stems, in part, from the realisation that regional integration is stultified and not equitably pursued amongst all African regional economic communities (RECs), and that intra-African trade is at critically low levels compared to African trade with outside partners. The CFTA will address seven priority areas related to trade: policy, infrastructure, finance, information, market integration, boosting productivity and trade facilitation. For the CFTA to be successful there is great need...

Rwandan and Tanzanian private sector bodies on Monday reiterated their commitment to collaborate in advocating for elimination of Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) between the two countries. Restrictions that result from prohibitions, conditions, or specific market requirements that make importation or exportation of products difficult and or costly continue to trouble business people from both countries and, this was high on agenda of a one-day peer to peer meeting held in Kigali. “Unlike politicians, business people don’t have term limits or constituencies. All that is important is a good doing business environment; and that is what we all desire. We must continuously collaborate, or regularly share views on how best we can collaborate to further make things better,” Stephen Ruzibiza, the PSF chief executive, said. A 15-man delegation represented the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF) at the meeting whose objectives included identifying policy and regulatory restrictions that undermine free movement of goods, services, capital and investment between the two countries, besides identifying reasonable response measures. This Rwanda-Tanzania peer to peer meeting is, among others, expected to increase private sector engagement in the bilateral framework to deal with issues pertinent to doing business. Participants said unresolved NTBs and non-conforming measures or regulations which violate certain articles of investment agreement – faced by Tanzanian companies in Rwanda include the requirement from Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) to pay US$200 deposit at the border by transporters from Tanzania. Others are hurdles in registering a clearing and forwarding (C&F) company in Rwanda and obtaining the related license...

Railway infrastructure development is an important building block to improving trade across the Southern Africa Hinterland Territories, which comprises three landlocked countries; Malawi, Zimbabwe and Zambia. This is according to Emmanuel Ntshangase, Country Manager of Maersk Line Hinterland Territories - who says access to the Hinterland countries is extremely vital for the growth of the African continent, as each of these countries have a great deal to offer the rest of the world. "For example, Lake Nyasa in Malawi contains more fish species than any other lake in the world, making it a prime location for the export of fish. Furthermore, Zambia is Africa's second largest copper producer and Zimbabwe is the world's sixth largest tobacco producing country." Poor inland connectivity and the related cost to move products inland are among the biggest challenges currently facing landlocked countries with regards to trade. "The World Bank Trading Across Boarders Report, which ranks economies on their ease of doing business, suggests that hinterland Countries currently have room to improve when it comes to moving products inland." Ntshangase attributes the majority of these issues to the high proportion of cargo that currently moves inland via road. "The border crossings and customs processes in these landlocked countries were not designed for the amount of traffic and cargo that currently moves via road, which has occurred due to the use of railways having diminished over the years." Ntshangase explains that increasing the use of rail, which reduces the amount of cargo on the road provides...

As the dust settles on the spat between Kenya and Tanzania, and calculations on exactly how much each side lost continue, questions are emerging on whether this is the last diplomatic row between the two countries. Indications show the standoff may not be the last as rivalry between the two neighbours has been there since the 1967 Arusha Declaration in which Tanzania adopted socialism, putting it on a collision path with Kenya’s capitalist ideals. However, while Tanzania is economically poorer, analysis by Weekend Business shows Kenya as the biggest loser whenever there is a dispute between the regional economic giants. Kenya loses more money in terms of exports. The balance of trade between the two countries stood at Sh22 billion at the end of last year in favour of Kenya. In 2016, Kenya exported goods worth Sh34.8 billion to her neighbour while it imported Sh12.8 billion worth of products. Because of the escalation of tensions between the two countries, Kenya’s exports to Tanzania have fallen by a staggering 60 per cent from Sh12.5 billion to a paltry Sh5 billion in the first six months of 2017 when compared to a similar period last year. It is also worth noting that Kenya usually gives in to more of her neighbour’s demands than what it receives in return whenever there is a disagreement. For instance, despite finally allowing her northern neighbour’s goods to its markets after a two-month standoff, Tanzania has still retained the duty it had imposed on Kenyan products -...

Moses Ishirima is spending his third day at the Sirare border crossing, southwestern Kenya, waiting for his employer to send him $300 for a transit licence to enter Tanzania. Ishirima’s truck is registered in Kenya but is carrying petroleum products from Eldoret, destined for northern Tanzania and therefore does not need a transit licence. The Customs officials insist it does. “The Tanzania Customs officials keep shifting goalposts when it comes to transporting petroleum products into the country. They have introduced several fees and regulations which do not make sense,” Mr Ishirima says. Northern Tanzania has traditionally depended on the Eldoret station of the Kenya Pipeline Company for petroleum products, since it is cheaper and more efficient to access as opposed to trucking them thousands of kilometres from the port of Dar es Salaam. But Kenyan business people are now claiming that Tanzanian border officials are using haphazard levies and regulations to block petroleum products from Kenya from entering Tanzania through the Isebania and Sirare Customs border posts. Tanzanian officials however, deny any ill-motive. “We have no problem allowing petroleum products from Kenya into our country as the drivers and business people are claiming. We have laid down regulations which must be met, and that could be the misunderstanding,” said a Tanzania Customs official at the Sirare border post, saying that further queries should be addressed to the Tanzania Revenue Authority in Dar es Salaam. Customs hurdles At the Kenya-Tanzania traders forum in Dar es Salaam early this month, one of...