U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade chief said on Monday that the World Trade Organization (WTO) is losing its focus on trade negotiations in favor of litigation, and was going too easy on wealthier developing countries such as China. With Trump’s “America First” trade agenda casting a cloud over the WTO’s 11th ministerial meeting in Buenos Aires, representatives of other major members criticized protectionism and advocated a stronger multilateral trading system, while acknowledging the WTO’s shortcomings. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, who has said he does not want major agreements out of the meeting, voiced concern that the WTO was becoming a litigation-centered organization. “Too often members seem to believe they can gain concessions through lawsuits that they could never get at the negotiating table,” he said. “We have to ask ourselves whether this is good for the institution and whether the current litigation structure makes sense.” Too many countries were not following WTO rules, he complained, and too many wealthier members had been given unfair exemptions as developing countries. “We need to clarify our understanding of development within the WTO. We cannot sustain a situation in which new rules can only apply to a few and that others will be given a pass in the name of self-proclaimed development status,” Lighthizer told the conference’s opening session. He said five of the six richest countries claim developing country status at the WTO, without providing evidence to back up the assertion. A Lighthizer spokeswoman later said he was referring to the six...

TWO continental organisations working for the welfare of people living with disability are happy with the East African Community for taking a leading role in the care of the disabled. The African Union of the Deaf (AUD) and the Africa Disability Alliance (ADA) say the EAC comes top (Number One) among the continent's economic blocs in taking care of their disadvantaged members, according to accolades shared during a fact-finding tour at the Community's head offices here. AUD president, Alex Ndeezi described the EAC as a leading regional bloc within Africa that has implemented a number of advocacy initiatives and policies touching on the people with disabilities. Mr Ndeezi who is also a Ugandan member of parliament commended the EAC Secretariat and the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) for its efforts at "mainstreaming and advocating" for issues that affect his fraternity. He said AUD was looking forward to supporting EAC initiatives aimed at improving the welfare of the 'physically challenged' members of society, and pledged further engagements in pushing "the mainstreaming agenda" both at the regional, continental and international levels The tour was, in turn, slated to call public attention and sensitise the EAC Secretariat on the mandate of AUD and ADA, in addition to familiarising themselves about the Community's social policy and legislative frameworks on disability. This corporate awareness drive within the EAC institutions was further intended to enlighten AUD and ADA on the process of the Africa Disability Protocol (ADP) in order to seek support for its ratification. ADA...

THE Batoka Gorge Hydro Electric Scheme (BGHES) and the Zambia-Tanzania Power Transmission Interconnector projects were showcased at the just-ended Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) conference. The PIDA conference curtain-raised the 6th EU-Africa Business Forum under the theme ‘Unlocking investment for regional infrastructure to accelerate job creation”. The BGHES to be constructed on the central portion of the Zambezi River Basin, extending across the international boundary between Zambia and Zimbabwe, will be producing 2,400MW of installed capacity when constructed. The project will add a further 1,200MW of installed hydro capacity each to Zambia and Zimbabwe and 2,400MW to the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP), a cooperation of the national electricity companies in southern Africa under the auspices of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Zambia’s current installed generation capacity is around 2,350MW made up of a range of hydro and diesel generation facilities, while Zimbabwe’s is around 1,960MW, made up predominantly of coal and hydro generation facilities. The project’s cost is estimated at US$3.5 billion, of which US$2.9 billion represents construction costs. The Power Transmission Interconnector, which will connect Kabwe to Iringa in Tanzania, is a project under which the governments of Zambia, Tanzania and Kenya have agreed to inter-connect their power systems by constructing a high voltage alternating current (AC) transmission line, traversing the three countries, covering a total distance of 2,300km2. The project, which spans three regional economic communities (RECs), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), East African Community (EAC), and SADC, and enjoys...

Hopes are high for the launch of an historic Declaration on Trade and Gender at the 11th World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial meeting taking place in Buenos Aires this week. The declaration – if adopted – will seek to promote a more inclusive trade agenda by enabling more women to participate in international trade. But can trade benefit from increased participation of women? And, as we undertake efforts to achieve gender equality under the objectives of the United Nations Global Goals, is trade good for women? As the world business organization we believe the answer to these questions is a resounding “yes”. Here we put forward five reasons why gender is good for trade and highlight some of the barriers preventing women business owners from accessing international markets. 1 – Women in trade supports better jobs According to research by the International Trade Centre (ITC), women-owned businesses that export employ an average of 42 people, compared with an average of only eight people employed by non-exporting women-owned businesses. Despite this, woman exporters face more trade obstacles than men, with 74% of woman-owned firms reporting challenging non-tariff measures compared to 54% of businesses owned by men. WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo said: “WTO Action is needed to better integrate women into the international trading system. All the evidence suggests that giving an equal economic chance to women is not only economically important; it results in beneficial outcomes for society as a whole.” 2 – Exporters pay better too… The average pay by...

 The East African Community (EAC) is pushing Burundi to catch up with the rest of the fellow members in the regional bloc in the development of its pharmaceutical sector. Under the programme, the country which joined EAC in 2007, will be assisted to fast-track the enactment and implementation of the Burundi National Pharmaceuticals Regulation Law that is currently before the Parliament. The government is also being implored to establish and operationalise the once proposed national regulatory body for the pharmaceutical industry, Abrema to effectively oversee regulation of food and medicinal products. “Burundi is still lagging behind thus denying the country the benefits of the harmonised EAC regional guidelines and standards for medicines evaluation and registration,” said the secretary general, Amb Liberat Mfumukeko. He was speaking in Bujumbura on Thursday during a high level meeting convened by the government authorities in collaboration with the EAC on how the country can be supported in strengthening its pharmaceutical sector. Amb Mfumukeko said while the other Community member countries have made progress in developing the sector, the result is minimal in Burundi apparently due to technical and governance issues. Burundi, he further argued, should establish relevant institutions to manage its pharmaceutical industry as well as strengthen and expand the governance and regulation of health professionals. The regulatory institutions proposed include the Burundi National Health Professions Body (BNHPA), Burundi National Nursing and Midwifery Council and the Burundi National Medical Laboratory Scientists, Technologists and Technicians Board. Others are the Burundi National Allied Health Professionals Council while...

East Africa’s intra-regional trade has declined for the second year in a row, due to the failure by partner states to agree on trade liberalisation and integration. These hitches are eroding the benefits of Customs Union and Common Market. The East African Community Secretariat, in a draft trade and investment report, says that the total value of intra-EAC trade fell by 14.6 per cent to $4.4 billion in 2016, from $5.1 billion in 2015. The decline, according to the report dated August 2017, was mainly due to a 33 per cent drop in total trade for Tanzania to $851.3 million, from $1.3 billion in 2015. The total trade for Kenya and Uganda fell by 10.1 per cent and 11.4 per cent respectively. According to the report, intra-regional trade constitutes only 9.4 per cent of the total trade of the bloc despite the implementation of the Single Customs Territory that provides for removal of tariffs and other barriers to trade among the partner states. The report cites a trading regime that restricts the export of certain commodities to partner states, lack of product diversification, and non-tariff barriers as hurdles to intra-regional trade. Kenya, however, continued to dominate intra-EAC trade, accounting for 34.8 per cent while Uganda and Tanzania accounted for 28.3 per cent and 19.4 per cent respectively. Common external tariff The Secretariat recommends a review of the common external tariff (CET) and the exemption regimes to allow goods produced in the region to enter the bloc’s market with few restrictions. “The region...

East African Community partner states have moved closer to implementing the Double Taxation Agreement by adopting the EAC Tax Treaty Policy and the EAC Model Tax Treaty. The EAC Tax Policy sets out the recommended policy positions that should be pursued in tax treaties negotiated by EAC with non-EAC countries. These policy positions reflect EAC countries’ current economic status as developing countries and net importers of capital as well as the need to protect their revenue bases without deterring foreign investment. According to a report by the EAC Council of Ministers’ meeting held in Kampala on November 27 to December 2, the tax policy will guide the countries on how to eliminate double taxation without creating loopholes for tax evasion. The EAC ministers during their meeting proposed that partner states should use the UN tax convention as the starting point with the aim of guiding countries in designing double taxation treaties, as well as in applying and interpreting them. The UN model is used by countries as a basis for negotiation of the bilateral tax treaties with emphasis on investment and technology transfer, while allowing governments to retain taxing rights over the money that comes from those investments. The EAC tax policy identifies the international tax norms that the EAC should follow with respect to scope, distributive rules, elimination of double taxation, non-discrimination, mutual agreement procedures and exchange of information. In terms of the scope, the policy suggests that EAC treaties should only cover income taxes as none of EAC...

We shall return to Uganda shortly, but first go on the Internet and search for an illustration of the “Central Corridor”, a transit and economic swathe that snakes from Tanzania, the southwestern tip of Uganda, Rwanda, eastern DR Congo, and Burundi. That is the corridor where the Tanzania-Rwanda railway line is being built. It is very lively, and if you look long and hard at it, you realise that the centre of gravity of future wealth in our region is shifting south. That, partly is because Kenya’s Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia-Transport (LAPSSET) Corridor is off schedule, and Uganda too chose to build its oil pipeline through Tanzania. Also, it is not clear now whether the Kenya-Uganda standard gauge railway will happen, with indications that in a race with Kenya, Kampala seems to be focusing on building the SGR to South Sudan instead. In many ways, there is a strategic logic to that. When South Sudan had not yet plunged into the hell of the last four years, it had changed Uganda’s economy in very intriguing ways. Though Uganda does not have even a small shed that makes mobile phones, it became one of the largest exporters of mobile phones on the continent. That was because it was re-exporting the phones to South Sudan. That now is history. Recently, Rwanda announced that all citizens in the world could get visas on arrival, becoming one of the few countries in the world to do so. A while back, Rwanda removed all pre-arrival visa...

East Africa’s economic growth is among the fastest in the world and its countries are becoming increasingly integrated and interdependent. USAID supports regional institutions, including the East African Community (EAC), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), and their member states to address issues that require collaboration between countries. PROMOTING REGIONAL TRADE: USAID is reducing barriers to trade with and within East Africa by improving the efficiency and transparency of cross-border transactions, harmonizing safety and quality standards and reducing the time and cost of doing business in the region. Through greater investment and trade opportunities, our programs are advancing the interests of African entrepreneurship and the private sector, as well as its American counterparts. ENHANCING REGIONAL FOOD SECURITY AND RESILIENCE: By strengthening the ability of regional organizations to deliver on their mandate, USAID is helping safe, quality food move quickly and freely throughout the region. These investments also support research to address major agricultural threats such as aflatoxin and maize lethal necrosis, and help communities withstand cycles of drought without needing to rely on humanitarian assistance. BRINGING POWER TO AFRICA: USAID works with national governments and regional organizations to develop and improve power infrastructure, such as power plants and grids, and create the policies and regulatory frameworks necessary to fully utilize the region’s substantial renewable energy resources. IMPROVING THE HEALTH OF EAST AFRICANS: USAID helps marginalized and at-risk communities living and working in border areas and transit corridors access quality health services,...

For years African leaders have toyed with the idea of free movement by citizens across the continent, even raising the possibility of a single African passport. Now some African countries are taking bold steps to encourage borderless travel that could spur trade and economic growth on a continent in desperate need of both. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta announced during his inauguration last week that the East African commercial hub will now give visas on arrival to all Africans. That follows similar measures by nations including Benin and Rwanda. "The freer we are to travel and live with one another, the more integrated and appreciative of our diversity we will become," Kenyatta said. The African Union has cheered such steps, calling it the direction the 54-nation continent needs to take. "I urge all African states that have not yet done so to take similar measures," AU Commission chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat said on Twitter after Kenya's announcement. Trade among African countries is at just 16 percent, while trade among European Unionstates is at 70 percent, Mahamat told AU trade ministers on Friday. For a continent whose leaders often speak fondly of "African brotherhood" and once pondered the idea of a United States of Africa, the visa policies of many countries for many years suggested little progress in implementing the continent-wide, visa-free ideal advocated by the AU. Africans can get a visa on arrival in 24 percent of African countries, yet North Americans, for example, have easier access on the continent, according to a 2017...