The United Natioms General assembly adopted a resolution in 2018 declaring June 7th as the World Food Safety Day (WFSD) celebrations. This annual event aims to raise awareness of food safety’s  importance and promote action to prevent, detect and manage foodborne risks. In commemoration of the 2023 World Food Safety Day (WFSD), the African Union Commission, East African Community, the Government of Kenya, TradeMark Africa, MESPT, and Partners organized an event from 5 to 7 June 2023 in Nairobi, Kenya to raise awareness on food safety. The meeting was held under the theme “Food Standards Save Lives”. The objectives of the summit were to: i.         Raise awareness of the importance of food safety and to promote action to prevent, detect, and manage foodborne risks. ii.         Provide a platform for sharing experiences and best practices on implementation and compliance with food safety standards and measures. iii.         Foster collaboration and partnerships among stakeholders to amplify the impact of food safety interventions in Africa.The Summit brought together 220 participants from 30 African Union member states, 2 RECs (EAC, ECOWAS), AUC, and Development Partners (EU, USAID, DANIDA).WE the Member States of the African Union, Regional Economic Communities, Development Partners, Food Producers, Processors, Marketers and Consumers. RECALLING the momentum created from the previous World Food Safety Day celebrations, and desirous of collaborating in unison to focus efforts on reaching state and non-state actors as well as those directly involved in food systems on...

Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry Chipoka Mulenga says government is coming up with a facility that will allow trade between government and the private sector to be done on digital e-Commerce platforms. Mr. Chipoka says digitisation of businesses is critical in providing ease of doing and limiting the cost of doing business. The commerce minister disclosed this during a Roundtable discussion dubbed “Accelerating the Recovery of COMESA Member States from COVID19 focusing on Green Investment, Value Addition and Tourism” He added that digitisation and the use of e-Commerce in doing business further limits human interaction which also results in stopping corrupt activities. “We believe that digitisation of how we do business is critical on how we provide ease of doing business, limiting the cost of doing business and limit also, human interaction which also results in stopping, to a large extent, corrupt activities in government. We are also coming up with a facility where trade between government and the private sector should be done on a digital e-Commerce platform where there is no acquisition of delays coming in from human activities,” said Mr. Chipoka. He added that the COVID19 pandemic that affected many African countries reminded most African governments of the need for homegrown solutions to socio-economic challenges. Mr. Chipoka said it was against this background that government deliberately established the Ministry of Science and Technology stressing that innovation is something that societies have to depend on. He said in order to achieve digitisation, government has chosen a principle...

Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary in charge of East African Community Affairs Rebecca Miano says she has held talks with her counterpart in Tanzania over the export crisis at the Namanga border, where more than 200 maize-laden trucks were stranded over permits, and a solution is on the cards. Miano told The EastAfrican on Thursday that she had been in talks with Stergomena Tax, Tanzania's Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, to unlock the impasse at the border, which has lasted over two weeks. Trucks loaded with maize from Tanzania were barred from crossing into Kenya after the Tanzanian authorities stopped issuing maize exportation permits. Cross-border importers have termed the change in policy by Dodoma as a re-emergence of non-tariff barriers (NTBs), especially on food trade, even as the Community continues to seek resolution to these challenges. “Tanzania changed its rules on maize exportation. This caused a problem in Namanga,” Miano said on Thursday. The minister, speaking from Lusaka, Zambia, where she had accompanied President William Ruto to a Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) Summit, said: “I spoke to my counterpart in Tanzania, Hon Tax, and she has assured me that the matter will be sorted out today (Thursday).” By press time, at least 200 trucks, all carrying an average of 6,000 tonnes of maize, had been allowed to cross the border after the talks between the two countries, but a majority were yet to fully comply with Tanzania’s regulations. Tanzania Minister for Agriculture Hussein Bashe blamed the impasse...

Geneva — The African Continental Free Trade Area accord is one of the most critical developments in African trade and integration, says the executive director of the International Trade Centre (ITC), the UN agency supporting small business. Pamela Coke-Hamilton, who began her career in Jamaica’s foreign ministry and now heads the ITC, recently met journalists at the centre’s base in Geneva, where she spoke about “strategic re-globalization” as a major trend. The AfCFTA was established in 2018, and by 2023 all 54 members of the African Union had signed it, making it the largest free-trade area after the World Trade Organization (WTO) judged by the number of its member states. Coke-Hamilton described strategic re-globalization as “the new search for global corridors for trade routes” as a result of the Russia-Ukraine war and post-Covid changes. She said the disruption of supply channels and a recognition that dependence on China is immense has led to the world looking for “near-shoring” and new supply routes. Mandated to UN and WTO The ITC has a joint mandate with the WTO and the United Nations through the UN Conference on Trade and Development, and much of its work focuses on Africa. The task of trade groups was now to assess new trends and address how strategic re-globalization is going to impact how countries engage with one another, Coke-Hamilton added. She said that “the AfCFTA is also a whole new open arena” in which the focus would be on regional value chains within Africa and “how those are...

The African Union Commission (AUC), Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the Afreximbank, have jointly established a task force to develop a harmonised methodology for informal cross-border trade data collection. According to them, timely data collection on informal cross-border trade is key to informing intra-African trade on the back of the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade (AfCFTA) and despite its importance to the livelihoods of millions of Africans, informal trade is still not well understood. Speaking at an online meeting to review and validate the Continental Methodology for Informal Cross-Border Trade Data Collection in Africa, Director, Regional Integration and Trade, ECA, Stephen Karingi, said informal cross-border trade is a key feature of Africa’s trade landscape. Findings show ICBT to be equivalent to between seven and 16 per cent of all formal intra-African trade flows and between 30 and 72 per cent of formal trade between neighbouring countries. He noted that current efforts to collect data on ICBT within the continent remain largely fragmented and unsystematic, emphasising that the dearth of reliable and regular data on ICBT has contributed to minimal recognition of its important role in policy frameworks. Trade Policy Officer for the AUC, Tapiwa Cheuka, speaking on behalf of the Director of Economic Development, Tourism, Trade, Industry and Mining Department, AUC, Djamel Ghrib, said that the validated ICBT methodology will be presented to the Specialised Technical Committees (STCs) on Finance, Monetary Affairs, Economic Planning and Integration next month with the anticipation for its adoption by the Heads...

In addition, they agreed on the establishment of a civilian head of mission to coordinate all political-related matters of the East African Regional Force (EACRF). The East African heads of state have directed the EAC Secretariat and the council to commence negotiations with Somalia with immediate effect and report to the next ordinary summit of the EAC heads of state. According to a communique on the 21st Extra-Ordinary Summit of the EAC Heads of State meeting in Bujumbura, Burundi, dated May 31, 2023, the heads of state deliberated on and adopted the report of the verification of the application of the Federal Republic of Somalia to join the EAC. The communique noted that Somalia had earlier circulated a report to the EAC partner states. Summit resolutions During the summit, the heads of state accepted a request from President Museveni to hold a follow-up meeting in Nairobi to be hosted by Kenya’s President Willian Ruto. The summit appreciated the financial contributions of Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and South Sudan for their commitment to contribute towards peace and security. The summit also directed the EAC secretary general to intensify efforts to mobilize resources from the regional and international partners to support the EAC-Led Nairobi Process. In addition, the summit urged all the partners to support initiatives including the demobilisation of combatants of armed groups and their reinsertion and reintegration into civilian groups. DRC Conflict The heads of state reiterated that the security in the eastern region of DRC can only be sustainably resolved through...

Malawi and Tanzania have launched an electronic data exchange system interface to enable verification of quantities, valuation, origin and tariffs of goods exported and transiting between the two countries. The system interface, to be managed by Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) and Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), was launched on Monday at Kasumulu Border Post in Mbeya, Tanzania. Before the system, data was being exchanged manually, leading to delays and movement of contrabands from Malawi to Tanzania or vice versa without detection. In his presentation, MRA custom systems and procedures manager Andrew Mtukuleni said the collaboration will promote trade facilitation, enhance revenue collection, and secure the movement of goods under imports, exports and transit regimes. “We now anticipate advance exchange of trade data for risk management purposes and increased detection of contraband leading to secure supply chains,” he said. MRA corporate services executive director Agnes Katsonga-Phiri said the system will enable the institution to know how much revenue would be collected. She said: “Having the system can be an achievement on its own, but if the human capital does not change mindset, we will not achieve much. “We expect honesty and those traders should not stand for too long before being assisted.” TRA deputy commissioner general Mcha Hassan Mcha said smuggling remains a major challenge. “We think that with this system interface, we will reduce the malpractice because it simplifies the procedure as most traders will be using it rather than going to unofficial routes,” he said. The system interface has been...

The Kenyan government has announced plans to decongest trucks at its Malaba border with Uganda within three weeks. The development was announced by the Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Francis Kipchumba Morukomen, during an intergovernmental meeting at the newly constructed Kenya Railways In-land Container Terminal in Malaba. While addressing the press on Saturday, Kipchumba noted that “congestion of trucks at the Malaba one stop border point interrupts business along the great North Corridor.” To avoid that, the Kenyan government is now considering establishment of a border committee that will be responsible for quick response to future bottlenecks and addressing non-tariff barriers to reduce on the cost of business. Kenya will also increase on the number of scanners, storage facilities as well as widen the trailer parking yard to accommodate the increasing volumes of trucks on transit through the Malaba border in a bid to overcome several challenges. "We hope the measures will address the bottlenecks. Some measures will include expediting completion of roads currently causing the delay in scanning of goods," Kipchumba said. Kipchumba’s remarks come at a time when the Ugandan government has recorded an increase in empty trucks that build a stretch of over 15 kilometers, pending clearance at the Malaba border Point along the Malaba-Jinja Highway. Meanwhile, Uganda’s state minister of works Musa Ecweru assured the gathering that government is determined to partner with the East African Community to ensure smooth running of business across the region. According to him, Uganda has renewed commitments that include construction...

Hon. Ing. Yaw Osafo Marfo, Senior Advisor to the President of the Republic of Ghana, has emphasized the significance of the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Highway in achieving the benefits associated with the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area in a key note address on behalf of the Vice President of the Republic of Ghana, H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo. The Senior Advisor to the President of the Republic of Ghana commended the Ministers of Roads Infrastructure of the five (5) Corridor Member Countries namely, Nigeria, Ghana, Togo, Cote d’Ivoire, Benin and the ECOWAS Commission for their sustained effort to the corridor highway project and strong collaboration to seeing it materialized. The former Finance Minister of the Republic of Ghana recalled discussions in 2003 during his tenure as Finance Minister of Ghana on ways to improve development in the ECOWAS region to include the development of a common payment system and the need to develop a regional road infrastructure. “The first idea was to look at a common payment system within ECOWAS and secondly everyone in the room agreed that we should look for money to do road infrastructure in the sub-region because at the end of the day, movement of goods and people will require the needed infrastructure.” Hon. Yaw Osafo Marfo recalled. He expressed excitement over the assurance of AfDB to raise the required funds for the highway construction. “I was so happy to hear from AfDB that raising funds is their business, they are good at...

May 23, 2023 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada The Government of Canada is committed to increasing and diversifying trade and investment opportunities with African partners as part of Canada’s overall export diversification strategy and to benefit both Africans and Canadians. Today, the Honourable Mary Ng, Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development, announced the launch of public consultations on the Canada-Africa Economic Cooperation Strategy (CA-ECS). These consultations are aimed at ensuring that the CA-ECS will create sustainable, inclusive and long-term trade and economic partnerships between Canada and the African continent. Canadians and other interested stakeholders are encouraged to join the discussion until July 31, 2023. Quotes “Work has been underway to deepen Canada’s relationship with Africa, and the launch of today’s public consultations takes this progress another step further. Your feedback will ensure the Canada-Africa Economic Cooperation Strategy supports the creation of meaningful commercial opportunities across our continents and equips Canadian entrepreneurs with the tools they need to diversify and grow.” - Mary Ng, Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development Quick facts Africa’s is home to 5 of the top 10 fastest-growing economies in the world, and once fully implemented, the African Continental Free Trade Area will be equivalent to the world’s fifth-largest economy, with the potential for a combined GDP of more than $4.6 trillion. The first Canada-African Union Commission Trade Policy Dialogue, held on May 17, 2023, offered opportunities to discuss trade policy issues of mutual interest and will contribute...