WASHINGTON, USA - Earlier this month, the President’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa (DBIA) came out with its first report on how the United States can strengthen commercial ties with Africa. DBIA, which is chaired by Dominc Barton who is deputised by Karen Daniel, is a follow-up of President Barack Obama’s hosting of the US-Africa Summit last year. The report holds back no punches. Africa’s growth is about much more than just resources. Three sectors contributed more to growth from 2007 to 2013 than resources, namely wholesale and retail trade (22% of real GDP growth); agriculture (21%); and transportation and telecom (12%). Resources meanwhile contributed just 11% of growth in this period. Twenty-eight of the top 30 economies recorded positive growth from 2000 to 2013, and 11 of the top 30 averaged rates above six percent per annum over that period. For companies focused on a few key countries, the top ten economies account for 80% of economic growth – these include six in Sub-Saharan Africa: Nigeria, South Africa, Angola, Kenya, Ethiopia and Ghana; and four in North Africa: Egypt, Algeria, Morocco and Libya. Over the last decade, trade between the United States and Africa has grown at a healthy rate of seven percent per annum. By 2013, US merchandise trade with Africa totaled $86 billion, with U.S. imports from Africa ($51 billion) outweighing US exports to Africa $35 billion). Over the last decade, US companies have invested $10 billion into African countries, second only to $11 billion...

FINALLY Africa's free trade area comprising of 26 countries with a combined population of over half a billion and a combined US$1.1tri gross domestic product (gdp) will be launched in Egypt next June. The Tripartite FTA will account for half of the membership of African Union, that contributes just over 58 per cent total GDP and 57 per cent of the total population on the continent. Acting Director of Trade, Investment and Productive Sector at East African Cooperation Ministry, Mr Bernard Haule, said the African grand FTA launching will usher in trade in goods at zero tariff among the members who belong to Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), East African Community (EAC) and Southern Africa Development Community (SADC). "Leaders from the tripartite blocs who will include President Jakaya Kikwete as current EAC Chairman, will launch it in Egypt at a summit to be held next June," Mr Haule said saying negotiations on the subject among the three regional blocs are almost concluded. Mr Haule said it's only clauses on movement of business persons and settlement of disputes which are not yet concluded as part of Phase I of the negotiations while Phase II which will involve trade in services and intellectual property rights are yet to start. "The heads of state will also give a directive on the beginning of negotiations relating to trade in services and dispute settlement mechanism," he pointed out. Since 1980, African leaders have been mulling the idea of establishing a grandeur FTA...

Arusha — The training of Judicial Officers on Judicial Management of Commercial and Trade related Disputes in the EAC context organized by East African Judicial Education Committee (EAJEC) and the EAC Secretariat in collaboration with Rwanda National Judiciary and Trademark East Africa (TMA) concluded yesterday in Kigali, Rwanda. The 20 - 23 April 2015 training aimed at enhancing the knowledge of Judicial Officers on the Management of Commercial and Trade related Disputes in the EAC Context as well as enabling them to effectively perform their roles in the EAC integration matters. Addressing the Judicial Officers at the training during the official opening, Chief Justice of the Republic of Rwanda, Hon. Prof. Sam Rugege noted that given the increased pace of the EAC integration, disputes are bound to increase and as such there is need for Judicial Officers in the region to regularly enhance their knowledge on the EAC Trade Laws and the management of commercial and trade disputes. He reiterated the paramount importance of the Judiciaries in the integration process and noted that the training was offering an opportunity for the stakeholders to play an active role in the promotion of justice. "The Judiciaries are expected to play a vital role in the EAC integration and actively participate in the development of the East African Community jurisprudence" asserted Rwanda's Chief Justice. Hon. Chief Justice Sam Rugege emphasized that e-commerce was increasingly becoming important both at national, regional and global levels, with lots of advantages in commercial transactions such as mobile...

JAKARTA - INSTANT noodle producer Indofood plans to build a factory in Morocco, its sixth in Africa, this year. It is one of a growing number of Asian companies investing in the continent of late. More natural resources from Africa, such as crude oil from Angola, are also flowing to Asia. But trade between both regions remains well below its potential, and business leaders on both sides today agreed to form an Asian-African Business Council (AABC) to step up links, share know-how and boost investments. Source: The Straits Times/Asia

As a way of further deepening the East African integration, Uganda is launching a National Policy to engage all segments of our population to ensure optimum benefi ts that continue to accrue from this process. The National Policy on East African Community Integration (NPEACI) was developed to respond to the need to have a detailed articulation of the country’s EAC integration policy in a single document, in which priorities, objectives, targets, policies and linkages with other growth and development targets are clearly laid out and linked. The development and launch of this policy is also borne out of the obvious fact that integration is too important to be left to a few sections of the population. Integration is a multifaceted process bringing together all of us in government and the non-state actors. Indeed, the framers of the Treaty establishing the EAC were mindful of this reality. That is why Article 7 provides that “the principles that shall govern the practical achievement of the objectives of the community shall include people-centred and market-driven co operation”. By launching this policy, therefore, we are, in a way, fulfi lling the requirements of this provision. The document with the vision, “A transformed Ugandan society from a peasant to a modern and prosperous country fully integrated within the East African Community”, will be launched by the Rt Hon Prime Minister Dr Ruhakana Rugunda. The ceremony will be attended by people in all walks of life from the public and private sector and the civil society....

While the last 15 years have seen relatively high levels of growth driven by a commodity super-cycle and strong internal demand from a growing middleclass, Africa is still dependent on commodities for most of its export earnings. There is now broad consensus that, without diversified economies, Africa will remain prone to exogenous shocks and trapped in the paradox of high growth rates, coexisting with high levels of unemployment and extreme poverty. It is for this reason that the last four issues of the Economic Report for Africa have investigated the fundamental policy questions and challenges facing the transformation process and endeavoured to shed light on, and bring coherence to, policy priorities at national, regional and continental levels. I continue to call for accelerated industrialization as key to the structural transformation of African economies. The deep focus on industrialization in Africademonstratesour commitment to ensure that policy research and statistics are strategically relevant to African governments’ priorities. The new industrial policies being developed by several member States and regional economic communities have greatly benefited from the research, statistics and debates generated by our focus on this critical subject. The key factors constraining trade and industrialization in Africa are related to Africa’s narrow production and export base, which is dominated by low-value products such as raw materials and primary commodities. This is compounded by very high trade costs, tariffs and non-tariff barriers to intra-African trade and Africa’s access to international markets. We have no alternative but to increase our share of global exports....

Even though agriculture remains the main economic activity in the East African Community (EAC) partner states, public spending on the sector remain very low as reflected in the 2014/2015 individual national budgets published by Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda. This is despite the sector contributing about 30 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employing about 80 percent of the total work force of these countries. The revelation is documented in a report deduced from the EAC partner states budgetary review for 2014/2015 fiscal year conducted recently by the Eastern Africa Farmers Federation (EAFF). EAFF is an apex regional farmer organisation with member in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, DRC, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea and South Sudan, representing more than 20 million smallholder farmers. The report recommends that there is an urgent need by the EAC partner states to review their budgetary allocations to the sector to ensure that the source of livelihood is safeguarded and improved. Governments of the EAC partner states should implement the 10 percent budget allocation for agriculture according to the Maputo Declaration. A detailed comparison of the agricultural sector allocation in the EAC following the Maputo Declaration in 2003 reveals that none of the EAC states has consistently met the 10 percent target pledged by the heads of States. The report highlights the major challenges faced by small scale farmers, how farmers can take advantage of the budget making process going forward, budgetary allocations to agriculture and recommendations. In this regard, the report analyses agriculture...

East African Community trade agencies yesterday participated in the formulation process of a $5 million (Sh460 million) integrated ICT data system aimed at enhancing information exchange. The concept promoted by TradeMark focuses on setting up an enabling ICT infrastructure to support EAC imports and exports become more competitive and affordable through reducing costs related to information sharing. Problems over the years resulting from inaccurate or conflicting information from multiple stakeholders has created poor visibility and predictability of the trade environment in relation with government agencies, sometimes leading to calls for legal litigation. “The Trade Logistics Information Pipeline would create an interconnectivity technology highway for EAC business and government agencies’ systems to communicate in a transparent and secured manner amongst themselves and with their international counterparts,” said TradeMark Africa chief executive Frank Matsaert at a stakeholders forum in Nairobi yesterday. The meeting brought together agencies from the EAC, representatives from the EAC secretariat and the EU. Instead of receiving of information in the form of documents from sources, users will pull the information they need to complete the transaction from integrated communication systems, consequently creating more independence and transparency on how the information is used to complete transactions. “The project is a welcome concept in the region and we hope it will help us in assuring our investors of a transparent operation in business as we continue to facilitate ways to lower costs in the regional market and decongestion of ports,” said EAC Customs director Kenneth Bagamuhunda. “This has so far...

Three Partner States of the East African Community (EAC) namely; Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, under the Northern Corridor Integration Projects initiative, have waived visa fees for foreign residents living within the 3 countries in order to allow them easier access to the region’s diverse offering. The waiver agreement is part of the Joint Communique that Presidents Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, Paul Kagame of Rwanda, and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda signed at the just concluded 8th Northern Corridor Integration Summit held in Nairobi early this month. Known as the East Africa Tourist Visa (EATV), foreign residents no longer have to pay the $100 fee for the Visa that is valid for ninety days effective December 15th 2014. Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) Managing Director Muriithi Ndegwa said the single tourist visa will provide an amazing opportunity for residents staying in the three Partner States to explore the immense diversity of wildlife, landscapes, cultures, and heritage, among other renowned attractions either for weekend gateways, corporate retreats or annual family holidays. The Rwanda Development Board’s Head of Department for Tourism and Conservation Ambassador Yamina Karitanyi said in a statement that the waiver of the fee on the single East Africa Tourist Visa was the next step in consolidating and enriching the region’s tourism offering. “We are approaching the rest of the world as a unified and rich tourist destination with varied experiences for travellers. We are also positioning East Africa’s tourism assets collectively as part of the Northern Corridor Integration Projects,” said Ambassador Karitanyi...

African seaborne gas exports will play a bigger role in meeting global LNG trade growth than the United States, whose supply will be capped by mass domestic switching from coal to gas-fired power generation, the West's energy watchdog said on Wednesday. Africa's LNG exporters in Nigeria, Algeria and Equatorial Guinea are set for a new supply wave coming from major new discoveries off the coasts of Mozambique and Tanzania, home to some of the biggest discoveries in a decade. By contrast, the United States will fall behind as abundant gas supply muscles coal out of the domestic energy mix, creating huge demand for cheaper gas-fired power generation, Laszlo Varro, head of gas and power at the International Energy Agency said at the Flame gas conference in Amsterdam. The scale of fuel switching facing the U.S. power generation sector outlined by Varro appears to be greater than previous estimates, which assumed coal might remain partly competitive as domestic gas prices edge higher. "Africa will play a bigger role supplying the global trade growth than the U.S.," Varro said. "Coal is in serious trouble in the United States, from (U.S. President Barack) Obama's administration climate policies to U.S. environmental regulations limiting emissions, we see a very large U.S. coal fleet being decommissioned in the next several years and almost no new coal plants being built," he added. Varro said replacing all existing coal-fired capacity would exceed current U.S. gas production and predicted robust growth in gas consumption over coming decades. Despite that,...