News
tralac’s Daily News selection: 29 May 2015
The selection: Friday, 29 May
Fifty years after, Adesina elected 8th AfDB President (ThisDay)
Nigeria's Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akinwunmi Adesina, Thursday broke the jinx when he got elected the eighth president of the African Development Bank (AfDB) at the Annual General Meeting of the bank which held in Abidjan, the Cote d’Ivoire capital. Nigeria had made three attempts at occupying the post without success. It will be Nigeria’s seminal occupation of the office in the 50-year-old bank. However, the support for Nigeria, THISDAY learnt, was boosted by Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) countries after Sakala from Zimbabwe was dropped in the fifth round.
Adesina's Vision Statement: ‘To achieve this vision, I will focus on driving execution in five key interrelated strategic priority areas that are all linked to the Bank’s Ten Year Strategy and advances the implementation of the Africa 2063 Agenda of the African Union, namely:’
Annual Development Effectiveness Review 2015: driving development through innovation (AfDB)
The ADER addresses three broad questions: What development progress is Africa making? How well is AfDB contributing to Africa’s development? And how well is AfDB managing itself to better support Africa’s development? The report shows how the Bank’s work is in many aspects central to innovation, such as expanding markets through regional integration, promoting skills development in science and technology and, above all, supporting creation of the backbone infrastructure on which innovation depends. The ADER provides evidence of the Bank’s contribution to Africa’s development and discusses how well it manages its portfolio and itself as an organisation. The ADER openly discusses its strengths and weaknesses and notes the reforms it is undertaking to become a stronger partner in development. [Download]
Reimagining Africa’s future: 25th World Economic Forum on Africa will be largest yet (WEF)
The World Economic Forum’s 25th meeting in Africa, taking place in Cape Town on 3-5 June, will be the largest ever in the region, convening more than 1,250 leaders from business, politics, academia, civil society and the media under the theme Then and Now: Reimagining Africa’s Future. In addition to hosting over 90 senior government officials, the meeting will also be the best attended ever by the Forum’s Strategic Partner community of, with a total 83 leading international companies represented. [Conference www]
Northern Corridor summit to focus on private sector (New Times)
The tenth summit for the Northern Corridor Integration Project (NCIP) is set to take place in Kampala, Uganda next week with a special focus on how to actively involve the private sector in the integration projects. The summit, expected to be attended by at least four Heads of State on June 6, is aimed at assessing the implementation status of all the projects launched under the NCIP framework. James Mugume, Permanent Secretary in Uganda’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs: “This is a new relationship and we shall seek to learn from them what their contribution will be in these projects that we are carrying out,” he said. The summit will also be preceded by a business forum on June 4.
Corridor group enters agreement with regional body (The Namibian)
The Walvis Bay Corridor Group has signed a membership agreement with the Southern Africa Shippers Transport and Logistics Council (SASTALC), which is based in South Africa. Walvis Bay provides the shortest link to connect the massive Brazilian economy to the Southern African market. Some of the products currently moving on this trade route via Walvis Bay from Brazil to Southern Africa include chicken, meat, furniture, consumables and construction materials.
COMESA 2016-2020 Medium Term Strategic Plan on course (COMESA)
A task force of Secretariat staff, constituted by the Assistant Secretary-General, Amb. Kipyego Cheluget is currently considering the draft medium term strategic plan (MTSP) for COMESA for 2016-2020. While addressing the meeting of the task force held on 20 May 2015, Amb. Cheluget said that Council at its 32nd Meeting held in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2014 decided that the 2016-2020 MTSP should be formulated and forwarded to Council before the end of 2015. The task force met from 20 to 22 May 2015 in Lusaka, Zambia, and is expected to finalise the initial draft of the MTSP before the end of June.
Rwanda re-admitted into ECCAS (New Times)
Rwanda has officially rejoined the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), eight years after pulling out of the regional bloc. The membership was confirmed this week during an annual Conference of Heads of State and Government of the organisation in N'djamena, Chad. Acting Director General in charge of Multilateral Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Olivier Nduhungirehe said that the readmission would further place Rwanda favourably in the integration agenda. “With Rwanda's readmission into ECCAS, our country, already member of EAC, ICGLR & COMESA, consolidates its position at the heart of Africa.”
Where are jobs for African youth? In agri-business! (AfDB)
Democratic Republic of Congo’s Minister Isidore Kabwe Longo shared his country’s story, calling DRC’s vast and lucrative mineral deposits, “Africa’s mining scandal.” He said his government has started a deliberate shift from mining that the country is most famous for after coming to a realization that, despite having vast natural mineral deposits, these haven’t been able to create jobs for everyone and transform the lives of most Congolese. The Minister said unemployment in his country stands at over 45 percent and the country imports more than 40% of its food supplies costing over US $1.5bn every year. Yet in all this, DR Congo has an estimated 80 million hectares of available arable land, but due to conflict and insecurity, only around 10 percent of this land is currently being used.
UN agriculture agency teams up with global wholesale markets union to boost urban food security (UN News Centre)
FAO estimates that over 40% of root crops, fruits and vegetables are lost wasted, along with 35 per cent of fish, 30 per cent of cereals and 20 per cent of meat and dairy products, and total food waste represents an economic value of some $1 trillion annually.
Together we stand: a policy approach to reducing food loss in West Africa (Mongabay)
Kenya to import farm machinery from Brazil in Sh7.9bn loan deal (Business Daily)
AFDB mulls floating Pula bonds (Mmegi)
The African Development Bank is pondering floating local currency denominated bonds in bid to deepen local capital markets, which are characterised by a lack of suitable long-term investments instruments.
Air China puts direct route to SA on hold (News24)
Air China has cancelled the launch of its much-anticipated direct flights to South Africa. Air China spokesperson Jane Hu told Traveller24, "The flight has been cancelled due to xenophobic attacks last month. China did issue a travel warning to our citizens not to travel to South Africa at that stage. "People are worried about this country,” said Hu. According to Hu, SA's revision of its visa rules also affected the airline's decision.
Other perceptions of China: Views from Africa, Latin America, and Europe (Brookings)
According to the survey by the Pew Research Center, nowhere is public opinion more positive about China than in Africa. This result should not be surprising, as China’s engagement with Africa comes at a time when the continent is developing and pursuing its agenda for economic transformation and is in need of strong economic partnership. Africa is in need of economic partnership and China is engaging the continent on the economic front at an unprecedented scale and scope. As a result, Africa is becoming increasingly globalized through China. These all contribute to the rather positive perception of China on the African continent.
International trade slows sharply in first quarter of 2015 (OECD)
Against a backdrop of an appreciating US dollar and declining oil prices, total merchandise trade, in current US dollars, for G7 and BRIICS economies fell sharply in the first quarter of 2015, with (seasonally adjusted) exports and imports declining by 7.1% and 9.5% respectively compared to the previous quarter. [Download]
G-NEXID and UNCTAD emphasis their commitment to work together (UNCTAD)
UNCTAD and the Global Network of Exim Banks and Development Finance Institutions (G-NEXID), meeting in Geneva on 19th May 2015, agreed to work together to promote understanding of south-south cooperation the role of banks in financing development. The G-NEXID, with a membership of 24 institutions, was established in March 2006 at the joint initiative of Exim Bank of India and UNCTAD, as a platform to boost South-South trade and investment relations.
Services Trade Restrictiveness Index: logistics services (OECD)
This paper presents results for the Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (STRI) for logistics services. The STRI indices are calculated for four subsectors, cargo-handling, storage and warehouse, freight transport agency and customs brokerage services. They cover all 34 OECD countries, Russia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and South Africa. The logistics services account for a relatively small share of GDP, around 1.5% on average of OECD members for which information is available while they play a crucial role to enhance and facilitate the global value chains of manufactures, retailers and carriers. Trade in logistics services has mainly taken place through commercial presence (Mode 3) and the STRI results highlight the importance of impediments affecting trade via this mode.
SADC gender ministers converge in Zimbabwe for annual meeting (APA)
EAC-USAID health project to improve health services along cross-border sites (EAC)
SADC states discuss climate change adaptation and mitigation (SADC)
Ethiopia, Kenya undertake to coordinate animal health and sanitary measures (IGAD)
Namibia: Cabinet avails N$157 million war chest against FMD (New Era)
Erera strengthens accountability in ECOWAS agencies (Daily Trust)
President Jonathan's speech at the presentation of Handover Notes to Buhari
Rotich downplays shilling fall as currency hits new low (Business Daily)
This week in the news
Follow the links below to read tralac’s daily news selections for the past week:
The selection: Thursday, 28 May 2015
The selection: Wednesday, 27 May 2015
The selection: Tuesday, 26 May 2015
The selection: Monday, 25 May 2015
This post has been sourced on behalf of tralac and disseminated to enhance trade policy knowledge and debate. It is distributed to over 300 recipients across Africa and internationally, serving in the AU, RECS, national government trade departments and research and development agencies. Your feedback is most welcome. Any suggestions that our recipients might have of items for inclusion are most welcome. Richard Humphries (Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; Twitter: @richardhumphri1)
