News
tralac’s Daily News selection
The selection: Thursday, 11 February 2016
Tomorrow, in Luanda: the 6th Ordinary Summit of ICGLR Heads of State and Government will take place
In April: the first substantive CFTA trade-negotiating forum will take place
Featured tweet, @ECA_Lopes: Africa employs more than 100,000 expatriates at a cost of $4 bn/year to offset the annual migration by its skilled professionals
Profiled new postings: The African Union 2016 Handbook: English version, French version, tralac's Weekly Newsletter, Presidential Infrastructure Champion Initiative: 2015 Annual Report, Alternative Mining Indaba: communiqué, AIDF Africa Summit 2016: highlights
Book announcement: ‘Made in Africa - learning to compete in industry’ (Brookings)
Over the past forty years, industry and business interests have moved increasingly from the developed to the developing world, yet Africa’s share of global manufacturing has fallen from about 3% in 1970 to less than 2% in 2014. Industry is important to low-income countries. It is good for economic growth, job creation, and poverty reduction. ’Made in Africa: learning to compete in industry’, outlines a new strategy to help Africa gets its fair share of the global market. Case studies and econometric and qualitative research from Africa, as well as emerging Asia, help the reader understand what drives firm-level competitiveness in low-income countries. The results: while traditional concerns such as infrastructure, skills, and regulations are important, they alone will not be sufficient for Africa to industrialize. The region’s growing resource abundance also presents a challenge, and industrialization strategies will need to adapt.
Majority of Kenyans prefer to buy locally made goods, survey shows (Business Daily)
The January GeoPoll survey on spending habits and perceptions of the economy in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa found that 58% of respondents in Kenya prefer locally made products as opposed to 17% who prefer imported goods, with the remainder saying they have no preference.
Namibia set to be a beef hub in southern Africa (StarAfrica)
Namibia is set to become the beef hub in southern Africa and beyond once the construction of a meat processing plant and feed lot at the Kavango Cattle Ranch is complete, Dr Michael Humavindu said on Wednesday. Humavindu, the deputy permanent secretary in the Ministry of Industrialisation, Trade and SME Development the construction of the facility in Kavango region, will be completed within two years. The beef processing plant will be built in the 200 000 hectares government cattle ranch, and would make Namibia one of the biggest distribution hubs for beef in the Southern African region, said the government official.
Tanzania: Govt set to abolish nuisance taxes imposed on businesses (IPPMedia)
The Finance and Planning Minister Dr Philip Mpango yesterday announced government plans to abolish nuisance taxes imposed on various businesses to unleash the potential of Small and Medium Enterprises. He, however, did not go into specific on which taxes in particular will be abolished but the minister cited the cashew-nut sub sector, saying that he has been informed by a legislator from cashew-nut growing area that there are 27 taxes charged on the crop.
India: Companies must explore Africa for producing pulses, oilseed: government (Economic Times)
"Can we think of a dispensation where Indian companies can consider investing in Africa for growing pulses and oilseeds, which are in short supply in India. Similarly, African businesses can think of engaging mutually beneficial collaborators in India," Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said at the India-Africa Agribusiness Forum organised by industry body Ficci. India attaches great importance to private sector participation in agriculture and agri-business. There is an impressive presence of private sector, including large business groups in food processing, logistics, supply chains including cold chains, he said.
Ethiopia: Textile industry sustainability, competitiveness under discussion
Opening the conference, Ethiopian Textile Industry Development Institute Director General Sileshi Lemma said: " The Ethiopian cotton, textile and garment sector is one of the key manufacturing industries which is prioritized by the government and is the most anticipated to considerably contribute to the success of GTP II generating about one billion USD export earning by the end of the plan period." The conference will help raise awareness on the importance of social and environmental standards , drawing attention to key sustainability challenges within the Ethiopian textile and garment industry and provide inspiration for practical action. [Related: ILO project on Ethiopia's garment and textile industry]
Kenya to enhance compliance of horticulture exports (Daily Nation)
The Kenyan horticultural sector is developing a digital system that will allow products that do not meet standards to be recalled anywhere along the value chain. The proposed technology based National Produce Traceability System is meant to build confidence on the Kenyan produce sold in the European markets by pre-empting regulatory action as producers take responsibility of failing to comply.
Trade crisis: Maersk warns 'abnormal' conditions in the global economy are much worse than 2008 (IBT)
Group chief executive Nils Andersen said the crude prices crisis and the slowdown in container freight rates pointed to a "massive deterioration" of the business, as Maersk has seen its share price halved over the last 10 months. Andersen said the company, which owns 600 ships, has suffered from a sharp decline in imports to west Africa, Brazil, Russia and Europe, which contributed to generate "abnormal" trading conditions over the last 12 months. [Dani Rodrik: 'The trade numbers game' (Project Syndicate)]
African Trade Policy Centre launches Third Cycle (UNECA)
The Steering Committee overseeing the activities of the African Trade Policy Centre, under its third programme cycle (ATPC III, 2016-19), met in Abidjan to review the outcomes of ATPC II; approve the Centre’s work programme and budget for 2016; and formally launch ATPC III. The Steering Committee approved the Centre’s 2016 work programme and budget with a number of recommendations, including more targeted support at the regional level and a focused resource mobilization strategy.
East African ICE updates: Time for collective leadership in Eastern Africa, Addressing inequality is indispensable for better economic outcomes
Federal President Joachim Gauck: speech to the Parliament of ECOWAS
Your own African solutions are also primarily needed here. But Germans and Europeans will stand by your side in all areas where you assume responsibility for your countries’ development and where you demonstrate the will to uphold democracy, the rule of law and human rights. The Economic Community of West African States will also have to play its part in security in the region in the future. The brutal attacks of recent weeks have shown us once again that the fight against terrorism and violence remains a pressing task. The plague of organised crime must be overcome. Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, arms trafficking and the drugs trade weaken the entire region. Your Community has already played a role in combating these problems. The establishment of a standby force would be a further important step.
Business talks (Deutsche Welle): On Tuesday the German president attended a meeting of German and Nigerian entrepreneurs in Lagos. He urged Nigeria to dismantle trade barriers and to increase legal protection and transparency for investors in the country, where about 100 German companies are present. "The interest of the German economy is there," he said.
German support to the ECOWAS Commission (ECOWAS)
Trade and Customs: In this field of action, we implement the project “Promoting West Africa Trade Integration” , with additional funding from the European Union. Our support targets the capacities of the ECOWAS Commission to design and implement its trade policy and to promote trade within West Africa and between the region and the rest of the world. To enhance intraregional trade, we strengthen the ECOWAS Commission in promoting and improving the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme. We also support the introduction of the Common External Tariff throughout the ECOWAS region by advising on legal changes and by offering training and workshops for customs administrations in ECOWAS Member States.
How to advance labour mobility in ECOWAS countries and Mauritania (ILO Africa)
Heads of public employment services, representatives of employers’ organizations and trade unions, and private recruitment agencies from ECOWAS Member States and Mauritania met in Dakar (9-10 February) to adopt an action plan for building capacity of institutions using Accueil-Emploi, an integrated database aimed at connecting job seekers with national and international employment offers. [Downloads available]
ILO, UNECA sign a new MoU to support labour statistics in Africa (ILO Africa)
Under the 2016-2019 Cooperation Agreement, the ILO and the UNECA will identify a core set of statistics to drive regular data collection, assess the current situation in African countries and associate other major stakeholders, including the African Union Commission and the African Development Bank. [Download the MOU]
DG Azevêdo kick-starts discussion on post-Nairobi work (WTO)
Director-General Roberto Azevêdo convened a meeting of all WTO members (10 February) to discuss the future work of the organization. It was the first meeting of the full membership since the WTO’s Ministerial Conference in Nairobi.[Prospects of reviving the WTO after Nairobi? (SAIIA)]
Five ways China's overseas investments are impacting African forests (Quartz Africa)
China’s investments in Africa have exploded in recent years, with outward foreign direct investment tock growing from $1bn in 2004 to more than $30bn in 2014. Investment in forests — particularly the timber sector — is no different. China’s overseas forest project investments grew from eight in 2007 to 84 in July of 2015. Today, Chinese forest investment can be found in 25 African countries. Yet in many cases this expanded investment has come at a cost to people and the planet. Five trends shine a light on the impact Chinese investments have had on Africa’s forests, and point to how both governments and companies should proceed in the future.
China's uphill battle against the ivory trade (The Diplomat)
Kenya hosts, today, a regional meeting on wildlife protection (Xinhua)
Zimbabwe: Illegal to reject rand, pula - govt (The Herald)
Zimbabwe: Leather exports drop by 95% (NewsDay)
Mozambique, UK unveil nutrition initiative (StarAfrica)
Kenyan Java House Africa triumphs against Ugandan Cafe Javas in crucial trademark court case (IPKenya)
COMESA-USA framework agreement for trade and investment: Sudan's input
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