National

Members commend considerable progress by the Comoros to secure WTO membership (World Trade Organisation)

WTO members welcomed the concrete and comprehensive steps taken by the Comoros in recent months in its bid to conclude formal accession negotiations to the WTO and expressed hope this process will succeed in the near term.

Nigeria joins WLP as a strategic hub in West Africa (Trade Arabia)

The WLP helps deliver economic growth and create jobs by boosting trade, principally by making a country’s products more competitive through more efficient supply chains. The continued expansion of the WLP across Africa will help to deliver on the vision of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement by reducing end-to-end costs across the logistics chain in Africa, boosting intra-regional trade, and opening up competitive access to new international markets for African companies.

AfCFTA: MAN lists reasons Nigeria, others face challenges (New Telegraph Newspaper)

The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has disclosed that Nigeria and other countries in the continent are finding it difficult to attain industrialisation amid numerous manufacturing sector challenges.

Zimbabwe: Trade Logistics and Competitiveness (UNECA)

Countries' competitiveness in the area of trade will determine the benefits to be reaped from the AfCFTA that operationalised on the 1 st of January 2021. United Nations Economic Commission for Africa(ECA) and Africa Union Commission recently published the Continental Guideline on trade and transport facilitation for the movement of persons, goods and services across Africa during the Covid-19 pandemic.

AfDB to fund private sector projects in Zimbabwe (Macau Business)

The African Development Bank (AfDB) approved Wednesday a strategy to fund Zimbabwe’s private sector to reinforce the country’s efforts for industrialization. The Zimbabwe Country Strategy 2021-2023, which outlines private sector support and institutional reforms, was launched virtually by the AfDB board, Zimbabwe’s state broadcaster ZBC reported.

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Africa

What Shape for U.S.-Africa Trade Policy (AllAfrica)

With the African Growth and Opportunity Act expiring in 2025, what are the prospects for a revised African trade initiative? According to long-time Congressional staffer Tom Sheehy, "the policy path is less clear than when Agoa became law, and the prospects for a substantial African trade initiative gaining political support are more challenging." A bipartisan coalition in Congress that has back Agoa passage in 2000 seems unlikely now.

AfCFTA makes transport and logistics attractive to investors (Quartz Africa)

Africa’s transport and logistics start-ups are on track to raise more growth funds this year, in deals that could help ignite intra-Africa trade . This points to growing investor attraction to this space, possibly to tap into the world’s single largest market-AfCFTA .

UNECA engages women, youths in businesses in W/Africa  (Daily Sun)

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) has said the ongoing West Africa Business Forum is to support women and youth entrepreneurs grow and sustain their businesses.

Smaller African states have more economic freedom (The Africa Report)

From property rights to financial freedom, small African countries are racing ahead of the continent's largest economies in advancing economic freedom, as they look to build business opportunities for their citizens.

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International

Items proposed for consideration at the next meeting of Dispute Settlement Body (World Trade Organisation)

The WTO Secretariat has circulated a meeting notice and list of items proposed for the next meeting, on 27 September 2021, of the Dispute Settlement Body, which consists of all WTO members and oversees legal disputes among them.

Applications open for online workshop on Government Procurement Agreement (World Trade Organisation)

Government officials from WTO members are invited to submit applications to take part in the 2021 Advanced Global e-Workshop on the Agreement on Government Procurement to be held virtually from 25 October to 26 November 2021. The purpose of the workshop is to develop participants’ familiarity with the Agreement on Government Procurement 2012 (GPA 2012) and to provide an opportunity for the sharing.

Action on Trade is Necessary for Businesses to Unlock Net Zero Targets, Study Finds (Mirage News)

The report includes a jointly-authored foreword by the World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Executive Secretary welcoming the insights from business.

Recovery by 2030 needs public sector revival (Daily Pioneer)

In 2022, UNCTAD expects global growth to slow to 3.6 percent, leaving world income still 3.7 percent below where its pre-pandemic trend would have put it. Even high growth is insufficient to remove ‘the widened income and wealth inequalities and rising social unrest in the country.