The selection: Tuesday, 9 June

The President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote's decision to inject a fresh $16 billion into Africa's industrialisation in the next three years, leaves even the daring entrepreneurs perplexed over the point at which a man would agree that his has done enough business in one life time. For Dangote however, this is no longer just setting up businesses for profit, it is setting examples for other investors, both African and foreign, to assure them that Africa indeed is the new frontier for thriving investment.

AGOA and South Africa: selected commentaries

AGOA compromise mixed blessing for SA (Business Day)

Malcolm Ferguson: 'Poultry deal a day late and a dollar short' (Business Report)

Siyabonga Mkhwanazi: 'SA needs to cushion sector from US chicken deal' (Business Report)

Catherine Grant Makokera: 'AGOA - a look at the US-SA relationship' (Tutwa Consulting)

TFTA: Council of Ministers finalize Tripartite launching instruments (COMESA)

The COMESA-EAC-SADC Council of Ministers has finalized the preparation of the instruments to launch of the Tripartite Free Trade Area on Wednesday June 10. These include the COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite Free Trade Area Agreement which will be signed by the Heads of State and Government and the Sharm El Sheikh Declaration launching the Tripartite FTA. The others are Post Signature Implementation Roadmap, the Indicative Schedule of Negotiations on Outstanding Issues in Phase I and Phase II negotiations, and the Programme of Work on Movement of Business Persons and the Industrial Development Pillar.

17 African states join COMESA-EAC-SADC's pre-launch meeting

Egypt's exports to Africa in 1st quarter of 2015 totals $810 million (Egypt Independent)

Malawi companies to benefit from Africa trade deal: Mutharika to sign accord in Egypt (Nyasa Times) 

EAC, WB and partners discuss integrated solutions to the development of key trading corridors (World Bank)

The Integrated Corridor Development convention, held at the UNESCO headquarters, brought together representatives from major bilateral and multi-lateral donor organizations, to discuss solutions to facilitate the funding of corridor development in land-locked countries, such as Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda. During the convention, development partners and country representatives presented their institutional priorities, and discussed potential collaboration in accelerating the implementation of development corridor projects such as the Lake Victoria and the Lake Tanganyika transport programs. The two programs will require a total investment of US$1.8 billion, of which the World Bank has committed US$850 million to date.

China asks for business plan to fund EAC railway project (New Times)

The Chinese request follows a joint visit to Beijing by ministers for foreign affairs and infrastructure from April 26 to May 1, to promote various infrastructure projects that are being implemented, with SGR taking centre stage. In China, the delegation from East Africa met with top executives of the Chinese Export and Import Bank (Exim), which is expected to fund the project. The bank is state-owned. “The Chinese government expressed a positive feedback and recommended to finalise feasibility studies for further discussion,” the ministers told the presidents.

Tazara: Buggered, but can be fixed (Daily Maverick)

Tazara railway can be turned around, though it will require dollops of political will to do so. At first, it will necessitate a recognition that its current state is not ‘fixed’, even though it suits several key actors to keep it down and out. Turning the political economy of protecting privilege, plunder and survival into one of prosperity will lie at the heart of the railway’s transformation, as with any infrastructure in Africa. [The author: Greg Mills]

Port of Lüderitz set to diversify exports (The Namibian)

There is huge interest from mining companies at the Northern Cape in South Africa to export manganese via the port of Lüderitz. The manager at the port of Lüderitz, Max Kooper, alluded to this during a recent visit by The Namibian. According to Kooper, Lüderitz has a shallow port with a draught of 8,15 metres. Until recently, Lüderitz port was without a railway link. But that will soon be a thing of the past as Namport has embarked on rail infrastructure within the port, which is at the final stage of implementation.

Construction of key Djibouti-Ethiopia rail line to finish (AFP)

The leaders of Djibouti and Ethiopia will oversee the completion of a railway linking their two capitals on Thursday, with the ambition that the link might eventually extend across the continent to West Africa. Djibouti’s President Ismail Omar Guelleh and Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn will attend the ceremonial laying of the last track in the 752-kilometre (481-mile) railway, financed and built by China, linking the port capital of Djibouti with landlocked Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa.

The first scheduled train is expected to use the desert line in October, reducing transport time between the capitals to less than 10 hours, rather than the two days it currently takes for heavy goods vehicles using a congested mountain road. “Some 1,500 trucks use the road every day between Djibouti and Ethiopia. In five years, this figure will rise to 8,000,” said Abubaker Hadi, chairman of Djibouti’s Port Authority. “This is not possible, this is why we need the railway.”

Regional integration takes center stage at 2015 AfCoP Annual Meeting (AfDB)

Over 150 representatives of member states of COMESA and the West African Economic and Monetary Union will convene in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire from June 8-10, 2015 to take stock of the two blocs’ efforts towards economic integration and regional development results in Africa. These delegates will attend the second Africa for Results (AfriK4R) Forum and seventh Annual Meeting of the African Community of Practice on Managing for Development Results (AfCoP-MfDR), which will examine the landscape of challenges, opportunities and trends, related to Africa’s regional integration agenda. Initial insights from country and regional assessments and activities under AfCoP’s flagship AfriK4R initiative will also be presented. [www.afrik4r.org]

G7 Summit Leadersʼ Declaration: trade, global economy issues

We are committed to strengthening the rules-based multilateral trading system, including by contributing to full and swift implementation of the WTO Bali package. The focus in 2015 should in particular be on the entry into force of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA). To that end, G7 members commit to making every effort to complete their domestic ratification procedures in advance of the Tenth WTO Ministerial Conference (MC 10) in Nairobi this December. We also call for swift agreement by July of a WTO post-Bali work programme that secures a prompt conclusion and balanced outcome of the Doha Round and we fully support ongoing efforts in the WTO to this end. Both the implementation of the TFA and agreement on a post-Bali work programme should lay the ground for a successful MC 10, the first WTO Ministerial to be held in Africa. [Download]

Oxfam: G7 emissions have 'savage impact' on African crops (Deutsche Welle)

Duty-free under duress: Kenya’s trade with the EU (Deutsche Welle)

Tanzania lifts gas resources estimate to 55 trillion cubic feet (The EastAfrican)

"As a result of ongoing exploration activity, natural gas resources discovered in the country rose from 46.5 tcf in June 2014 to 55.08 tcf in April 2015, equivalent to an increase of 18 per cent," George Simbachawene, Tanzania's energy and minerals minister, said in a presentation to parliament on Saturday. Mr Simbachawene said a pipeline connecting offshore natural gas fields to Tanzania's commercial capital Dar es Salaam would be commissioned in September, ahead of the energy ministry's previous estimates of November. The government said the pipeline would enable the country to switch to gas-fired power plants and reduce oil imports, hence leading to annual savings of over $1 billion.

Tanzania: Milk production ‘too low’ (The Citizen)

Milk production and marketing puzzle continues to haunt the country as only 30 per cent of potentials are being utilised, while per capita milk consumption is a mere quarter of global standard of milk consumption. “We really need to go up to nine billion litres per year in order to catch up with FAO standards. Milk production and marketing face chronic problems of low output, compromised quality and dominance of informal market,” a senior lecturer of animal science at Sokoine University of Agriculture, Dr George Msalya, said.

Zimbabwe: Capacity utilisation reaches 39% (NewsDay)

The manufacturing sector has recorded a 1,9 percentage increase in capacity utilisation to 39% driven by activities in the beverages and construction sectors, the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) has said. In the same period in 2014, capacity utilisation was 37,1%.

Tracing the value-added in global value chains: product-level case studies in China (UNCTAD)

The rise of the global value chains (GVCs) is reshaping the whole structure of worldwide trade flows. It is no longer true that all, or even the bulk of the value of a country’s exports can be assumed to be domestically produced. Three product-level case studies were conducted to identify where China is placed within the GVCs and to find out what and to what extent value is added in China. The three case studies relate to rubber tyres, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and fasteners. They reveal that the selected industries are based mostly on mid-level technologies, and that China is generally in the midstream of the GVC with its comparative advantage in labour cost vis-à-vis its developed trading partners.

Ethiopia seeks to protect migrant workers from abuse in Middle East (The EastAfrican) 

Call for proposals of African Financial Markets Initiative (AfDB) 

Uganda: We are no longer a colony, government tells EU envoys (Daily Monitor)

Multimedia: Attracting FDI investments critical to Mauritius' economy (CNBC Africa)

Effective governance central to unlocking the potential of the Blue Economy (SAIIA)

SA, China sign ICT plan of action (SAnews.gov.za)

SA delegation explores opportunities in Mozambique (CAJ News)

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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)