The selection: Monday, 6 July

SADC's Executive Secretary, Dr Stergomena Tax, has joined Twitter: follow her on @DrTaxs

EAC: 3rd Emergency Summit on Burundi takes place today in Dar es Salaam

SADC: statement of Extra Ordinary Summit of the Double Troika on Lesotho  

Out today in Brussels: Assessment of economic benefits generated by the EU trade regimes towards the developing countries

Starting today in Geneva: Competition policy - UN member states to review the “UN Set” for seventh time

United Nations member States are meeting from 6-10 July 2015 in Geneva to reaffirm the validity of the only multilateral instrument adopted by the UN General Assembly in the area of Competition Policy, the so-called UN Set on competition. This instrument was adopted in 1980 and member States have reaffirmed its validity six times. In particular, member States will decide to adopt the main cluster of issues that UNCTAD Secretariat will be addressing at the IGE deliberations until the Eighth Review Conference to be held in 2020. The novelty of this review conference is that member States will also decide to revise the UN Guidelines on Consumer Protection adopted in 1985 and reviewed in 1999. This review will include important updates related to consumer protection issues in e-commerce and financial services. [Downloads]

This week: BRICS 2015 Summit - a collection of links

BRICS economy, foreign trade ministers to meet in Moscow on 7 July

BRICS plan to trade in local currencies (The Telegraph) 

Peter Draper, Mzu Qobo: SA needs a concrete BRICS strategy (Business Day)

WPS Sidhu: BRICS is finally shaping a new world order (LiveMint)

Justin Yifu Lin: China’s G-20 agenda - call for a multilateral investment framework for development

BRICS experts workshop on the New Development Bank: video (Observer Research Foundation) 

$100bn BRICS monetary fund to be operational in 30 days (The BRICS Post)

How well did BRICS members comply with their Fortaleza Summit commitments? (BRICS Research Group) 

The BRICS Academic Forum: a preview of issues for the 2015 BRICS Summit (SAIIA) 

Reducing trade costs to support Africa’s transformation: the role of aid for trade (UNECA)

Touching upon the specific theme of this Fifth Global review – trade facilitation – Mr. Karingi warned against the risk of limiting the trade facilitation agenda to those specific measures that respond to the interests of large traders and transnational corporations. He instead argued that Aid for Trade support to Africa should also focus specifically on the needs of small and medium enterprises, as well as informal traders. Moreover, it should support efforts to streamline procedure while enhancing the effectiveness of custom controls, with a view to strengthen domestic resource mobilization and curb illicit financial flows through trade mispricing. Echoing some of the concerns raised also in the African region, other panelists noted that there is scope for reducing the volatility and unpredictability of Aid for Trade support, and improving the degree of alignment with recipient countries’ development strategies. They also mentioned the need to facilitating access to Aid for Trade funds by harmonizing procedures and strengthening the coordination across donors, as well as enhancing the dissemination of information about funding opportunities. [The author: Stephen Karingi] [Download]

Restructured EIF, strong focus on trade in services at WTO Aid for Trade Review (ITC)

Services need to play a stronger role in contributing to trade-led growth in LDCs, according to business leaders and policymakers at an afternoon session on the topic of reducing trade costs for LDCs’ services trade development. ‘Trade facilitation in Africa means boosting services,’ said Alioune Sarr, Minister of Commerce, Entrepreneurship and the Informal Sector, Senegal. ‘Forty percent of investments in Africa are in services.’ Businesses that provide services can increase their productivity through participation in global value chains, as services account for more than half of overall trade in LDCs. An increase in trade in services should be aligned with that of trade in goods – as even trade in goods is made up of trade in services – through the reduction and elimination of trade barriers.

Commonwealth Trade Symposium, 23-24th June 2015, Johannesburg, South Africa: presentations

New Petroleum Producers Discussion Group, 30 June - 2 July, Dar es Salaam: discussion summary

Indicators to monitor deeper regional trade integration in Africa (World Bank)

Countries in Africa have committed to a process of deeper integration, but have made little progress in implementing commitments and removing barriers. This report looks at the monitoring of regional integration in Africa and argues that more effective monitoring processes for existing integration arrangements could help to raise the profile of the prevailing implementation deficits and provide policy makers and civil society with the necessary information to push for corrective action. Currently, most integration monitoring systems are scorecard-based compliance assessments. These processes are useful in determining which member countries have transposed their regional-level reform commitments into national law, but say little about changes in trade practices on the ground. [The author: Paul Brenton] [Download] 

Export diversification in Africa: the importance of good trade logistics (World Bank)

This note seeks to contribute to a review of progress in achieving export diversification through greater exports of light manufacturing products. It looks at recent trends in the exports of the five categories of light manufacturing identified as having strong potential in Africa. The note reviews progress in improving trade logistics in Sub-Saharan Africa, with a focus on the three countries highlighted in the light manufacturing study: Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Zambia, and additionally Kenya and Uganda. [The authors: Ankur Huria, Paul Brenton] [Download]

Northern Corridor: EOI for a study on the implementation of a regional cargo tracking system (AfDB)

The consulting firm will under the overall supervision of the NC-TTCA Secretariat, provide technical assistance in undertaking the study including stakeholder consultations and dissemination of the report findings. The firm will be responsible for, inter alia:

* analysis of the existing national electronic cargo tracking systems in the Northern Corridor countries to evaluate their effectiveness and how the development of RECTS could leverage these systems and the possibility for interfacing the same for the purpose of a continuous cargo tracking from first port of entry to destination

* review of current transit and border management approaches in the Northern Corridor countries.

* analyse the challenges faced by both governments and traders on the corridor and makerecommendations on how the RECTS and other Transit management instruments may be used to address the challenges.

ECOWAS: EOI for a consultancy to prepare an analytical study of non-tariff measures (AfDB)

Given their growing importance, there is an urgent need to develop a better understanding of existing NTMs – especially as they represent a barrier for intra- and extra-African trade. Identifying their impact will go a long way in creating many more trade opportunities.

Swaziland: Govt to add more and raise taxes (Swazi Observer)

Amidst the continued decline in the country’s SACU receipts, government has decided to enhance domestic revenue which will see the introduction of new taxes and a possibility of increasing some. Minister of Finance Martin Dlamini speaking during breakfast meeting hosted by the Federation of Swaziland Employers and Chamber of Commerce said the ministry was proposing three domestic revenue enhancing strategies. Dlamini said the ministry was working tirelessly on improving the ratio of domestic revenue vis-a-vis SACU receipts. He said amongst the revenue generating plans, government contemplated introducing a levy on alcohol and tobacco products at a five percent rate for locally produced alcohol and tobacco goods and 10% for imports of alcohol and tobacco products. The minister said this would yield an estimated E90 million of domestic annual revenue for the country.

Why should Tanzanians pay taxes? (World Bank)

Tanzania’s economy is on a positive trajectory with a 7 percent growth rate, yet the Government’s revenue levels are too low to finance the country’s ambitious public investment program, according to the latest Tanzania Economic Update published by the World Bank. To meet its development agenda, the Government must take steps to increase its revenue, but success will come only if a comprehensive approach is adopted. Despite good progress in the late 2000s, the current level of tax revenues in Tanzania remains one of lowest in the world. The Government collected US$6 billion worth of revenues or approximately 12 % of  GDP in 2014, enough to cover almost three-quarters of government expenditure, but insufficient to fund much needed investments in infrastructure and social services. This seventh Economic Update provides a number of suggestions, with the objective of stimulating debate on possible approaches to increase tax revenue. [Download] 

Kenya: May remittances resilient (Central Bank of Kenya)

The remittances inflow was resilient through May 2015.  It increased by 7.9% to USD 129.1m compared to USD 119.7m in May 2014 and by 3.7% when compared to inflows in April 2015. Remittance inflows from North America accounted for 44.4% of total inflows.  The balance was shared by Europe (30.8%) and the Rest of the World (24.8%). In terms of growth, remittances from the North America declined by 5.3% to USD 57.3m in May 2015 from USD 60.5m in April 2015. Over the same period, inflows from Europe increased by 20.9% to USD 39.8m from USD 32.9m, while inflows from rest of the world also increased by 3% to USD 32m from USD 31.1m.

Nigeria: Dangote backs Central Bank's forex restrictions on rice, toothpicks, others (ThisDay) 

Zimbabwe: 'Grain reserves below expectations’ (The Herald)  

Appellate Body issues annual report for 2014 (WTO)

Seychelles moves to World Bank’s rich list as income per capita increases (Seychelles News Agency)

President Kenyatta roots for increased Kenya-Zambia trade (Capital FM Kenya)

New rules for new horizons: reshaping finance for sustainability (UNEP)

UN hails cooperatives as vehicle to make sustainable development a reality for all (UN News Centre)

France and China sign deal to work together in emerging economies (France24)

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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)