The selection: Monday, 14 September

Important SA-US AGOA discussions resume today: selected updates

SA denies restricting US meat imports (Business Day)

South Africa was not restricting poultry imports from the US, but wanted imports to meet global health safety standards and not put consumers at risk, deputy director-general of international trade at the Department of Trade and Industry Xolelwa Mlumbi-Peter said on Sunday. On Monday, SA and US veterinarian experts meet amid threats by US politicians to reimpose tariffs on a range of SA goods unless Pretoria lifts restrictions on US chicken, beef and pork imports.

Crucial AGOA meeting on Monday (IOL)

Poultry dispute threatens South African trade with US (Wall Street Journal, subscription)

This week, in Abidjan: Towards a new deal on energy for Africa (AfDB)

The event will bring together leaders in the energy sector to craft next steps towards a Transformative Partnership on Energy for Africa to provide a major platform for structured private sector, multilateral and bilateral partnerships and financing to solve Africa’s energy challenge.

Next month, in Addis: Addressing structural transformation in Africa within the New Global Landscape (OECD/UNECA)

Relevant parliamentary documentation has been prepared and will be shared with CRCI prior to the meeting (22-23 October) in the three key areas of the subprogramme - reports on international and intra-African trade and related negotiations in support of regional integration; reports on food security, farming and land management in Africa; reports on industrialization, infrastructure and investment in Africa. [Aide-memoire]

Durban Declaration: 2050 vision for forests and forestry (FAO)

Nearly 4000 participants from 142 countries met at the XIV World Forestry Congress on 7–11 September 2015 in Durban, South Africa – for the first time on the African continent – in a spirit of inclusiveness and with a willingness to learn from each other, share diverse points of view and gain new perspectives. The Congress offers the following vision for forests and forestry as a way of contributing to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and a sustainable future to 2050 and beyond: [Download]

SADC-ICP Dialogue Platform: remarks by Dr Stergomena Lawrence Tax (SADC)

In the same vein the role of Private Sector in the implementation of SADC industrialization strategy cannot be over-emphasized. We need to work with the Private Sector with a view to empowering and enabling the private sector to drive SADC regional integration. SADC regional integration agenda must be private sector driven and beneficial to SADC Member States in particular SADC citizens.

Mauritius: Trade Obstacle Alert Mechanism launched (Government of Mauritius)

We need to put in place a system which will allow operators to report such Non-Tariff Barriers on a timely basis so that we can seek to have them addressed either bilaterally or on a regional or multilateral basis, as the case may be. While we have travelled a long way already in improving the business environment, the momentum has to be maintained until Mauritius is positioned among the very top performers and becomes one of the most attractive and uncontested business platforms, especially for Africa. This is where the Trade Obstacle Alert Mechanism comes into play. It will be operated, using the trade pPortal of my Ministry and will enable Government, through its various agencies to:

Namibia subsidises Botswana's diamond industry (The Namibian)

From the perspective of the government revenue Namibia should be opposed to any exports to its SACU neighbours - whether it is weaners to South Africa or diamonds - because this decreases Namibia's SACU revenue, which encourages imports rather than production to sell to outsiders. One way to deal with this is simply by modifying the SACU revenue sharing formula. SACCU members should agree to a modification of revenue sharing that excludes the intra-SCACU trade, especially of items such as diamonds. Otherwise, the country is caught up in a trap. [The author: Roman Grynberg]

Namibia: GDP grew by 6,4% in 2014 (The Namibian)

The domestic economy is estimated to have registered a strong growth of 6,4% in 2014 compared to 5,7% recorded in 2013, the Namibia Statistics Agency said on Friday in its final National Accounts. The main drivers behind this strong growth were the secondary and tertiary industries that recorded growths of 9,4% and 7,4% compared to 8,6% and 7,2% in 2013, respectively.

Industry in Angola occupies 0.6% of the workforce (MacauHub)

The manufacturing industry in Angola has just 45,100 employees, a number that accounts for 0.6% of the workforce, said Thursday in Luanda the secretary of State for Industry, Kiala Gabriel. In first place is retail, banking, insurance and services, which together account for 7.7 percent of the working population, followed by public works and construction with 4.7 percent, said the secretary of state, cited by Angolan news agency Angop.

Angola’s border towns will have logistics platforms (MacauHub)

The Angolan border towns of Massabi (Cabinda), Luvo (Zaire) and Santa Clara (Cunene) in the next few years will have logistics platforms, which will be managed under concessions, said Thursday in Luanda the Minister of Transport, Augusto Tomás.

Tata slates SA’s visa policy (Fin24)

The chairperson of Tata International, a subsidiary of the Indian multinational company responsible for managing its business in Africa, has slated South Africa’s immigration policy, saying it was taking too long to obtain visas and work permits for the company to deploy skilled managers to run its operations in Africa. Speaking at the company’s headquarters in Mumbai, India, Noel Tata said they were increasingly frustrated by the amount of time it took for the company to obtain the necessary documents to allow it to assign employees from outside South Africa to its offices in Joburg. “It is increasingly time-consuming to get visas for our business. We believe that, as a supervisory business, we ought to be granted a faster, quicker employment of visas to get into South Africa. We had to post people to Tanzania because it is easier to get visas and work permits there than in South Africa,” said Tata.

Malusi Gigaba: 'How SA can help solve migration crisis' (Sunday Independent)

Finding an empathic way to deal with refugees (IOL)

DRC: IMF concludes 2015 Article IV Consultation (IMF)

The authorities are urged to move swiftly to meet these challenges in order to preserve the hard-won gains and address rising inequality. In particular, they need to: (i) step up domestic revenue mobilization, (ii) accumulate more international reserves; (iii) remove bottlenecks to private sector activity, and (iv) strengthen governance and enhance transparency in the management of natural resources.

Tripartite meeting analyzes situation in DRC (AngolaPress) [Background]

Zambezi River Basin Programme: update (World Bank)

The engagement with ZAMCOM has already helped establish a permanent ZAMCOM Secretariat following the 2011 agreement. The program will also help revitalize the functionality of the Zambezi Water Information Management System (ZAMWIS) to improve information sharing on key aspects of the basin. Direct financial support to regional bodies and the riparian states is complemented by strategic analytical work, including a political economy assessment.

Ghana to cooperate with neighbours on trans-boundary water management (GBC)

East Africa: Region’s exports to EU face tough conditions (The EastAfrican)

Mistrust has emerged among the East African Community partner states over Tanzania’s commitment to the Economic Partnership Agreement that would give the region’s goods duty-free access to European markets. Tanzania is likely to delay the signing and ratification of the EPA document on the grounds that it was rushed through. Dar es Salaam has threatened not to sign the deal before its concerns on contentious issues are addressed. “If there are concerns being raised by a partner state under EPAs, shall be discussed and resolved at the regional level, as the countries are discussing the EPAs as a bloc and not individually,” said Tanzanian EAC Minister Harrison Mwakyembe.

Kenya: Importers oppose new port levies plan by Mombasa County government (Daily Nation)

Importers have threatened to move to court to block the Mombasa County government from introducing a raft of port levies. The Association of Importers of Kenya's national chairman, Mr Peter Mambembe, opposed the proposed levies, calling them illegal.

Bribery allegations delay works at Rubavu-Goma OSBP (New Times)

Construction of the Rubavu-Goma one-stop border post which should have begun in April will, instead, start in October, officials at Rwanda Transport Development Agency (RTDA) say, but a Rwf200 million bribery scandal, The New Times has established, could be behind that delay. The one-stop border post, which is supposed to link Rubavu town in Rwanda’s Western Province to Goma, the capital city of DR Congo’s North Kivu Province, is a hot spot for trade with daily traffic flows of close to 50,000 people generating millions of dollars annually. Howard G. Buffet Foundation, founded by American philanthropist Buffet, signed up to fund the project estimated to cost about $9 million.

Searching for the ‘Grail’: can Uganda’s land support its prosperity drive? (World Bank)

The latest and sixth edition of the Uganda Economic Update published by the World Bank, writes that with the falling global prices of oil, the delay in oil production in Uganda could benefit the country as government uses more time to strengthen the policy framework for oil management. Tightening of monetary policy will minimize inflation and ensure stability, but will increase the cost of borrowing and hence reduce the rate of investment by the private sector. Titled: “Searching for the ‘Grail’ - Can Uganda’s Land Support its Prosperity Drive?”, the update argues that alongside much needed infrastructure development, a more effective system of land governance, including for registering land, strengthening institutions for resolving disputes and urban planning, will boost productivity and transform livelihoods in Uganda. [Download]

ECOWAS partners FG on a regional automotive policy (Daily Independent)

According to the statement, Traore said that as a follow-up, the commission was planning to host a regional workshop of experts to holistically discuss matters relating to auto industry development with a view to having a common regulated market for increased flow of investments and trade transactions among West African countries. He listed issues for discussion at the proposed regional workshop to include common regulations and standards, rule of origin, components parts manufacturing, maintenance garages and vehicle credit financing.

Zimbabwe's Eve Gadzikwa lands ARSO presidency (The Chronicle)

Eve Gadzikwa, the director-general of the Standards Association of Zimbabwe has been elected the first female president of the African Organisation for Standardisation. She was elected president of the continental body at the 21st Arso general assembly meeting in Ethiopia last month. Gadzikwa said her three year tenure will start next year.

Tanzania: Disaster managers ready to face El-Nino (IPPMedia)

Tanzania: Lowassa promises 30% proceeds from foreign investors (The Citizen)

Illegal wildlife trade now ‘industrial-scale’ (IOL)

AERC Annual Report for 2014/2015

Shekhar Shah, Rajesh Chadha: 'Why India’s policymakers need to fire on all cylinders' (East Asia Forum)

---

SUBSCRIBE

To receive the link to tralac’s Daily News Selection via email, click here to subscribe.

---

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)