AfCFTA - Afrikan Heroes

Border Closures Across Africa Threatens AfCFTA

October 27, 2019

Officials of continental bodies such as the African Union (AU) African Development Bank (AfDB), African Export and Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the New Economic Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) have expressed worries at the rate some African countries are unable to settle conflicts with neighbouring countries thus resorting to border closures as first resort instead of last resort. This has become more worrisome especially as the Nigerian government has extended its border closures with Benin Republic which has affected trade and businesses across the West African sub-region, with its impacts felt even up to Sierra Leone.

Recently, other African countries have had to shut their borders for reasons ranging from diplomatic disputes, security concerns, health precautions and economic considerations among others. Before the action by the Nigerian government, similar actions were taken by Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Equatorial Guinea, Uganda, and Sudan. But the closure, especially by Africa’s biggest economy, Nigeria has been described by officials of the African Development Bank as a slap in the face of continent’s integration efforts.

The recently signed African Continental Free Trade Agreement provides for the free movement of goods and persons across African countries. But with Nigerian government confirmation that it had closed its land borders indefinitely, barring all movement of goods, as it struggles to curb smuggling, it becomes clearer that the impact will last longer, even if the borders are opened today, says an official of the United Nations UNCTAD..

Speaking on the border closure, Nigeria’s Comptroller General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali said that all goods for now are banned from being exported or imported through our land borders and “that is to ensure we have total control over what comes in. Ali added that “we are strategising on how best the goods can be handled when we eventually get to the point where this operation will relax for the influx of goods,” noting that it would still be possible for goods to cross at points equipped with special scanners.

While the closure has no direct impact on Nigeria’s economically crucial oil exports, which are shipped out almost entirely via the nation’s seaports and offshore oil platforms. But it affects manufacturing especially products meant for West African markets, and also small and medium scale businesses that depend mostly on intra border trades for sustenance. The Customs Boss however maintained that reopening the borders would depend on the actions of neighbouring states, and that as long as they and Nigeria were not in accord on what goods should be imported or exported overland, the frontier would remain shut.

The move has led to a spike in food inflation in Nigeria as items such as tomatoes, rice, fruits and poultry has become more expensive but has rattled the economy of Benin Republic to an extent analysts say they may miss growth projections for 2019.

In September, Sudan closed its borders with Libya and the Central African Republic, citing security reasons. The Sudanese authorities claim that vehicles had been illegally crossing the borders with the two nations, which have both been mired in violence. Earlier, in August, Uganda and Rwanda agreed to re-open their borders, and committed to resolving a diplomatic dispute that had raised fears of hostilities.

Rwanda had closed a busy border crossing with Uganda in February, accusing its neighbour of harassing its citizens and backing rebel groups against the Kigali government. In August, authorities in Cameroon expressed concerns over plans by Equatorial Guinea to build a wall along their shared border. In same August, Equatorial Guinea accused Cameroon of letting West Africans enter its territory illegally, thus shutting down its borders with Cameroon.

Kenya had in June this year closed its border with Somalia, and suspended cross border trade, as part of security operations against terrorist group Al Shabaab. Speaking on that development, the Kenyan Police Chief said that apart from security concerns, Kenya is also worried about cases of human and narcotics trafficking. Kenya has on several occasions closed its border with Somalia, over security and sometimes diplomatic reasons.

When Ebola outbreak happened in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), many countries heeded the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) call not to close borders in the wake of the epidemic but Rwandan authorities closed their border for several hours. That closure was prompted by the confirmation of a third death in the Congolese city of Goma. The city lies just across the Rwandan city of Gisenyi, and many of the two cities’ residents cross the border for work and other activities.

Even though both countries have made peace after a brutal war fought three decades ago, a year after Ethiopians and Eritreans celebrated the re-opening of their borders, President Isaias Afwerki’s government closed the border points at Serha-Zalambesa, Bure – Assab and Om Hajer-Humera, without giving its neighbour any official explanations.

These unilateral actions officials have described as antithetical to the aims and objectives of the continental efforts at integration, thus if countries fail to sheath their swords and allow some of their concerns be addressed at African Union level, these actions might threaten the yet to take off Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.

Towards an AfroChampions fund to finance the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)

August 7, 2019

On the occasion of a high-level meeting convened in partnership with His Excellency Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, Vice-President of the Republic of Ghana, and bringing together investors, financing institutions and sovereign and private funds, the AfroChampion Initiative has formally launched a private sector investment framework to secure financing for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

The objective is to mobilize the private sector, in Africa and beyond, through a dedicated blended-finance vehicle to accelerate the continent’s economic integration, by rapidly deploying those infrastructure projects which are critical to successfully delivering the AfCFTA and making it a positive transformation for Africans.

The proposed framework is forward-looking and includes many proposals from the AfroChampions Boma on Infrastructure Financing and Delivery organized last April in Nairobi with the African Union’s High Representative for Infrastructure His Excellency Mr. Raila Odinga.

Considering that key enablers of the AfCFTA are the removal of non-tariff barriers, the deployment of transport and connectivity networks, access to cheap energy, and African economies’ upscaling towards more value-added products, the framework defines a range of priority opportunities as well as structuring projects to be financed, under certain conditions, by the fund set up for that purpose.

Most importantly, the AfroChampions Initiative also provides for an annual benchmarking process to follow up on this program as well as on national reforms transcribing the AfCFTA to improve African states’ cross-border business-readiness.

“With the AfroChampions Initiative, we have found partners committed to our vision of a prosperous and integrated Africa and working to implement practical solutions.

The AfCFTA Private Sector Investment and Financing framework is a very thorough approach: monitoring the AfCFTA agreement’s legal implementation, defining certification criteria qualifying projects eligible for funding, mobilizing the private sector in Africa, and a process to coordinate with the public authorities ” said H.E.M. Albert Muchanga, African Union’s Commissioner for Trade and Industry.

“The African Union’s Summit in Niamey gave us a great opportunity to raise awareness among Heads of State and we hope to be able to move quickly on this ambitious roadmap.”

“To address reluctance and concerns about the AfCFTA, we must demonstrate that it is a major and tangible opportunity for all stakeholders, whether states or companies regardless of size, civil society or individual citizens of the African continent. And this AfCFTA Private Sector Investment and Financing Framework is the best tool for realizing that goal,” said Ali Mufuruki, Vice-President of the AfroChampions Club for the East Africa Region.

“We need to work better together across borders and focus on high-impact regional or pan-African projects – because they are the most likely to attract the volume of funds that we need. This is our main challenge today”.

The participants in the Accra session defined at the end of their workshop a detailed roadmap, including various milestones over the next 18 months. Among the key dates is the presentation of the dedicated fund, scheduled for the 4th quarter of 2019 for the next AfroChampions Boma, the first benchmark and a follow-up report on the AfCFTA implementation and the organization of an exhibition on ‘made in Africa’ early 2020.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.

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AfCFTA holds the prospect of transforming African economies— Ekra

July 27, 2019

Jean-Louis Ekra, an Ivorian national, and former president of Afreximbank, in this interview, he spoke on Africa’s trade relations, especially on Russia-Africa relations and AfCFTA, Africa’s expected game changer. Excerpts:

What are the prospects of African Continental Free Trade Area agreement hold for Africa’s development?

You know that Africa is a continent that trades the least with itself. There are benefits trading with your neighbors, like reduced costs and so on. The first thing that African countries will benefit from this agreement is the opportunity to trade with their neighbors by just opening borders.

The second is that it will push countries to transform their usual commodities into manufactured goods. You need to have complementary products to trade effectively with your neighbors. So, it will be a good incentive for African economies to enter a process like AfCFTA that will help to transform their economies.

What is your view on the future of Africa-Russia relationship?

Africa needs to diversify its relationships for its own benefit. A diversified relationship protects one if one of many partners falls on bad times. So, it is important for Africa, from that perspective, to diversify its relationship. So the Russia-Africa relationship is welcomed in that context.

How best can Africa leverage on its relationship with Russia to bridge its infrastructural gap?

Russia, as you know, has advanced technology. In infrastructure, Russia is well known for power. It has capabilities in solar and hydropower energy that can be implemented in our continent. So, I think that it will be good for African and Russian private sectors to jointly develop those activities.

Some are canvassing that Africa countries should bring home some of their foreign reserves held abroad for investment in Africa. What is your view? There is an initiative that we launched in Afreximbank when I was there, which is ongoing. Yes, it is correct for Africa to try and use, as much as possible, its own resources, including external reserves. There is no reason the continent should be borrowing money when it has money in deposits in other places.

Won’t it have an adverse impact on foreign exchange markets on the continent? No. It won’t. These reserves are backed by strong ratings of an institution like Afreximbank. You have currency in America or in Europe. If you have it in Africa it is still your own, so it should not affect your exchange rate.

On the event that this becomes a reality, which institution will warehouse the foreign reserves?

Foreign exchange reserves have to be held in a strongly rated institution because they are important assets of a country. So, AfDB can hold those reserves likewise the Afreximbank. In my view, these are the two institutions that can hold such a reserve.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.

Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/Afrikanheroes/

Over $40 billion in Trade Deals, Participants From 55 Countries Expected at Intra African Trade Fair 2020 in Kigali

July 11, 2019

Organizers of the Second Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF2020) have promised that it will surpass the achievements of the inaugural trade fair held in Cairo in 2018 by attracting 10,000 participants and generating intra-African trade and investment deals worth more than $40 billion. This was made known by Prof. Benedict Oramah, President of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank).

Prof. Oramah was speaking at the formal launch of IATF2020 during the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Business Forum 2019 held on the sidelines of the 12th Extraordinary Summit of African Union (AU) Heads of State in Niamey, Niger.

He told guests that the trade fair, scheduled for Kigali from 1 to 7 September 2020, would attract more than 1,100 exhibitors from over 55 countries.

“Working with our esteemed partners, we will exceed the achievements of 2018,” he said, describing IATF2018 as a resounding success, not in the colourful displays exhibited, but in the showcasing of diversity of tradable goods by about 1,100 exhibitors from 45 countries and in the execution of deals worth about $32 billion.

That trade fair resulted in a Nigerian technology company winning a $100-million contract to provide technology-based solutions to the South Sudanese government; an Egyptian company winning contracts in many African countries to supply and install energy generation and distribution equipment worth close to $1 billion; Egyptian and Tunisian companies signing a $50-million partnership deal to create a joint venture for assembling home appliances; and the signing of a $3-billion energy generation project between an Egyptian company and an African government, the largest-ever intra-African project executed exclusively by African entities, including financial institutions, he noted.

“The momentum created by the maiden IATF and the historic launch of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will sustain the growth of cross-border trade and investments,” he affirmed.

Also speaking, Amb. Albert Muchanga, the AU Commissioner for Trade and Industry, said that the IATF was one of a set of activities planned by the African Union Commission to support the implementation of the AfCFTA. The others included the African Trade Observatory, a portal for real-time information on business opportunities.

Soraya Hakuziyaremye, Minister of Trade and Industry of Rwanda, said that it was important for the African private sector to take advantage of IATF2020 to present and exchange their products and for entrepreneurs to use it to boost their visibility.

The Second Intra-Africa Trade Fair (IATF2020), which will take place in Kigali from 1-7 September 2020, is expected to attract more than 1,100 exhibitors from 55 countries and to provide a platform for sharing trade, investment and market information. It will enable buyers and sellers, investors and countries to meet, discuss and conclude business deals as well as provide an opportunity for exhibitors to showcase their goods and services and to engage in business-to-business exchanges.

The key features include an IATF2020 Conference, a Creative Africa initiative, which will showcase Africa’s creative economy, Country Days dedicated to specific African countries, and an interactive online Virtual Trade Fair.

IATF2020 is being organized by Afreximbank, in collaboration with the African Union, and is hosted by the Government of Rwanda. The event partners are the African Development Bank, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa represented by the Africa Trade Policy Centre; Afrochampions Initiative; Pan African Chamber of Commerce and Industry; World Trade Centre Miami; Export Development Authority of Egypt; and International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.

Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/Afrikanheroes/

How AfCFTA Will Impact Africa’s Economies

July 9, 2019

With the launch of Sunday of a continental free-trade zone in Africa, leaders of 54 nations have created on paper, which is regarded as the largest free trade zone in the world. Encompassing 1.3 billion people, and the potential to create a $3.4 trillion economic bloc.

After four years of talks, an agreement to form a 55-nation trade bloc was reached in March, paving the way for the launch earlier this week at the African Union Summit in Niger where Ghana was announced as the host of the trade zone’s future headquarters and discussions were held on how exactly the bloc will operate.

It is hoped that the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) – the largest since the creation of the World Trade Organization in 1994 – will help unlock Africa’s long-stymied economic potential by boosting intra-regional trade, strengthening supply chains and spreading expertise.

“The eyes of the world are turned towards Africa,” Egyptian President and African Union Chairman Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said at the summit’s opening ceremony.

“The success of the AfCFTA will be the real test to achieve the economic growth that will turn our people’s dream of welfare and quality of life into a reality,” he said.

Africa has much to catch up with: its intra-regional trade accounted for just 17% of exports in 2017 versus 59% in Asia and 69% in Europe, and Africa has missed out on the economic booms that other trade blocs have experienced in recent decades.

Economists say significant challenges remain, including poor road and rail links, large areas of unrest, excessive border bureaucracy and petty corruption that have held back growth and integration.

Members have committed to eliminating tariffs on most goods, which will increase trade in the region by 15-25% in the medium term, but this would more than double if these other issues were dealt with, according to International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates.

The IMF in a May report described the free-trade zone as a potential “economic game changer” of the kind that has boosted growth in Europe and North America, but it added a note of caution. Reducing tariffs alone is not sufficient, it said.

Africa already has an alphabet soup of competing and overlapping trade zones – ECOWAS in the west, EAC in the east, SADC in the south and COMESA in the east and south.

But only the EAC, driven mainly by Kenya, has made significant progress toward a common market in goods and services.

These regional economic communities (REC) will continue to trade among themselves as they do now. The role of AfCFTA is to liberalize trade among those member states that are not currently in the same REC, said Trudi Hartzenberg, director at Tralac, a South Africa-based trade law organization.

The zone’s potential clout received a boost when Nigeria, the largest economy in Africa, agreed to sign the agreement at the summit. Benin has also since agreed to join. Fifty-four of the continent’s 55 states have now signed up, but only about half of these have ratified.
One obstacle in negotiations will be the countries’ conflicting motives.

For undiversified but relatively developed economies like Nigeria, which relies heavily on oil exports, the benefits of membership will likely be smaller than others, said John Ashbourne, senior emerging markets economist at Capital Economics.

Nigerian officials have expressed concern that the country could be flooded with low-priced goods, confounding efforts to encourage moribund local manufacturing and expand farming.

In contrast, South Africa’s manufacturers, which are among the most developed in Africa, could quickly expand outside their usual export markets and into West and North Africa, giving them an advantage over manufacturers from other countries, Ashbourne said.

The vast difference in countries’ economic heft is another complicating factor in negotiations. Nigeria, Egypt and South Africa account for over 50% of Africa’s cumulative GDP, while its six sovereign island nations represent about 1%.

“It will be important to address those disparities to ensure that special and differential treatments for the least developed countries are adopted and successfully implemented,” said Landry Signe, a fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Africa Growth Initiative.

The summit also saw the launch of a digital payments system for the zone and instruments that will govern rules of origin and tariff concessions, as well as monitor and seek to eliminate non-tariff obstacles to trade, the African Union said.

While this is a good start, a lot is still left undone, or to be addressed.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.

Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/Afrikanheroes/

Nigeria joins AfCFTA as Buhari signs agreement at AU summit

July 8, 2019

Nigeria officially joined the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) as President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Agreement Sunday in Niamey at the opening of the African Union (AU) Summit.

President Buhari appended his signature to the treaty at exactly 10: 47 a.m. in the presence of African Heads of State and Government, delegates and representatives from the private sector, civil society, and the media attending the 12th Extraordinary Summit of the African Union on Launch of the Operational Phase of the AfCFTA.

In his remarks shortly after signing the agreement, the president declared that Nigeria’s commitment to trade and African integration had never been in doubt nor was it ever under threat.

He told the summit that Nigeria would build on the event by proceeding expeditiously with the ratification of the AfCFTA.

‘‘Nigeria wishes to emphasize that free trade must also be fair trade.

‘‘As African leaders, our attention should now focus on implementing the AfCFTA in a way that develops our economies and creates jobs for our young, dynamic and hardworking population.

‘‘I wish to assure you, that Nigeria shall sustain its strong leadership role in Africa, in the implementation of the AfCFTA. We shall also continue to engage, constructively with all African countries to build the Africa that we want,’’ President Buhari said.

The Nigerian leader also congratulated Ghana on being selected to host the secretariat of the AfCFTA.

President Buhari stated further: ‘‘I have just had the honor of signing the agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), on behalf of my country, the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

‘‘This is coming over a year since the AfCFTA Agreement was opened for signature in Kigali, Rwanda, at the 10th Extraordinary Summit of the African Union, on 21st March 2018.

‘‘In fact, you will recall that the treaty establishing the African Economic Community was signed in Abuja in 1991.

‘‘We fully understand the potential of the AfCFTA to transform trade in Africa and contribute towards solving some of the continent’s challenges, whether security, economic or corruption.

‘‘But it is also clear to us that for AfCFTA to succeed, we need the full support and buy-in of our private sector and civil society stakeholders and the public in general.

‘‘It is against this background that we embarked on an extensive nationwide consultation and sensitization program of our domestic stakeholders on the AfCFTA.

‘‘Our consultations and assessments reaffirmed that the AfCFTA can be a platform for African manufacturers of goods and providers of service to construct regional value chains for made in Africa goods and services.

‘‘It was also obvious that we have a lot of work to do to prepare our nation to achieve our vision for intra-African trade which is the free movement of ‘made in Africa goods’.

‘‘Some of the critical challenges that we identified will require our collective action as a union and we will be presenting them for consideration at the appropriate AfCFTA fora.

‘‘Examples are tackling injurious trade practices by third parties and attracting the investment we need to grow local manufacturing and service capacities.’’

President Buhari noted that Nigeria’s signing of the AfCFTA and its Operational Launch at the 12th Extraordinary Summit was an additional major step forward on the AU’s Agenda 2063.

Meanwhile, with Nigeria and the Benin Republic signing the Agreement at the Summit, 54 out of 55 African countries have signed the world’s largest free trade area deal, encompassing 55 countries and 1.2 billion people.

Eritrea is the only African country yet to sign the agreement.

A total of 26 African countries have deposited instruments of ratification, with Gabon being the latest after depositing her instrument of ratification during the Extraordinary Summit.

The AfCFTA Agreement entered into force on May 30, 2019, thirty days after having received the twenty-second instrument of ratification on 29 April 2019 in conformity with a legal provision.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.

Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/Afrikanheroes/

AU Summit: African Development Bank’s delegation heads for Niamey as AfCFTA top summit agenda

July 7, 2019

The Bank will also participate in the meetings of the 37th NEPAD Heads of state and Government Orientation Committee.

African Development Bank Group President Akinwumi Adesina will next week lead a delegation of top Bank officials to the extraordinary summit of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU) in Niger’s capital, Niamey.

High on the agenda of the July 7-8 summit are discussions on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). President Adesina will meet African leaders to review the continent’s development issues and hold talks on the effective implementation of the AfCFTA.

As a member of the continental Task Force, the Bank will participate in several executive discussions, including the deliberations of the 8th meeting of African Trade Ministers, as well as a meeting of the 37th Steering Committee of Heads of Commerce.

The Bank will also participate in the meetings of the 37th NEPAD Heads of state and Government Orientation Committee, as well as in the 1st mid-year coordination meeting of the AU and Regional Economic Communities.

President Adesina will share the Bank’s vision on empowering African women and on the AFAWA (Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa) initiative.

On the sidelines, there will be discussions between the Bank and major African private sector representatives on the AU’s 2063 vision of an integrated, inclusive and prosperous continent.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.

Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/Afrikanheroes/

AfCFTA: Free Trade and Matters Arising

July 6, 2019

With rising trade and economic nationalism, buoyed mostly by President Donald Trump’s rationalization of his philosophy of “America First” foreign and economic policy stance, the world is experiencing an avalanche of changes. The US leader then goes on to slam – or threaten to slam – punitive tariffs on the goods from countries he thinks are not playing fair in the trade game with the world’s largest and richest economy.

After China, more and more countries are coming under President Trump’s tough rhetoric and protectionist hammer: Canada, Mexico, Japan, Russia, India, Iran and even the continent of Africa, which once enjoyed a preferential trade pact with the US.

The author of The Art of the Deal has jettisoned multilateralism on which global trade has rested since the end of World War II for bilateral deals with the country, picking and insisting on terms that favour his country, effectively pulling the brakes on globalization and fanning the embers of nationalism worldwide.

This unsettling disruption to the established world order is what the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is examined at its just concluded 2019 Annual Meetings in Moscow, Russian. Prof. Ha-Joon Chang, Korean-born Professor of Economics, Institute for Public Policy Research, Cambridge University and author of Bad Samaritans, Chief speaker at the main seminar Prospects for Multilateralism in the Era of Protectionism, lampooned the notion of the level playing field, and argued that the developing world must ignore it if it hopes to grow as the rich world did over time.

“The idea only makes sense when the players are equally matched,” he reasoned” and no one can say that such poor countries as Guinea Bissau or Namibia stand a chance against the mighty United States whose currency, the dollar, rules the world!

The Cambridge don drew a burst of laughter from the packed auditorium when he employed the analogy of boxing in which contests are only deemed fair only when contestants are in the same weighed bracket. The US and other rich world countries such as Britain, France, Germany, and Japan, he contended, are heavyweights angling to square off with lightweights.

The hypocrisy rankles all the more when the economic history of the world indicates that all rich world countries did the same things developing countries are today accused of in the 18th and 19th and early 20th centuries, viz: intellectual property theft, counterfeiting, tariffs, and quotas.

What then can developing countries do to cope with the growing retreat into nationalism in the developed economies? Prof. Ha-Joon counsels that they must deal with the biased system in “pragmatic ways”, building infrastructure, integrating for bigger markets where the countries stimulate and learn from one another since political and economic interests naturally go together.

Veronika Nikishina, Minister in Charge of trade, Eurasian Economic Commission, a distinguished panelist at the session, regrets that “multilateral trade is cracking’ and being replaced by “selfish protectionism”. The commission, she says, remains committed to free trade, and is currently negotiating with Iran, Serbia, Singapore and some African countries, including Egypt. Waxing philosophical, Nikishina calls on all countries to each “light a candle so we can make the image we want”.

Interestingly, the only African panelist, Albert Muchanga, Commissioner for Trade and Industry of the African Union, is not as optimistic that the current descent into nationalism in the developed world would slow down or abate. The “playing field is going to be increasingly ‘unlevel’”, he laments. His reasons are cogent: Artificial Intelligence and robotics are, regrettably, impediments, because they eliminate the low-skill and repetitive jobs that most African workers do. Moreover, export-led development which Asian countries grew on is closing up, so Africa needs its own home-grown model.

The solution? Predictably, Muchanga sells the African Union’s pitch: African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA), which is integrating the continent for a large market that does not depend on the whims of developed countries. Fortunately, plans are about concluded on all the details of the protocols and processes needed for take-off.

Afreximbank’s choice of Moscow as the venue of this year’s annual meetings demonstrates the new thinking in Africa. According to Prof. Irina Abramova, Director, Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, institutions in Russia are talking about the growing role of Africa in global business because of its important mineral resources and large population and market.

Her observation and claim are corroborated by none less than Afreximbank’s President, Prof. Benedict Okey Oramah. He disclosed that Africa – Russia trade has blossomed 70% in the past two years since the Bank started dealing with the Russian Federation, valued at over $5 billion. This year’s Russia –Africa Events simply mark the beginning of the type of diversification and expansion Africa must embark on to climb on to the global trade arena in spite of the challenges posed by the growing trend in protectionism sweeping the world.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.

Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/Afrikanheroes/

African Countries Jostle to host AfCFTA Secretariat

July 4, 2019

AT least, four African countries are in the race to host the secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) scheduled to formally take off in July 2019. The countries are Egypt, Kenya, Ghana, and Senegal. It is understood that the AU Commission has set up a panel to evaluate the preparedness of each of the countries applying to host the secretariat.

However, Egypt’s chance of getting the nod of other member states to host the secretariat appears narrow. Egypt’s head of state, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, is the current AU chair. Moreover, Egypt is also the host country of the African Export and Import Bank (Afreximbank).

In the same vein, hosting the secretariat may elude Ghana since Cote d’Ivoire, a neighboring West African country, is the host of the African Developing Bank (AfDB). It might be viewed as concentrating Africa’s major economic institution in one region of the continent. For now, the odds appear to favor Kenya, an East African country. It is one of the first batches of countries to ratify the free trade agreement.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.

Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/Afrikanheroes/

At Last, Nigeria Prepares To Sign African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA)

July 3, 2019

Nigeria is preferring to laugh last here. It is bringing to the table a population of over 200 million to the African Continental Free Trade Agreement. A tweet from the Nigerian Presidency wraps up the whole debate about why Nigeria has refused to be part of the deal.

‘‘Nigeria will sign the #AfCFTA Agreement at the upcoming Extraordinary Summit of the African Union in Niamey, Niger. Recall that the Pres. Cttee on the Impact & Readiness Assessment of the Agreement Establishing the AfCFTA submitted its Report to Pres @MBuhari Thur June 27, 2019.

The tweet goes further to quote Nigerian President as saying that:

“For #AfCFTA to succeed, we must develop policies that promote African production, among other benefits. Africa, therefore, needs not only a trade policy but also a continental manufacturing agenda.” — President @MBuhari, June 27, 2019

It further stated that:

“Our vision for intra-African trade is for the free movement of ‘made in Africa goods.’ That is, goods and services made locally with dominant African content in terms of raw materials and value addition.” — President @MBuhari, June 27, 2019 #AfCFTA

10:37 PM — 2 Jul 2019

“Let me state unequivocally that trade is important for us as a nation and to all nations. Economic progress is what makes the world go around. Our position is very simple, we support free trade as long as it is fair and conducted on an equitable basis.” — President @MBuhari

10:43 PM — 2 Jul 2019

Here are The Key Points You Should Know About the AfCFTA Agreement:

The CFTA is a free trade agreement among African countries, who are signatories to the Agreement. The CFTA is consistent with the World Trade Organisation rules relating to Free Trade Agreements. A free-trade agreement is an agreement among a group of two or more countries whereby the duties and other restrictive regulations of commerce are eliminated on substantially all the trade between the countries in products originating from the countries.

The Key Targets Of The Agreement

The Agreement wants to create a single market for goods and services in Africa and to permit more people to move around any country in Africa with minimum visa requirements.
It also seeks to create a market that is less free from custom duty and tariffs.
It seeks to make the movement of money and capital across African countries freer.
The Agreement also hopes that, if it ever becomes successful, there would be established a Continental Customs Union that would make issues of customs duty and levy less demanding in Africa.
The Agreement seeks better ways of bringing more industries to Africa as well as opening up its agricultural and food sectors.

What The Agreement Intends To Disrupt for African Businesses

Free Up Trade

The Agreement, when it comes in force on July 7, 2019, would finally put an end to tariffs charged on goods imported from African countries that have signed the Agreement. Therefore, countries that have signed the Agreement are required to set out the products or goods that they are willing to forfeit tariffs on. They are also expected to list out the import duties to be charged on products or goods that they are not ready to fully forfeit tariffs or import duties on.

The Agreement, in other words, would allow the signatory countries to offer preferential treatment to goods imported from other African countries that are also signatories to the Agreement. However, the Agreement has listed some steps to be followed in making sure that this preferential treatment fully benefits any signatory country. In any case, this preferential treatment would not be applied where the goods or products in question are meant to remedy any defect in trade.

The Implication of Nigeria’s Signature

With this proposed signature, Nigeria is signaling an end to the drama of Africa’s most populous nation and largest economy refusing to sign the agreement citing abuse and destruction of its local industries. What remains is for Nigeria’s Parliament to ratify the Agreement in order to fully benefit from the Agreement.

So far, 25 African countries have deposited their instruments of AfCFTA ratification with the African Union Commission. They include Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Niger, Chad, Congo Republic, Djibouti, Guinea, eSwatini, Mali, Mauritania, Namibia, SouthAfrica, Uganda, IvoryCoast, Senegal, Togo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gambia SierraLeone, Sahrawi Republic, Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso, and SaoTomé and Principe

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.