1 COMESA NEWS€¦ · 1 COMESA NEWS VOLUME 2. 2014 Six COMESA projects picked for financing, at...

COMESA News_Vol.2. 2014

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COMESA NEWS

VOLUME 2. 2014

Six COMESA projects picked for financing, at Dakar Summit

COMESA News_Vol.1 2014

A publication of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) SecretariatBen Bella RoadP.O. Box 30051, Lusaka, ZambiaTel: + 260 211 229 725/32 Fax: +260 211 225 107Email: [email protected]/ Web: www.comesa.int

CHIEF EDITOR: Ann MugungaCONTRIBUTORS: Mwangi Gakunga, Muzinge Nampito, Daniel Banda, Mweusi Karake and Cephas Moonga.PHOTOGRAPHY/GRAPHIC DESIGN: Philip Sipho Kambafwile

Judges undergo training in arbitration10Science based initiatives to unlock agro-based potential /1

Sudan hands over COMESA Court /2

‘Focus more on foreign policy’ /5

CVTFS picks pace in the Northern Corridor /6

Seychelles to increase shares in PTA Bank /7

Poor seed contributing to food insecurity /9

Seychelles - Zambia in twin tourism drive /12

A Roadmap drawn up to ease doing business /17

Zambia initiates agriculture productivity and market

enhancement project /21

AND MANY MORE


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COMESA is advocating for the application of science, innovation and technology to

help unlock the multi-billion agro-based potential in the region and the African continent at large.

Pursuant to this, the regional bloc has come up with an Industrial Policy and a Seed Harmonization Implementation Plan (COMSHIP) which are both at advanced levels of development to help Member States enhance their manufacturing sector and add value to their primary produce.

“The industrial policy is intended to improve the competitiveness of the

industrial sector, thereby enhancing the expansion of intra-regional trade in manufactured goods and achieve structural transformation of the economies of its 19 Member States,” Secretary General, Sindiso Ngwenya said.In his statement delivered to the Fourth Biennial Conference of stakeholders in agriculture and network of universities – called RUFORUM in Maputo, Mozambique Friday, 25 July 2014, Mr Ngwenya said that Africa is plagued by low value adding economic activities and trade in raw materials with minimum profit yields.

Citing the livestock industry Ngwenya added: “Africa contributes 21 percent of the total livestock production in the world yet it earns only 2.67 percent (approximately US $4 billion) of the total global earnings of over US $150 billion industry, which is greater than the sales of cotton, sugar, tea and meat combined.”

He observed that even though COMESA has over the last decade recorded an annual real GDP growth of approximately 6.5 percent, this has not led to the economic transformation. He attributed the poor earnings to low level of adoption and use of science, technology and innovation.

Science based initiatives to unlock agro-based potential

“The region needs research, reverse engineering and the development of technology to fabricate machinery in order to tackle the low value addition economic activities and trade in raw materials.” to page 2


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The Government of Sudan officially handed over the newly built and furnished state

of the art COMESA Court of Justice headquarters building in Khartoum, on 26 June 2014.

The handover was officiated over by the Sudan Justice Minister, Hon. Mohamed Dosa, and the COMESA Assistant Secretary General, Amb. Nagla El Hussainy.

Hon. Mohamed Dosa said that the construction of the Court was done to

In order to advance Africa’s potential to become competitive in the leather and leather products sector, the Secretary General advocated for the involvement of the local universities in enhancing research and technology.

“Improvements in the leather tanning processes and designing of leather products will require research”, he said. “Development of small and medium enterprise tools will require research. Reverse engineering will require research. This is in addition to the development of technology to fabricate machinery for the leather industry.”

Mr Ngwenya concluded that this was easily attainable through the specialized institutions that already have the mandate to spearhead initiatives by working closely with the universities in the region and at the global level.

The COMESA Leather and Leather

Products Institute (LLPI) based in Ethiopia has already developed strong linkages with universities, governments and the private sector under the triple helix approach. This approach links the three institutions in the advancement of science, technology and innovation for industrial development.

Similarly, COMESA has developed the Seed Harmonization Implementation Plan (COMSHIP) under the Alliance for Commodity Trade in Eastern and Southern Africa (ACTESA) with a view to developing the seed sector. This is aimed at advancing agricultural development along the value chain.

In order to deal with issues of biotechnology, COMESA is implementing a bio-technology programme alongside other initiatives that all require inputs from regional and international researchers, academics and professionals.

Science based initiatives..continued from page 1

to page 3

The COMESA Court of Justice

is instrumental in resolving

the inevitable conflicts in any

functioning trade regime.

It is therefore imperative

that the COMESA trade

regime should have a strong

and independent dispute

resolution mechanism.

Sudan hands over COMESA Courtmeet the highest international standards, and that the handing over of the Court facilities was in fulfillment of the promise made by President Omar El-Bashir of Sudan at the Seventeenth COMESA Heads of State and Government Summit in Kinshasa in February this year.

“This will enable COMESA to achieve its goal of enforcing good governance in its regional integration efforts. Economic co-operation can only succeed in an environment of good governance and the rule of law and in this regard my

“


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Ministry will provide full support to the court in the discharge of its mandate,” the Justice Minister said.

He re-affirmed the Government of Sudan’s commitment to fulfilling its obligations under the host agreement of the Court and to work with them in publicizing its mandate, role and ways to access it by all stakeholders in the country and the region.

While receiving the keys, Amb. Nagla E-Hussainy thanked the Government of Sudan for the generous gesture which she

continued from page 2

said has raised the bar in the standard of COMESA institutions and organs based in Member States.

“It has been a long and not easy journey but the labour of the government which has invested a lot of money in such a magnificent building has not been in vain,” she said. “This historic occasion marks the realization of a permanent seat for the Court of Justice, which will enable it contribute more effectively to the regional integration agenda through provision of dispute resolution mechanisms, which will in turn instill

more confidence among the investors in the region.”The Sudan Minister for Trade, Hon. Osman Alsharief, pledged support to the Court as the co-ordinating Minister for COMESA programmes in Sudan; and further promised to ensure that his country effectively participates and benefits from all COMESA programmes.

“Conflicts are inevitable in any functioning trade regime and it is therefore imperative that the COMESA trade regime should have a strong and independent dispute resolution mechanism,” Hon. Osman Alsharief said.

The Court was built at a total cost of US $4.2 million out of which US $3.5 million went into construction of the court building while US $695,000 was spent on furnishings and communication equipment. All the costs were met by the Government of Sudan.

The three storied Court premises consist of two Court Chambers; Appellate and First Instance Court Chambers with modern furniture, information technology and interpretation equipment to cater for up to twelve languages. There are four chambers for the five appellate judges and six chambers for the seven judges of the Court of First Instance. All have their own consultation rooms and offices for Secretaries.

Other facilities include fully furnished offices for the Registrar, administrative staff and library; three fully equipped kitchens with canteens; the chambers and office are fitted with wall mounted Plasma TV screens including public spaces such as the reception, dining areas and boardrooms. There are two consultation rooms for counsel, four robbing rooms and a CCTV system among other.

Below: Sudan Minister for Justice Hon. Mohamed Dosa (R) hands over the Court Keys to Amb. Nagla El-Hussainy. Insert: New COMESA Court of Justice building


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The African Union and COMESA are working on a framework for specific infrastructure

development in the Island states. Owing to their geographical location, the island nations have missed out on regional infrastructure projects especially those aimed at connecting states either through transport corridors, telecommunications and energy.

Four COMESA island nations: Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius and Seychelles will be among those to benefit from regional infrastructure projects once this initiative is put in place.

The 7th meeting of Ministers in Charge of Integration (COMAI VII), held in Swaziland in July requested the African Union Commission (AUC), in collaboration with relevant stakeholders, to develop specific infrastructure projects for Insular and Islands countries.

In June this year, during the Dakar Summit for Financing Africa’s Infrastructure Development, 16 priority projects drawn from the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) portfolio were identified for implementation by 2020. Six of the projects are in COMESA Member States but there was none for the Island nations.

In line with the proposal adopted by COMAI VII, COMESA will work with its four island nations to identify and prioritize infrastructure projects that would be presented for inclusion in the PIDA portfolio in which US $300

COMESA Island States to benefit from infrastructure projects

He added that COMESA would participate in PIDA implementation activities such as monitoring and evaluation and reporting to ensure that Member States own the infrastructure development programmes that were selected. This includes putting in place the enabling environment for private sector investment in the infrastructure sector.

The ministers recommended that an African integration fund be created to allow Public Private Partnership units at national, regional and continental levels to conceptualize, elaborate and mobilize resources for the implementation of infrastructure integration projects be established.

billion is required for the projects to be implemented through to 2040.

The team leader for COMESA Delegation to the ministerial meeting, Dr Kipyego Cheluget who is also the Assistant Secretary General in charge of Programmes said that integration was one of the key goals under the African Union’s vision and remains at the core of the pan-African vision.

“This is consistent with Article 4 of the COMESA Treaty which provides for specific undertakings related to areas where Member States should co-operate,” Dr Cheluget said. “COMESA has, therefore, articulated these areas of co-operation into different programmes and projects addressing integration agendas.”

“We are trying our best to gain

democracy in Africa


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“Egypt has been paying less attention to issues of foreign policy because of the great challenges that the country has been faced with in the past few years,” Dr Boutros Boutros Ghali, the former UN Secretary General and Honorary President of the National Council for Human Rights of Egypt has said.

“The problems that we are facing as a country have to be solved at the global level. This is a reality that has to be faced by all countries worldwide, not just in Africa, as this is the only way that we can have a comprehensive solution to the global peace and security challenges today.”

Dr Ghali was addressing the COMESA election observer mission to Egypt, on Sunday, 25 May 2014, during a meeting held at Egypt’s National Council for Human Rights offices in Cairo.

Dr Ghali added that Egypt in particular and COMESA in general need to engage more with other countries in the region and beyond in order to solve foreign policy issues that hinder trade, growth, development and endanger the lives of many people worldwide.

The former UN Secretary General emphasised the importance of African Unity and co-operation, noting the bias and unfair treatment that is often given to Africa especially in regard to governance.

“We are trying our best to gain democracy in Africa, and Egypt needs your presence and support to help us achieve this and overcome the discrimination that we are faced with at the international level,” he concluded. Speaking at the same meeting, Mr Abdel Ghaffar Shukr, the Vice President of Egypt’s National Council for Human

Rights said that the COMESA election observer mission’s presence represented the confidence that the region had in Egypt’s future.

“The international observers were invited to Egypt because we want the world to see that we are choosing our leader and are creating a new legitimacy. We also want to bring an end to conflict.”

He added that the Council is confident in the impartiality and independence of the Judge President of the Elections Committee. Further, he informed Hon. Mutati that there are observers from many human rights organisations and the Council has trained over 4,000 observers to ensure that there is freedom and secrecy during the voting.

“The representatives of all the candidates monitored the voting process, alongside over 40,000 registered observers from COMESA, the African Union, and International Organisation for Francophonie states, and the European Union.”

Hon. Felix Mutati, the Mission leader of the COMESA observer mission said that it was evident that the National Council for Human Rights was supporting the electoral process to ensure that the mistakes of the past elections are not repeated in Egypt. He noted the opening up of Egypt to international observers as a sign of a new beginning in the consolidation of democracy in the country.

The presidential elections in Egypt were held on 26 and 27 May 2014.

‘Focus more on foreign policy’ - Dr Boutros Boutros Ghali

Dr Boutros Boutros Ghali and Hon. Felix Mutati


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The use of the Information Communication Technology (ICT) in trade facilitation along

the Northern Transit Corridor picked pace in the first half of this year leading to the procurement of additional equipment to enable freight forwarders and customs authorities manage and monitor cargo movement thus reducing the cost of doing business.

Rwanda in particular requested for an additional 400 tracking devices developed under the COMESA Virtual Trade Facilitation System (CVTFS). The devices are being used by the Rwanda Revenue Authority with 300 going to containerized traffic and 100 for petroleum tankers.

Council DecisionCVTFS was developed following a Council Decision in 2012 to provide an answer to the high cost of doing business through the use of information technology. Among the key challenges the system sought to address were diversion of goods in transit, delayed clearance at the borders, long transit and release times, goods pilferage and high operating costs in trucking.

Piloting of the devices on the Northern corridor was done in the last half of 2013. This provided enough experience to roll out the system in Member States. The system is used by Customs authorities, freight forwarders, insurance companies, banks, port authorities, container freight stations and traders. So far Rwanda is

among the leading countries that have embraced the CVTFS.

The implementation of the CVTFS was initially be based on the GPRS communications system providing real-time movement of cargo trucks along the corridor that connects the Ports of Mombasa with Uganda, Rwanda, DR Congo as well as South Sudan.

In a meeting between the Secretary General Sindiso Ngwenya and the Rwanda Minister for Trade and Industry, Hon. Kanimba Francois in July, it was agreed that a technical team would explore the feasibility of using the satellite communication systems for the CVTFS taking into account that the cost of satellite communication was more expensive.

With CVTFS, revenue authorities and

freight forwarders are now able to access the location of each consignment on a digital map and to record events during a whole journey from the departure point to destination within a country or border point of exit. They have been able to stem cargo diversion as most gazetted transit goods routes have been geo-fenced.

Among the benefits to companies is the ability to guarantee their customers quality of product delivered to them by securing the product when in transit. Any illegal opening, tamper or even attempt to detach the trailer will prompt the system to send an alert message to the control room and to the contracted transport company.

In the event of vehicle breakdown the company shall receive real time alerts from vehicle drivers under duress by activating a panic button that comes standard with the devices.

CVTFS picks pace in the Northern Corridor

A CVTFS technician (L) prepares to install the tracking device in a containerized truck in Nairobi, Kenya.


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A CVTFS technician (L) prepares to install the tracking device in a containerized truck in Nairobi, Kenya.

region’s resilience to global and regional headwinds. It identified the region’s major challenge as the need to sustain high economic growth and making this growth more inclusive.

“The region needs to pursue appropriate macroeconomic policies and at the same time increase access to key public services, notably education, health and security and further improving institutions and regulations for private sector activity”, the report said. “This helps improve human development, better attainment of the Millennium Development Goals and diversification of the economy.”

The enhanced efforts to facilitate intra-COMESA trade and access to global markets to help the region promote growth and diversification and benefit more from expected increases in global economic activity are lauded. Meanwhile, growth in developed economies is expected to pick up in the medium term, and CMI observes that growth in emerging economies is likely to moderate with potential significant adverse effects on global commodity prices as well as trade and investment flows between Africa and the rest of the world.

“In the face of these risks, African countries need to continue to implement measures to boost domestic demand, diversify production and trade and promote rapid expansion in intra-African trade,” the report says.

Seychelles signed an agreement with the Preferential Trade Area (PTA) Bank with the intention of increasing its

shares in the bank. The signing took place at Beau Vallon between the Principal Secretary for Finance Patrick Payet, the President of the PTA Bank Admassu Tadesse (in picture), and the Corporate Secretary and Director of Legal Services of the PTA Bank, Premchand Mungar.

The Seychelles Government owns 0.5% shares in the PTA Bank and with the agreement it will have until 2018 to pay the US $4 million worth of shares (equivalent to 1.8 % shares) which will make a total of 2.3% shares for Seychelles.

“With the gradual increase of shares that we are having it will help us have a bigger voice or a bigger recommendation when our projects that we propose go before the PTA board. And we will also benefit in terms of dividend payouts,” Mr Payet said.

During the same event the Development Bank of Seychelles (DBS) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the PTA Bank to promote mutual understanding, expand cooperation by enhancing opportunities for business development. The signing was done by the chief executive of DBS Annie Vidot and Mr Tadesse

The COMESA region achieved an average growth rate of 6.6 percent in 2013, up from 5.5

percent in 2012, according to the latest COMESA Monetary Institute macro-economic developments report on the region’s states.

The growth was attributed to relatively high commodity prices, increased trade and investment ties with emerging economies and greater domestic demand underpinned by new, urbanizing consumers with rising incomes.

Further, public spending on infrastructure continued to rise while improved economic governance and management supported macro-economic stability and improved investment environment in many countries in the region.

On the supply side, agriculture and services were the main engines of growth in 2013. In a number of Member States, the agricultural sector accounts for about 25-30 percent of the GDP and employs about 80-90 percent of the workforce. In others, agricultural production was boosted by favourable weather conditions in 2013. The CMI noted that the services sector continued to be a principal engine of growth in the region.

“Traditional services, such as transport, trade, real estate, public and financial services, and new services, such as information and telecommunication technologies are boosting growth in many countries,” the report said.

The CMI report further noted that the growth performance was varied across countries; but it underscores the

Regional growth up to 6.6% in 2013The services sector continues to be a principal engine of growth in the COMESA region.” “

Seychelles to increase shares in PTA Bank


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The COMESA Secretariat, through the Regional Integration Support Mechanism (RISM) provided

Euro 435, 000 to the Union of Comoros for implementing projects under the country’s Regional Integration Implementation Programme to enhance the efficiency of customs operations.

The Minister of Economy, External Trade and Privatization of Comoros His Excellency Said Ben Ousseni signed the Project Agreement with COMESA Secretary General Mr Sindiso Ngwenya in Lusaka. The funds will be used to enhance customs efficiencies through promoting greater interconnection of trading agencies and through the securing of the country’s Customs Information Systems.

Prior to this agreement, Comoros, with the technical support from COMESA Secretariat prepared and implemented a Regional Integration Implementation Programme

(RIIP) based on general budget support financing. This financing relationship, which began in December 2012 when the Ministerial Committee of the COMESA Fund approved Comoros’ application of Euro 618, 000 marked the official start of the island state’s realization of RISM benefits. The financial resource from 2012 supported various trade facilitation interventions on the island.

The recently signed project agreement therefore means that the current funding is the second tranche of funds being given to Comoros under RISM. Both tranches of funding were made possible by the European Union through 9th European Development Fund (EDF) financing.

Mr Ngwenya used the occasion to announce that COMESA and the EU have extended their RISM financing relationship with a new Contribution Agreement worth Euro 33 million. This funding is committed under the

10th EDF and will be used during 2014 to 2015.

The EU is the sole development partner that provides financing to RISM, having already provided Euro 78 million under the 9th EDF, in addition to the forthcoming Euro 33 million. These resources will make a big difference in supporting COMESA Member States to achieve regional integration commitments over the period 2008 to 2015. It is from these funds that COMESA has been channeling funds to Comoros and other Member States like Burundi, Djibouti, DR Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It is envisaged that, with time, other countries like Eritrea, Ethiopia, Madagascar and Sudan will also join RISM and realize its benefits.

“I trust I speak for the region when I say the EU deserves the profound thanks and high commendations of the COMESA region, as a dependable partner in our regional integration,” Mr Ngwenya concluded.

Comoros receives €435, 000 to improve customs systems

Programme Officer at the EU office in Lusaka Mr Nicolas Gerard, Mr Ngwenya and the Minister of Economy, External Trade and privatization of Comoros Honourable Said Ben Ousseni hold hands after the signing ceremony. In the back is an officer from the COMESA Aid for Trade Unit Mr Caesar Cheelo.


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Poor seed contributingto food insecurity

Secretariat to expedite the harmonization of seed trade regulations and standards in the region.

For that reason she said the Alliance of Commodity Trade for Eastern and Southern Africa (ACTESA) as a specialized agency COMESA was mandated to harmonize seed trade regulations and standards in the region through an extensive consultative process.

The meeting was opened by Zambia’s Agriculture Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Mr Julius Shawa. Speaking at the closing of the meeting, Alliance for Commodity Trade for Eastern and Southern Africa ACTESA Acting Chief Executive Mrs Gizila Takavarasha said that giving farmers quality seed and fertilizer without market support will be a wasted effort.

Speaking on behalf of co-operating partners, Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), Chief of Party

for Scaling Seeds and Technologies Partnership in Africa (SSTP) Richard Jones said the seed sector was critical for increased productivity.

“The seed sector is highly regulated due to outbreaks of diseases and pests, which is affecting free movement of seed in the region,” Mr Jones said.

COMESA Investment Promotions and Private Sector Development (IPPSD) Director, Thierry Kalonji said COMESA’s partnership with COMSHIP is providing the policy reforms and a regulatory framework for guiding action among the farming world stakeholders.

Among the co-operating partners that attended were the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Department for International Development (DfID), European Union (EU), Food and Agriculture Organization, World Food Programme (WFP) and the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).

“Lack of quality and improved seeds in the COMESA region contributes to food insecurity and poverty,” COMESA Assistant Secretary General, Administration and Finance Ambassador Nagla El- Hussainy has observed.Speaking at the official opening of the COMESA Seed Harmonization Implementation Plan (COMSHIP) Development Partners Meeting held on the 17 July 2014 at Intercontinental Hotel in Lusaka, Ambassador Nagla called for access to quality seed for small-scale farmers to increase productivity.

“Among the small-holder farmers, the availability of quality seed in terms of variety accessibility and volumes in the COMESA region is low at only 23 percent. This indication confirms that only one in every four small-holder farmers has access to quality seed or in some cases improved seed,” she said.Ambassador Nagla said in order to meet CAADP commitments and to solve the challenge of food insecurity, COMESA Ministers of Agriculture directed the


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the three major types of economic interactions namely trade, investment and private commercial transactions,” Judge Kitonga said.

The discussions covered dispute resolution mechanism especially arbitration in all three areas with great emphasis on the African experience through the prism of China-Africa economic relations.

Eight consecutive sessions were held over a period of four days. Article 28 of the COMESA Treaty confers jurisdiction on the Court to hear arbitration matters.

The training was attended by Hon. Justice Nzamba Kitonga from Kenya,

Hon. Professor Justice Samuel Rugege the Principal Judge from Rwanda, Hon. Justice Adrien Nyankiye from Burundi, Hon. Justice Duncan Tambala from Malawi, Hon. Justice Ernest Sakala from Zambia, Hon. Justice James Ogoola from Uganda, Hon. Justice Luke Malaba, Hon. Justice Tadesse from Ethiopia and Hon. Justice Stanley Maphalala from Swaziland.

The COMESA Court of Justice has this year conducted a series of training programmes on international arbitration to prepare the Judges apply the system as a way of quickly resolving disputes.

The latest was in July-August this year when nine of the eleven judges attended a one-week long training in Lusaka. Judge President of the Court, Hon. Nzamba Kitonga presided over the sessions.

“The principal objective of these follow up discussion sessions is to continue the introduction of the basic legal frameworks and challenges associated with the resolution of international economic disputes by focusing on

Judges undergo training in arbitration

The judges of the COMESA Court of Justice require knowledge of handling the challenges associated with the resolution of international economic disputes.

Judges of the Court of Justice including Justice Nzamba Kitonga, Judge President (centre) Justice Samuel Rugege,

Principal Judge (2nd left seated) and Registrar Madam Nyambula Mbatia (2nd Right standing)

“


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Innovative trade facilitation technologies developed by the regional economic communities

in eastern and southern Africa have contributed to a success rate of 80 percent in the removal of reported non- tariff barriers.

This achievement has mainly been attributed to the setting up of an online system for reporting identified non-tariff barriers (NTBs). These include health issues, conformity to the rules of origin, customs procedures and documentation, and roads blocks among others.

The online NTB reporting system is a tripartite initiative of the Common Market for Eastern Africa (COMESA) East Africa Community (EAC) and the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC). It operates on the basis of transparency and clarifications of issues to assist the parties resolve the matters that have been raised.

COMESA Director of Trade, Customs and Monetary Affairs, Dr Francis Mangeni says these measures have complemented the annual and bilateral meetings of Member States which provide a standing agenda item on non-tariff barriers. Member States use this forum to raise any matters related to NTBs for consideration.

“COMESA Secretariat then organizes on the on-the-spot verification missions for experts from Member States to ascertain the disputed facts and written advisory technical opinions with recommendations,” Dr Mangeni said. “All these mechanisms on addressing NTBs together have a success rate of over 99%.”

To date, he adds, a total of about 220 of

all reported NTBs in COMESA, have been removed, except for five. These relate to trade in milk from Kenya into Zambia (health standards), palm oil from Kenya into Zambia (rules of origin), soap from Madagascar into Mauritius (rules of origin), fridges and freezers from Swaziland into Zimbabwe (rules of origin), and electronic products from Egypt into Kenya (rules of origin).

“The rules of origin disputes are about whether these products undergo sufficient value addition to meet the minimum threshold for qualifying as products produced in those countries; whereas the standards disputes are about whether the bacterial load in the milk exceeds the maximum requirements under the domestic standards of Zambia”, Dr Mangeni explained.

In the case of health issues also referred to as Sanitary and Phyto-sanitary (SPS)

the private and public sectors in the Member States have varied capacities to implement these measures in line with best practices and international standards. Thus NTBs of SPS nature remain a key obstacle to trade.

“Often, the implementation of SPS measures, particularly in border controls is viewed with a public health protection lens, with less focus on trade facilitation.” Dr Mangeni noted.

The World Trade Organization SPS Agreement requires that where there is more than one option, member states should choose the SPS measure that is least restrictive to trade. The stakeholders are now working on introducing the Short Messaging Service (SMS) to enable economic operators report NTBs instantly using their mobile phones.

Breaking trade barriers through innovation technologies

Stakeholder are moving on

introducing SMS to

repor t NTBs using mobile

phones”

“Dr Francis Mangeni


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Seychelles and Zambia signed a memorandum of understanding

to advance trans-boundary tourism between the two COMESA Member States. At the Seychelles- Zambia twin tourism package breakfast held on 12 June 2014, the Seychelles Deputy Minister of Tourism and Arts, Hon. Lawrence Evans said that his country

was a leading tourism destination in Sub-Saharan Africa.

“Zambia should therefore learn from our best practices model on how to develop its key tourism sub-sectors, from aqua-sporting to hospitality and tour operations,” Mr Evans said.

The signing ceremony also marked the initiation of dialogue between tourism industries of Seychelles and Zambia on the various ways to promote twin packages in both countries. Mr Felix Chaila, the CEO of the Zambia Tourism Board, said that Zambia’s wildlife, landscape and vegetation in combination with Seychelles’

Seychelles - Zambia in twin tourism drive


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numerous flora and fauna, and exotic island destinations, would provide a winning competitive package for the international tourists.

The Director of Seychelles Tourism Office, Mr David Germain said that it is important to preserve the environment and that his country is well known for best practices in sustainable tourism. “The tourism office works very closely with the tour operators and destination management companies to ensure that ideal tourism packages are available according to the budgets of their clientele. Seychelles works closely with over eight regional and international airlines that fly into the country, and I encourage tour operators, international and domestic airlines present to work with the local Seychelles industry so as to promote the respective tourism industries as one package,” Mr Germain said.

The CBC Coordinator, Ms Sandra Uwera, gave the background of the first COMESA sustainable tourism development forum in 2012 and how that brought together the tourism stakeholders in the region. “It is worth noting that Seychelles and Zambia and have been cited as two COMESA countries that have followed up on the recommendations of the meeting and used the sustainable tourism strategic framework to guide key areas of mutual interest and partnership.” she said.

The meeting brought together the tourism boards of the two Member States, as well as tour operators, airline companies and a delegation from COMESA Secretariat and the COMESA Business Council.

In creating innovative twin packages for Zambia and Seychelles, we aspire to see a boost of trade in tourism across the two countries

Victoria Falls, one of the leading tourist attraction sites in Zambia.

“

COMESA and the Government of Western Australia have established a joint working group

to spearhead the implementation of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on mineral and petroleum resources. The MoU was signed in January this year in Lusaka by Western Australia Premier Mr Colin Barnnet and COMESA Secretary General, Sindiso Ngwenya.

The Joint Working Group (JWG) was established in May 2014 to provide a framework for co-operation covering mineral and petroleum resources, agriculture, vocational training and capacity building that are provided for in the MoU. COMESA representatives are Thierry Mutombo, McClay Kanyangarara, Stanley Mbagathi and Oliver Maponga (UNECA). Dr Tim Griffin, John Shute, Filippo Raggi, Diana Phang, Elliot Samson, and Virginia Simms represent WA.

In the JWG first meeting, COMESA team expressed a preference for training in mining and mineral policy development, and taxation and fiscal frameworks to be held by the end of 2014. In this regard COMESA would share with WA, the project documents on four proposed capacity building activities (policy, taxation and fiscal framework, linkages and mineral management) for possible collaborative delivery under the MoU and/or possible assistance with resource

Working Group to implement COMESA W. Australia MoU

to page 15


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COMESA is to receive US $110 million from the European Union (EU) to support regional

economic integration programmes. This is part of the US $1.8 billion that EU has earmarked to finance regional cooperation in Eastern and Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean Island States. “Half of the US $1.8 billion would be used to finance infrastructure in the Eastern, Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean. The rest will be shared between the five regional organizations: COMESA, EAC, SADC, IGAD and

the IOC,” Mr Gilles Hervio, Head of the European Delegation to Zambia, said when addressing delegates from COMESA Member States in Lusaka. This was during the opening of a two-day workshop to validate the project proposals for funding prepared by COMESA and the EU Delegation in Lusaka.

The projects to be considered under the funding would include cross-regional initiatives on migration, regional stability in the Great Lakes Region, maritime security, trans-boundary water management, wildlife

conservation, sustainable fisheries, implementation of interim Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) and ICT Development.

“Priority will be on activities with the greatest potential to deliver tangible results and which modes of implementation would be most effective. Member States should, therefore, identity areas where the regional funds are most needed to make a difference to the people in the region,” Mr Hervio said.

Among the infrastructure projects to be considered in COMESA are power interconnectors, One Stop Border Posts (OSBP) and roads and bridges construction on the key transit corridors. Other key projects will be on regional economic integration programmes focusing on reducing the cost of cross-border trade through the removal of internal barriers, increasing the participation of small and medium enterprises in global values chains and enhancing the capacity of the COMESA Secretariat to engage with its Member States, including the private sector.

Secretary General, Mr Sindiso Ngwenya said the 11th EDF financing will be based on each Regional Economic Community’s strategic paper unlike in the past where the RECs came together with one regional strategic paper and one indicative programme.

US $110 million for regional integration

Secretary General Sindiso Ngwenya and Head of EU Delegation Mr. Gilles Hervio

to page 15


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“Each REC will have its own specific envelope managed in consultation with the Head of the EU delegation based in that particular REC,” Mr Ngwenya said.

He observed that whereas at the COMESA-EAC-SADC tripartite level there was agreement on “who will do what”, there were risks of duplication and lack of coherence in programme implementation at the national level. He urged Member States to take ownership of the proposed projects as the focus of the 11th EDF funds will be on implementation of regional commitments at the national level.Chirundu one stop border post

mobilization.

The COMESA industrialization policy places the minerals sector at the centre of strengthening linkages and value addition. Pursuant to this, it is developing a project to build the capacity of key players in the minerals sector in its Member States to be named: COMESA Human and Institutional Capacity Development in the Mineral Sector.

The proposed project will be implemented in all Member States of COMESA and will include COMESA-wide interventions as well as harmonized national level activities.

During the MoU signing, it was acknowledged that institutions that support mineral development in Africa are generally weak due to human skills deficiency and financial constraints and therefore inappropriate to effectively facilitate the role of minerals in

development.

COMESA will establish national focal points for the implementation of the MoU on behalf of the JWG. Member States will be co-opted on a need basis, such as when activities are to be organised in their country.Ministers from the Mining Ministries in many COMESA Member States later attended the Africa Down Under mining conference in Perth from 03 to 05 September 2014; which was hosted by Prime Minister Colin Barnet. The

conference, held under the theme: “Africa Down Under” offered an opportunity for COMESA to showcase the region’s mineral potential. Western Australia also offered to link COMESA with other potential sources of support for the proposed activities.

Western Australia is the largest State in Australia with one of the highest living standards in the world and a robust economy largely driven by extraction and processing of mineral and petroleum commodities.

Workshop group..

COMESA Secretary General Sindiso Ngwenya (L) witnessing the exchange of joint work plan between the Joint Working Group members Mr. John Shute (WA) and Mr Thierry Kalonji (COMESA). The ceremony took place in Perth in September 2014


16

“Tanzania-Kenya Transmission Line has a capacity of 400 megawatts. It is expected to connect the East African Power Pool to the Southern Africa Power Pool at an estimated cost of US $1.122 million. The project has a financing gap of US $1.116 million.

Ruzizi 111 consists of the construction of a 147 MW Hydropower Plant on the Ruzizi River bordering DR Congo and Rwanda to be developed through a concession by a private investor. The project is estimated to cost US $600 million. The Batoka Gorge is expected to generate 1,600 megawatts of power and requires US $6,000 million. The 614km Serenje-Nakonde project is the last major section of the North-South Corridor and requires upgrading at a cost of US $674 million while the 75km Kampala-Jinja Road is estimated to cost US $74 million.

The Lusaka-Lilongwe ICT Terrestrial Fibre Optic is a 10 Gigabits single

channel fibre line that is expected to get financing for implementation at a cost of US $1.5 million.

PIDA is the African Union blueprint for regional and continental infrastructure development for the period, 2012-2040. It is jointly coordinated by the African Union Commission (AUC) and the NEPAD Agency.

COMESA was represented by Assistant Secretary General (Programmes) Dr Kipyego Cheluget and Dr Mohamedain Seif Elnasr, Energy Economist in the Infrastructure Division.

Six COMESA projects picked for financing, at Dakar Summit

US $68 billion would be required for the implementation of the 16 priority projects identified by the PIDA

The Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) identified six COMESA infrastructure projects to be implemented by the year 2020. The six were selected during the Dakar Financing Summit (DFS) for Africa’s Infrastructure that took place in Dakar, on 14 -15 June 2014.

Three of the projects are in the energy sector, two in road transportation and one in information communication technology. They include the Zambia-Tanzania-Kenya power transmission project, Ruzizi 111 and Batoka Gorge hydropower generation projects. Others are the Serenje-Nakonde Road Project, the Kampala-Jinja road and the Lusaka-Lilongwe ICT Terrestrial Fibre Optic.

The objective of the Dakar Summit was to mobilize key stakeholders around the on-going efforts by the African Union including the NEPAD Programme, to accelerate the implementation of priority regional economic infrastructure projects. COMESA has sixteen infrastructure priority projects.

These were presented to potential sponsors, developers, and financiers to work through project risks, regulatory constraints, and other obstacles to bankability. About US $68 billion would be required for the implementation of the 16 priority projects identified by the PIDA Priority Action Programme (PAP) until 2020.

The six COMESA projects would require about US $8 billion, which is 12.5 percent of the whole amount required for the priority projects.

In the energy sector, the selected projects are all estimated to cost US $7.722 million with a financing gap of US $7.316 million.

The proposed 2,206 km Zambia-

pole lines


17

COMESA awarded a grant of US $1.3 million to Uganda, Seychelles and Swaziland to upscale Climate Smart

Agriculture (CSA). Out of the amount, Uganda received US $740,000 to promote climate smart agriculture practices in five districts, namely Budaka, Bukedia, Bugiri, Buyembe and Namutamba. The support would benefit more than 15,000 small holder farmers, and 30 schools. Piloting CSA in schools was essential for future sustainability since school going children were more amenable to new ideas.

Swaziland is to receive US $385,519 which would among others promote vegetable production and marketing in Nhletsheni, Nnkungwini and Mpatheni Schemes. The project will benefit more than 200 rural farmers.

US $165,929.58 is to go to Seychelles to support piloting integrated water resource management to increase resilience of farming communities on Baie St Anne district and the Praslin plateau. The focus would be on addressing fresh water supply as part of an integrated approach to climate smart agriculture. The project would also help in reducing the level of soil salinity within the farming region thus making it more suitable for food plants.

To support and facilitate the implementation of the projects, COMESA entered into an agreement with UNDP offices in the respective countries. In addition, COMESA was jointly implementing a five year tripartite programme with the East African Community (EAC), and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Funding for the programme was contributed by the European Union Commission, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the United Kingdom Department for international Development (DFID).

COMESA in collaboration with the International Finance Corporation and World Bank

is implementing a roadmap to ease doing business in the region. The key component of the roadmap is to identify specific constraints and obstacles facing the business actors.

The Director of Investment Promotion and Private Sector Development at COMESA, Mr Thierry Kalonji said that the initiative will involve sending regional experts from reforming countries to share best practices on the reform processes.

“The experts will assist the countries in developing a roadmap which defines priority actions to overcome the obstacles that the private sector faces in doing business,” Mr Kalonji said.

“Further, there will be discussions on the implementation of the roadmap through setting up a related national steering committee in charge of monitoring and evaluation to check on the progress made. These will be equipped to make necessary adjustment required by the expected results.”The national steering committee will have links with COMESA Secretariat for monitoring and evaluation purposes. Mr Kalonji added that many countries from the region had already embarked on the policy reform agenda but they needed support in their efforts to sustain the progress made so far.

At the annual conference on the ease of doing business in southern and eastern Africa was hosted in Maputo Mozambique, Mr Kalonji told the over 130 delegates in attendance that COMESA’s programme on the ease of doing business has a broad coverage compared to the World Bank “Ease of Doing Business Index.”

Three countries supported to upscale climate smart agriculture

“There is need to look beyond the policy reform agenda and address other indicators like the twelve ones used by the Global Competitiveness index which address the quality of basic infrastructures, strength of financial services, macroeconomic conditions, level of corruption among others,” he noted.

He noted that although some countries seemed not to make any progress in the overall ranking of the World Bank, they nevertheless demonstrated significant reforms in World Bank selected indicators and in the Global Competitiveness Index.

The Director told the delegates that COMESA has programmes that are aimed at supporting the private sector through trade, investment facilitation, and the various institutions.

These include the Eastern and Southern Trade and Development Bank (PTA-Bank), African Trade Insurance Agency (ATI) and the COMESA Regional Investment Agency (RIA).

The next conference on the ease of doing business will take in Uganda and Kenya in 2015 and 2016 respectively.

A Roadmap drawn up to ease doing business

Mr Thierry Kalonji


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COMESA Secretariat secured approximately US $10 million from the African Development

Bank (AfDB) to establish a single, seamless airspace in the sub-region. This will reduce air transport costs and increase tourism, trade and regional social economic integration.

A steering committee of the “COMESA Airspace Integration Project” that was earlier constituted has developed the terms of reference for consultancy services to undertake studies for project implementation.

The studies will include development of suitable legal and institutional requirements to establish a co-operative regional framework for the seamless airspace and air transport management by all categories of air space users.

“The study includes a detailed analysis of strategic technical, financial and operational options for provision of upper airspace and air navigation services using Communication, Navigation, Surveillance/Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) systems, and has recommendations for implementation modalities,” COMESA Director of Infrastructure, Dr Abu Dafalla said.

The first meeting of the project steering committee took place in Kigali, Rwanda July 2014 and was attended by delegates from Burundi, Egypt, Madagascar, Rwanda and Sudan and representatives of East Africa Community and Southern African Development Community Secretariats.

The move towards a single, seamless, airspace was mooted by COMESA Heads

of States Summit in Djibouti in 2006. Subsequently a steering committee was named comprising five Member States under the chairmanship of Rwanda to supervise the implementation of the project. The project will be managed a team of technical experts under the Project Implementation Unit located in Kigali. This was established after the signing of a host agreement between the Secretariat and the Government of Rwanda in February 2011.

During the implementation of the project Member States, through their agencies responsible for civil aviation and security, will participate and support the project. This is by providing the data required for designing the technical and physical infrastructure as well as management, operational regulatory and financing structure for the regional project.

Steps towards a seamless airspaceDr Abu Dafalla


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Malawi is one of the countries that have lately embraced the COMESA online trade

facilitation tool that is being used by stakeholders in the transport chain to effectively manage transit goods and reduce the cost of doing business.

The roll out of the COMESA Virtual Trade Facilitation System (CVTFS) in Malawi was done from 21 to 26 July 2014 by a technical team from COMESA who set up the system’s control center at the Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA).

CVTFS provides full visibility, in real time, of all tagged consignments from source to destination. It provides an effective solution for cargo tracking management; and the system is accessible to customs authorities, freight forwarders, insurance companies, banks, port authorities, container freight stations and traders to mention but a few. A draft Memorandum of Understanding on the implementation of the CVTFS in Malawi and an operation manual were submitted to MRA, which is expected to review and submit to COMESA Secretariat by 10 August 2014 in preparation for commercialization of CVTFS.

Discussions regarding the commercialization of CVTFS and preparation for its usage on fuel tankers, open bulk cargo and vehicle locks were initiated in preparation of the CVTFS roll out.

COMESA Secretariat would make available for sale of at least 500 new

devices to handle fuel tankers, open bulk cargo and vehicles once the key stakeholders, including the MRA and the clearing agents, provide the estimated number of required devices.

Prior to the roll out, a selection of border points and transit routes was done in addition to training of assigned MRA experts on the system. Testing of export of high valued cargo such as tea and imports has been successfully carried out for three key routes: Mwanza to Blantyre, Blantyre to Muloza and Dedza to Lilongwe.

The MRA was expected to start setting

up inspection zones where the arming, inspection and disarming by assigned officers will be carried out.

Meanwhile, Ethiopia and Djibouti resumed activities towards the implementation of the CVTFS along their main transit corridor. This was after a joint meeting between representatives of the two states convened to iron out the challenges that have led to delays in rolling out the system.

The CVTFS has been successfully implemented in the Northern Corridors comprising Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and the D R Congo.

Malawi joins the electronic trade initiative


20

In July this year, COMESA and the Government of Mozambique initiated work towards the introduction of an online trade facilitation system at the

CVTFS introduced in Mozambique

Port of Beira, which handles transit cargo to Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi and DR Congo in the North-South transport corridor.

Once in place, Beira will become the third key port after Mombasa and Dar-es-Salaam to have adopted the COMESA Virtual Trade Facilitation System (CVTFS). Mombasa and Dar-es-Salam ports serve the Northern and the Central corridors respectively.

Secretary General Sindiso Ngwenya informed the Mozambique High Commissioner to Zambia, His Excellency Jeronimo Chivavi that COMESA would provide the CVTFS devices once the country is ready to apply the system. This was when the High Commissioner was paying a courtesy call on the Secretary General in his office on 21 July 2014.

An ICT team from COMESA visited and made a presentation of the system to the Mozambique Revenue Authority, which is the administrator of the system.

The CVTFS is an online platform that - among other functions - provides real-time tracking of deliveries thus enabling national revenue authorities to monitor transit cargo until it exits their jurisdiction. This eliminates any possibilities of cargo diversion as most gazetted transit goods routes have been geo-fenced.

COMESA has targeted ports that serve its Member States and later on extend the trade facilitation system to other regional economic blocs.

SG and the Mozambique High Commissioner to Zambia


21

Zambia initiates agriculture productivity and market enhancement project

Simuusa said his government is committed to meeting the 10 percent minimum annual budget allocation to the agricultural sector.

“We are almost there. Currently we are at 7.2 percent for 2014, last year we were at 5.8 percent and in 2012 we were at 6 percent. We are very committed to attaining the Maputo targets as we position agriculture as the lead sector of our traditionally mining economy,” he said.

And speaking in a separate interview, Zambia’s Minister of Finance, Mr Alexander Chikwanda, said that previously the minerals used to account for 90 percent of Zambia’s exports but that is no longer the case.

“The non-mineral sector, principally agriculture, currently accounts for 30 percent of our exports. This gain will be improved upon as we put agriculture as the main stay of our economy,” Mr Chikwanda said.

He added that for agriculture to upgrade the agronomy of small scale farmers, through increased productivity and poverty reduction, there was need for investment in research and improved extension services.

Zambia’s Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, Mr Wilbur Simuusa disclosed this during an interview with COMESA Secretariat’s CAADP Unit in Lusaka.

Mr Simuusa said that the Zambian Government received US $31.12 million from GAFSP after an application to bridge the funding gap of the National Agriculture Investment Plan (NAIP) amounting to US $650 million.

“We used the funds accessed from GAFSP to start the APMEP project which is aimed at increasing productivity of farmers and to promote value addition through irrigation. This is because we only have one rainy season in Zambia”, Hon. Simuusa said.

He added that the project, which targets the six districts of Sinazongwe, Gwembe, Chongwe, Rufunsa, Serenje and Chitambo, will benefit small holder farmers in terms of irrigation schemes, crop diversification and sustainable water management.

“The funds will also be channelled to livestock and aquaculture development in order to enhance income generation of small holder farmers,” he said.

On Zambia’s progress in meeting the Maputo Declaration targets, Minister

The Zambian Government has initiated the Agriculture Productivity and Market

Enhancement Project (APMEP) using funds accessed from the Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme (GAFSP).

Mr Alexander Chikwanda


22

ESA ministers confer on Economic Partnership Agreements

agriculture, marine and inland fisheries, trade related issues and dispute settlement.

However, over the course of these negotiations, a number of contentious issues emerged including policy space regarding scope and timeframes for phasing in trade liberalization, use of export taxes and Most Favoured Nation (MFN) treatment, mobilizing resources for development and capacity building to address numerous supply side constraints.

Mr Ngwenya noted that while the EU remains an important trade and development partner for the ESA region, there is however need for a paradigm shift in EPA negotiations.

“We need to take into account the new geo-political context namely shift towards global value chain, global crisis in industrialized countries, financial crisis, the emergence of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS), raw material driven global growth, race for Africa raw materials, changes in EU trade policy, tripartite and continental free trade area initiatives among others,” Ngwenya said.

The studies were conducted in the eleven countries of Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Seychelles, Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Ministers responsible for commerce, trade and industry from the

Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) group of countries met in Lusaka on 21 July to discuss the findings of the assessment studies which were undertaken by the COMESA Secretariat and UNECA. The studies focused on the proposed Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) with the European Union.

Eleven national studies were undertaken following a decision by the 18th ESA Council of Ministers meeting held in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic Congo in February 2014. They were intended to revive ESA-EU EPA negotiations that have stalled for three years and in light of the outcome of the joint Africa –EU Business conference that preceded the Africa-EU Summit held in Brussels in April 2014.

The objective of these studies was to provide each ESA country with empirical evidence on likely costs and benefits of signing or not signing

an EPA with the EU. Trade experts from both COMESA Secretariat and UNECA presented the findings and discussed in detail about the implications of the EPAs on the region.

The ESA Council was called ahead of the October deadline for the countries to decide whether to sign the EPAs or not. Negotiations have been going on since 2007. Minister Bob Shichinga of Zambia chaired the Ministers meeting.

Secretary General Sindiso Ngwenya told the delegates that following the signing of the interim EPA by four ESA countries (Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles and Zimbabwe), the negotiations were on two tracks. One is focused on concluding a full and inclusive EPA and the other on the implementation of the interim EPA. Under the full EPA, he said the ESA region had agreed to negotiate various subjects including liberalization of trade in goods and services, development co-operation,


23

COMESA signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the

Government of the United Kingdom in July 2014 to support climate change adaptation and mitigation in the COMESA-EAC-SADC region. Under the MoU the UK through the Department for International Development (DFID), will provide a sum not exceeding three million pounds to support improvement of policy on climate smart agriculture.

COMESA Secretary General, Mr Sindiso Ngwenya, who is the current chair of the Tripartite signed on behalf of the partners, the EAC and SADC while the Head of DFID Southern Africa, Mr Mike Hammond signed on behalf of the UK Government. The occasion was witnessed by the visiting UK Secretary of State for International Development, Hon. Justine Greening and the British High Commissioner to Zambia and COMESA, His Excellency James Thornton.

The funds are being used to promote climate smart agriculture interventions, strengthen negotiating capacity of Member States in the international arena, and support national climate change response strategies and research. As part of the promotion of climate smart agriculture, some of the funds shall be used to put up pilot projects in selected tripartite countries.

Speaking ahead of the event, hon. Greening restated her government’s

DFID £3 million for tripartite agriculture

commitment to support the COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite activities geared towards poverty reduction and employment creation through regional integration.

“This is a region in a transition to economic development and we are determined to play our role in support of this development,” the Secretary of State said. “We look forward to continue working with COMESA and its Tripartite partners, hence the

significance of the MoU being signed this morning on climate change.”

She praised the work that COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite is doing towards the achievement of the integration agenda.

The grant will complement the support provided by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the European Union to the Tripartite Programme that has been ongoing since 2010.

Secretary of State Justine Greening, (centre) witnesses exchange of MOU Secretary General Sindiso Ngwenya and Mike Hammond

COMESA is a region in transition to economic

development and the UK is determined to play a role

in support of this development.”“


24

The Africa Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) and COMESA launched a joint

project to support regional integration through capacity building and research.

The launch took place Monday, 11 August 2014 in Nairobi during an awareness creation workshop for COMESA Member States, who are the key beneficiaries of the project. The event was also meant to build partnerships with existing policy think tanks within the region, in order to develop a strategic research agenda for COMESA.

The capacity building intervention will provide institutional strengthening and to enhance the capacity of Member States to carry out trade negotiations. The project falls within ACBF’s mandate, which is to enhance the capacity of Africa’s regional economic

communities and institutions. This is in respect to the implementation of regional co-operation and integration programmes and the management of regional public goods and services. Further, it will contribute to the effective implementation of COMESA’s medium term strategic plan for 2011-2015.

In December 2010 the ACBF Executive board approved a grant of US $3,000,000 to support COMESA in the areas of enhancing the Secretariat’s capacity to carry out economic and trade policy research and analysis. Following the approval, the grant agreement was signed in February 2013.The capacity enhancing project was a successor to the one entitled: “Strengthening Capacity for Trade Policy Development within COMESA” which was implemented from June 2003 to March 2009.

A COMESA Competition Commission delegation conducted a three-day workshop to assist Seychelles

complete a national competition policy. The workshop, held at the Coco d’Or hotel in Beau Vallon, in Victoria, in May 2014, was aimed at helping the Seychelles Fair Trading Commission in identifying the areas of the Fair Competition Act, Fair Trading Commission Act and Consumer Protection Act that need to be harmonised with the COMESA competition regulations; and creating a timetable for the completion of a national competition policy.

The Commission’s delegation comprised Executive Director, George Lipimile; Mary Gurure, the Manager of Legal Services and Compliance; and Vincent Nhkoma, Manager of Enforcement and Exemptions.

“The countries that do not domesticate the international agreements that they are party to are faced with various implications. For instance, cases can be brought against Member States for failure to domesticate regulations and to give full legal effect to regulations constituting a breach of the international agreement concerned,” Mr Lipimile said.

“A competition policy would enable Seychelles to attain the objectives of ensuring greater consumer benefits from the domestic market such as improvement in the quality of goods and services at competitive prices as well as creating an environment which is conducive to foreign direct investment in the country,” he added.

Regional integration capacity building project launched

Competition Commission helps Seychelles harmonise laws

Delegates attending the launch of the Regional Integration Capacity Building and Research project


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Kenya has accessed over €2 million under COMESA’s support to regional integration programmes. This was after the signing of a grant agreement in Nairobi on 15 July 2014 between Cabinet Secretary to the National Treasury, Mr Henry Rotich and COMESA Secretary General, Mr Sindiso Ngwenya.

The agreement, which was an addendum to a previous one signed in 2013, was to make available €2,469,963 in support of domestication and implementation of regional commitments at the national level to enhance the regional integration agenda. The 2013 agreement provided €1,764,345 bringing the total funding to €4,234,309. The latest funding is part of the support under the COMESA Adjustment Facility (CAF) provided under the 9th European Development Fund Regional Integration Support Mechanism (RISM) programme. Kenya’s submission was approved by the COMESA Fund Ministerial Committee in September 2013.

The support provided to Kenya has already contributed to the elimination of non-tariff barriers that hinder trade and to setting up of a coordinating committee and secretariat that deals with regional integration matters at the national level.

In an effort to enhance regional integration, Kenya restructured the government institutional structure, pooling together departments implementing regional integration programmes and institutionalized wide stakeholder participation in policy and implementation of regional commitments.

Going forward, the country expects to improve its business environment by ensuring that the transit transport facilitation instruments such as vehicle dimensions and axle load limits are configured in line with COMESA and the East African Community.

An additional indicative amount of €4,730,805 is available for Kenya under the Adjustment Facility for the next two years and will be disbursed based on progress under the regional integration framework of the COMESA and EAC region.

Kenya gets over €2 million under RISM

The World Food Programme (WFP) has handed over 30 digital communication devices (Tablets) to the Alliance for Commodity Trade in Eastern and Southern Africa, (ACTESA) to enhance the real-time data collection and transmission of informal cross border trade information.

WFP and COMESA have a Memorandum of Understanding which aims to develop, promote and strengthen the co-operation between the two organizations through the development of technical cooperation to make significant contribution to poverty alleviation and improve food security. ACTESA being the specialized agency of COMESA serves to integrate smallholder farmers into national, regional and international markets and is a key partner through WFPs Purchase for Progress programme (P4P) that aims at connecting farmers to structured markets.

The communication gadgets will enable ACTESA, a specialized agency of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) obtain accurate and real-time data information to monitor cross border trade activities.

Speaking during the hand-over ceremony WFP Zambia Country Director Mr. Simon

Cammelbeeck said the tablets valued at US $12,600 will enable ACTESA to monitor the activities at 30 border points and provide the region’s policy makers and food agencies with the food security status in the region. In addition, the WFP will provide $83,652 as part of the operational costs to bridge phase 1 and US $35,000 for technical support to cover the cross border monitoring project.

Speaking on behalf of the ACTESA Chief Executive Officer, Mr George Magai Director Trade and Markets expressed hope that the devices will be put to good use for data capturing along the borders, namely, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Democratic Republic of Congo.

The cross border monitoring system will track current cross border prices, volumes of informal trade in maize meal, maize, rice, sorghum, millet, wheat and beans across the 30 borders.

The information gathered from monitoring of cross border data will complement the national and regional food balance sheets in the region. It will also be used by agro-business planners, research institutions and international trade monitors and humanitarian agencies.

ACTESA gets devices from WFP for monitoring cross border trade

World Food Programme Country Director Simon Cammelbeeck (R)handing over devices to ACTESA Trade and Marketing Director George Magai


26

The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) are working towards facilitating free movement of business people in the east and southern African region.

Technical Working Group (TWG) constituting experts from the tripartite regional blocs are involved in this endeavour. COMESA’s Trade Expert, Mrs Helen Kenani informed delegates attending the International Freight Forwards Association (FIATA) annual conference in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe in June 2014 that the movement of business persons has remained a major hindrance to free flow of inter/intra-regional trade. It is also a key provision in the negotiations for a Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA). The conference was hosted by the Shipping and Forwarding Agents of Zimbabwe, (SFAAZ) and the Region African and the Middle East (RAME) who invited COMESA to brief the delegates on the

RECs initiatives to address Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) and the Tripartite Free Trade Area negotiations. It was officially opened by Senior Minister in the Office of the President of Zimbabwe, Ambassador Simon Khaya Moyo.

In her presentation to the delegates, Mrs Kenani observed that RECs formed an important stakeholder and presented big business opportunities for freight forwarders given the imminent increase in intra and extra-tripartite trade.

“As the TFTA deepens it is expected that it would spur both Foreign Direct Investment as well as regional cross-border investments as currently being witnessed in the COMESA integration process,” Mrs Kenani said.

The delegates noted that important stakeholders in the region were not aware of the efforts being made to fast track the reporting and subsequent resolution of NTBs specifically the tripartite on-line

based mechanism.

An incident that underscored the critical need to address the NTBs was cited whereby a past president of the RAME, Africa Chapter, was prevented from proceeding to the same conference. He was detained in one of the regional airports and then finally sent back to his country for not having a transit visa.“The participants were therefore keen as details of the mechanisms for reporting NTBs were provided that ranged from accessing the internet, reporting as well as easy access to national focal points of a given tripartite country as well as REC Focal Points for assistance”, Mrs Kenani said.

The delegates recommended that COMESA and other RECs that impact on their sector should always be invited to their conferences to appraise the membership on the on-goings in the region as was done at the Zimbabwe Conference.

The Trade Expert informed the conference that COMESA would be glad to assist in terms of capacity building on trade facilitation instruments that have been put in place for their use such as the COMESA Yellow Card Scheme and the Regional Customs Trade Guarantee scheme.The FIATA is a non-governmental organization based in Zurich, Switzerland representing an industry covering approximately 40,000 forwarding and logistics firms and employing around 8-10 million people in 164 countries worldwide.

Easing movement of business persons in the tripartite region

ZRA, Kazumbalesa main central control centre Helen Kenani


27

The Republic of Madagascar was declared eligible to participate in the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), again. US President, Barack Obama, made the proclamation in Washington on 26 June 2014. This means that Madagascar can now have duty-free access to the US $3 trillion market for its products.

“Based on actions that the Government of Madagascar has taken, I have determined that Madagascar meets the eligibility requirements set forth in section 104 of the AGOA and section 502 of the 1974 Act, and I have decided to designate Madagascar as a beneficiary sub-Saharan African country,” the Presidential Proclamation read in part.The Act offers incentives for African countries to continue their efforts to open their economies and build free markets. Other COMESA Member States that are AGOA eligible are Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia.

AGOA was signed in law on 18 May in 2000 as Title 1 of The Trade and Development Act of 2000 by the United States government. It is a US preferential trade programme aimed at supporting sub-Saharan African economic development through trade and investment. The programme offers incentives to sub-Saharan African countries for undertaking difficult political and economic reforms that promote long-term growth and development.

Two COMESA Member States, Seychelles and Madagascar concluded a bilateral air services management agreement in April this year. The agreement provided a renewed and forward-looking framework to govern air access between the island states, which has been complex for decades. It also heralded an era of enhanced connectivity, supporting cultural and trade development. The development was a crucial stage in a bilateral effort to restore direct air links between Seychelles and Madagascar.

Delegates from Seychelles headed by Gilbert Faure, chief executive of the Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority (SCAA), and from Madagascar headed by James Andrianalisoa, the Director General of that country’s Civil Aviation Authority, met for the final negotiations and signing of the agreement at the SCAA head office from 24-25 April 2014. “The new air services agreement between Seychelles and Madagascar is consistent with our regional integration agenda to improve connectivity in the region and promote the two centre-destinations also known as the Vanilla Islands initiative,” said Mr Faure.

“The new framework encompasses all the requirements of commercial operations in today’s modern aviation era to include co-operative arrangements, aircraft leasing and enhanced capacity arrangements to benefit both countries,” Mr Faure added.The signing of the new air services agreement is in line with Seychelles’ President James Michel’s efforts to help Madagascar return to stability after the political crisis experienced by the country in the last few years.

Yellow Card management information system rolled out in Zimbabwe

In order to combat the challenges facing transporters in securing transit goods in the region, COMESA has started rolling out the Yellow Card Management Information System in Zimbabwe. The system will allow for the easy access and management of information related to the day to day administration and management of the Yellow Card Scheme.

The Yellow Card Scheme is regional third party motor vehicle insurance protection meant to enhance the free movement of persons, goods and services within the COMESA region. It is already being implemented in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia.

The rollout was conducted by a COMESA team during a workshop in Harare on 01 July 2014. The team explained to the participants how the system will reduce the delays that have been experienced through the use of the old manual system. The launch attracted major insurance companies and the National Bureau of Zimbabwe which co-ordinates insurance companies in the country.

“Once you start using this system, unlike the old manual system, it will be easy for you to get information on your documentation and will in turn reduce the corruption associated with the old system on claims and Yellow Card forgery,” Kelvin Chisongo, an insurance expert at COMESA said.

Mr Chisongo said the system will ensure strict monitoring of Yellow Card stock movements from the point of ordering by the National Bureaux through issuance of Yellow Cards, claims processing leading to the final settlement of claims.

Madagascar is AGOA eligible

Seychelles and Madagascar bilateral air services agreement


28

The Federation of Women in Business (FEMCOM) is on a drive to promote the cluster programmes in Kenya.

The programmes are centered on leather and leather products; garments and textiles and cassava processing; and have been implemented successfully in the southern African States of Zambia and Malawi.

The objective of the programme is to enhance economic growth in the region, and promote value addition. In Kenya, the clusters programme focuses on garments, textiles and cassava processing at a small scale but this will be scaled up through the county structures to deepen ownership, resource mobilization and sustainability.

The Chief Executive of FEMCOM, Mrs

Katherine Ichoya, said the strategy being applied in Kenya and elsewhere was to identify one region to pilot the cluster programme for possible replication elsewhere.

FEMCOM, in partnership with the Federation of Women Entrepreneur Associations of Kenya, jointly held workshops and meetings to sensitive stakeholders on the cluster programme. This was in addition to identifying the region to implement the pilot programme for future replication. “We identified Machakos County for this initiative and have held consultative meetings led by the Minister of Agriculture of the County Government and even began a process to develop a strategic action plan to implement cassava production,” Mrs Ichoya

said.

In the Machakos initiative, FEMCOM will partner with Farm Concern International (FCI) on a joint resource mobilization drive for cassava cluster development. The strategic action plan will serve as a model for other counties such as Laikipia, Busia, Kiambu and Kilifi, with each county focusing not only on cassava but also on crops that are suitable in their area for purposes of comparative advantage. This process will also be extended to all other COMESA Member States.

To increase awareness of the cluster programme in the region, FEMCOM plans to produce a regional documentary film on the cassava cluster value chain showcasing projects on a regional level.

To further COMESA’s current theme of “Consolidating Intra-COMESA Trade through Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development”, the textiles and garments cluster project is being piloted in ten Member States. In Kenya, COMESA in partnership with the World Vision are supporting the Riruta clothing and textiles project, an initiative that is thriving enough to bid for national tenders. It started with 18 textile machines and has grown to 150 members. World Vision Kenya has supported the project by donating a container that will enable the project eliminate the cost of renting a building.

Cluster programme rolled out in Kenya

In Picture: COMESA-FEMCOM team led by Mrs Katherine Ichoya (4th Right) with Minister of Agriculture in Machakos County, Hon. Larry Wambua. Others are representatives from Farm Concern International and FEWA (FEMCOM Kenya Chapter).


29

COMESA Secretary General, Sindiso Ngwenya was among Heads of State, Governments and organizations that

attended the inauguration of His Excellency Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (in picture)as the eighth President of the Arab Republic of Egypt. The inauguration ceremony took place on 08 June 2014 at Cairo’s Supreme Constitutional Court following successful presidential election from 25 to 27 May 2014.

President Fattah al-Sisi won over 95 percent of the votes cast, making a very significant step towards implementing the road map that was developed after the removal of former President Muhammad Morsi. The final step of the road map will be parliamentary elections,

scheduled for later in the year.

The elections were observed by a team from COMESA among other international observers. During the inauguration, Mr Ngwenya took the opportunity to congratulate His Excellency President al-Sisi on his election and expressed his and COMESA’s unwavering support to Egypt.

“The inauguration of His Excellency witnessed for the first time in the history of Egypt the transfer of power from one President to another in this case from the outgoing Interim leader, His Excellency Adly Mahmud Mansor,” Mr Ngwenya said.

The outgoing leader congratulated President al-Sisi and expressed confidence in his abilities to achieve the aspirations of the people. The occasion was witnessed by among other guests King Abdullah of Jordan, the Emir of Kuwait, the King of Bahrain, Saudi Crown Prince Salman and the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.

Egypt is among the leading countries that trade in the COMESA market and 10 percent of its global trade is with COMESA. Whilst globally Egypt has endured a trade deficit with its resultant consequences on the exchange rate, jobs and living standards, the balance of trade with COMESA has remained superior. Egypt mainly imports raw materials from COMESA such as copper, black tea, petroleum products and tobacco. Raw material imports represent over 60 percent of the total imports from COMESA.

With respect to exports to the COMESA Market, Egypt was the second largest exporter, with 20 percent of all exports into COMESA over a two-decade period. Egypt’s exports into COMESA have been a mixture of finished and semi-processed goods including ceramic tiles, cement, and worked building stones, sugar and medicaments. The volume of exports has increased from US $230 million in 2003 to US $2.5 billion in 2012. In his maiden speech after taking his oath of office, President al-Sisi vowed to lead Egypt to stability and prosperity. He committed to support investment in Egypt’s agricultural and manufacturing sector and also vowed to defend the rights of the poor and low-income Egyptians.

holds elections, gets new President


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Makerere offers leadership tips to senior Secretariat staff

The stage has been set for a significant rise in COMESA trade with Eritrea following a successful capacity building programme that presented to stakeholders the opportunities prevalent in the region for Eritrean firms.

The training, which served as an eye opener for business stakeholders in the country was conducted in Asmara last month by a team from the Secretariat. The COMESA team that included Tasara Muzorori, Senior Trade Officer; Zerezghi Kidane, Senior Customs Affairs Officer; Helen Kenani, Trade Policy Expert; and Anthony J Walakira, ADP Eurotrace Expert .

The training focused on enhancing the knowledge of Eritrean stakeholders on COMESA Rules of Origin and the

COMESA senior staff went through a two day leadership training programme facilitated by the Makerere University Business School (MUBS) at Chaminkua Wildlife Park in the outskirts of Lusaka, earlier this year. Prof Waswa Balunywa, the Principal of MUBS and the Ms Regis Namuddu, Director of MUBS Leadership Centre, conducted the training.

The programme covered core skills that enhance leadership competencies including emotional intelligence, motivation, effective communication, listening skills, mentoring and coaching, conflict management, effective delegation among others.

elimination mechanisms for non-tariff barriers. It also covered customs co-operation and trade facilitation, identifying sensitive products, as well as liberalization of trade in services, and developments on the tripartite negotiation process.

Participants, drawn from the Eritrean private and public sector acknowledged that their trade with COMESA Member States was not optimal partly due to insufficient understanding of the regional market

“Most of our exports are destined to European countries, but now we shall consider the regional market especially for salt which Eritrea used to export to Uganda and other COMESA Member States,” they said.

Eritrea was among the first countries to reduce tariffs for intra-COMESA trade by 80 percent in 1998 and this percentage still holds to date. According to the Director of Foreign Trade in the Ministry of Trade and Industry Mrs Zeferwork Desta, the training programme contributed to better understanding among the stakeholders of COMESA programmes including facilitation to join the Free Trade Area (FTA).

The Eritrean private sector representatives recommended that a similar capacity training workshop should be organised for the larger private sector which do not even know what COMESA has to offer for the country.

Eritrea trade with COMESA set to rise


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Time has come for the region to trash the old technologies and embrace new and innovative means of ferrying goods within the region such as the use of ferries rather than ships to reduce delays in delivery of goods.

“When you want to move goods from Lusaka to Bujumbura for example you first go to Mpulungu Port, you put the goods in a ware house, and after some days you put them on the ship and once they reach the destination you again put them in a ware house and then later on the trucks,” COMESA Secretary General Sindiso Ngwenya laments.

Speaking while receiving credentials

from the Burundi Ambassador to Zambia who is also the Permanent Representative to COMESA Louis Ciza, Mr Ngwenya said the current system was not only cumbersome but also perpetuated delays and high costs of insurance and handling charges.

All that needs to be done, he said was to have a roll-on and roll- off ferry where a truck or rail wagon embarks on the ferry and disembarks on the other end in seamless flow to the destination. He reiterated the need to modernize transport infrastructure especially on water bodies like the Lake Tanganyika.

Ngwenya said this is the vision of the

Call for adoption of new technologies of cargo freighting

region and it shall be fulfilled, as it is the only way that people, good and services shall move across the borders of the region without delay and a lesser cost.

In his remarks, Ambassador Ciza said there is need for landlocked countries to create a link through the water bodies such as the Lake Tanganyika, which he said is the only gateway to other parts of the region including Zambia.

The Ambassador further said his country was passionate on the integration agenda as it helped developing countries to emulate those that were successful in the areas of industrialization, farming among others.

Burundi Ambassador H.E Louis Ciza


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COMESA has commissioned a consultancy to develop a downstream petroleum strategy

for the development and competitiveness of the petroleum downstream sub-sector in Rwanda. The main objective of the strategy is to establish a petroleum supply, management and re-distribution system.

The strategy is necessitated by the need to have practical approaches to create an enabling environment that encourages the investment in the sector. This will bridge gaps in the downstream petroleum sub-sector in Rwanda and ensure petroleum supply availability through a bulk

purchase system.

Downstream petroleum products sub-sector is a major source of investment in the Rwandan economy and a major employer. However, the sub-sector currently faces many challenges, including high import price differentials, regional competitiveness and hence the need for significant restructuring. It, therefore, needs to compete regionally and attract further investment. Besides all petroleum importers must be able to ensure that Rwandan consumers continue to enjoy access to high quality, affordable transport fuels and other petroleum

Rwanda to develop downstream petroleum strategy

products

“There are strong links between the sub-sector and other areas of the domestic economy; and as a major player in the domestic economy, the presence of a vibrant local sub-sector adds value to the backbone of economic growth by ensuring reliable supply of petroleum products, including in the event of global supply disruption,” Energy Economist in COMESA, Dr Mohamedain Seif Elnasr, said in a study he conducted.

The results of the study were disseminated in a national workshop held in Kigali, Rwanda on 15 May 2104. It was officially opened by Mr Emmanuel Hategeka, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Republic of Rwanda.

Participants included key stakeholders in the petroleum industry in Rwanda such as ministries (policy bodies) regulators and service providers participated in the validation workshop.

As a way forward, the study recommended the establishment of Competent Authority (NICA) should be a top priority to set the stage for petroleum strategy implementation. It was also agreed that another workshop would be required to further improve the final version which would be expected to impact on the oil industry of Rwanda for the next decade.


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The COMESA Reinsurance agency, ZEP-RE recorded an all-time high growth rate in business,

asset base and profits since it was established 20 years ago. According to the latest statistics, the company underwrote business worth US$100 million last year compared to US $5 million at inception in 1994. It assets base has also risen from US$4 million to US $201 million.

“It is satisfying to observe that in 20 years, ZEP-RE has risen from a young uncertain entity to a strong and confident reinsurer of choice,” says COMESA Secretary General Sindiso Ngwenya. “We are most proud of the various milestones ZEP-RE has so far achieved during this period.”

Mr Ngwenya who was addressing the 23rd Annual General Assembly of ZEP-RE in Nairobi observed that 2013 was the most profitable year for the company with growth in profits reaching a high of US $15 million.

The growth has mainly been attributed to diversification of service provision and products access by setting up regional hubs and country offices through-out the region. This is in addition to continuous facilitation of capacity building through sound training programme that has serviced over 150 training workshops in the region since its inception.

ZEP-RE was established with the objectives of developing the region’s insurance industry, promoting of regional retention and underwriting capacity; and supporting regional economic development.

Ngwenya noted that the realization of these goals is significant given that the region still lags behind in insurance penetration by global standards despite the great progress the industry has made in the last decade. The region, he notes, needs to grow its local insurance industry to effectively compete with major players in the global market in servicing all security needs within the region. He

ZEP-RE growths to US $100 million

called on countries and citizens of the region to support indigenous institutions such as ZEP-RE as a means of ensuring they can better weather any storms such as the recent euro crisis.

“The small size of the regional markets means that when a global financial tragedy such as the euro crisis comes around, regional markets that rely on international markets security suffer a lot even though we are not directly attached to the happenings in some of these markets,” Ngwenya observed.

He said that regional integration and co-operation offered the best opportunity of creating a Pan African economic power house capable of tilting the commercial bargaining power in the region’s favour.The Secretary General congratulated the management of ZEP-RE for maintaining its original focus on growth, profitability and the development of the insurance industry in spite of the challenges that beset indigenous reinsurers of the region.


34

COMESA and the African Legal Support Facility (ALSF) signed a Memorandum of Understating

(MoU) aimed at providing legal advice and technical assistance to the Secretariat and Member States.

This was in regard to matters pertaining to natural resources and extractive industries management and contracting, investment agreements and related commercial and business transactions. The agreement was signed in Kigali, Rwanda between Secretary General Sindiso Ngwenya and Director/Chief Executive Officer of ALSF Mr Stephen Karangizi in May 2014.

In accordance with their respective mandates, COMESA and ALSAF will pursue development of synergies as well of systems and mechanisms of information sharing and knowledge exchange on matters of mutual interest.,

ALSF will be the implementing agency with regard to natural resources management and contract negotiation covered by another MoU signed between COMESA and Western Australia, signed on 31 January 2014.

The two parties will develop joint programmes and activities such as capacity building initiatives aiming at promoting and strengthening legal expertise within African states particularly with respect to debt management, natural resources and extractive industries management, infrastructure and contracting and investment agreements.

The ALSF, an institution of the African Development Bank is an international organization established by a treaty and created with the objective of providing legal support to African countries in commercial creditor litigation advisory

In May this year COMESA provided US $50,000 to support the Rwanda Karisimbi climate observatory project. The grant followed a proposal submitted by Rwanda’s Ministry of Education related to carbon measurement capacity building.

This followed consultations between Rwanda’s Minister of Education Dr Vincent Biruta and COMESA Secretary General, Sindiso Ngwenya. The grant was also intended to purchase of an Aethalometer AE 33 carbon measurement instrument, and training of technicians to carry out the day-to-day work.

The initial work programme was funded by COMESA through its Climate Change supported programme financed by the European Union, Norway, and DFID. The equipment was delivered in April 2014. The Karisimbi project comprises several pillars including: climate observatory, integration of COMESA air space communication, navigation surveillance air traffic management; broadcasting and cable-car systems. A number of government ministries in Rwanda are involved in the project; and Rwanda was mandated by COMESA Council of Ministers to spearhead the implementation of the project.

The upcoming carbon measurement installation and training is one phase towards the setting up of a world class climate observatory in East and Southern Africa to be based at the summit of the 4,507 metres Mount Karisimbi. Once fully operational, the Mt Karisimbi Climate observatory will provide a region-wide center for climate data gathering and analysis that will feed into national, regional and global planning activities.

African Legal Institute to support COMESA

COMESA supports the Karisimbi climate observatory

The two parties will develop joint programmes and activities such as capacity building initiatives aiming at promoting and strengthening legal expertise within African states


35

The development of a draft common industrial policy for COMESA that will lead to an economic transformation of COMESA through industrialization began in June 2014. The initial steps involved putting together a working team to work on the draft policy based on two pillars namely: national industrial policies and the regional element.

The decision to develop the policy was made at the 32nd Meeting of the COMESA Council of Ministers in Kinshasa in February this year. The draft common industrial policy was expected to be in place by 30 June 2014, a decision that was also reaffirmed by the Seventeenth COMESA Summit of the Heads of State and Governments.

Pursuant to this decision and the strict deadline given to the Secretariat, the COMESA Secretary General initiated a draft frame work on how the process

Development of a COMESA industrial policy underway

was to be accomplished. The process entailed putting together a task team that would work directly under the Secretary General’s supervision.

“The clear conceptualization of the two pillars and their delineation was essential for a pragmatic and results-oriented policy, which not only requires robust institutional support by both governments and the private sector, but most importantly, a strong political support at the highest levels,” Mr Ngwenya said.

The task team comprises Mr Tasara Muzorori, Senior Trade Officer; Mr Fred Kongongo, Coordinator, Science, Technology and Innovation Programme, Mr Ibrahim Zeidy, Director CMI, Mr Stanley Mbagathi, Regional Process Facilitator, Mr Anthony Walakira, ADP Expert Eurotrace and Dr Jian Zhang, Advisor to the Secretary General, on Economic Transformation.

The team’s task was to review the performance of existing industrialization policies at national and regional level; the existing policy reforms pursued at national level which are related with industrialization; the economic and social conditions which are related with sustaining economic growth through the productive sector; the experiences of other countries and regions. It also assessed country industrialization performance as compared with their peers within and outside of COMESA.

At the national level the team is to consider, among others, the factors which determine industrialization including policies required for economic transformation through industrialization.

“The focus should be on creation of decent jobs on a differentiated approach for low and middle income countries; creating the foundation for robust and inclusive growth; improving the well-being of the population,” Mr Ngwenya said.

At the regional Level, the policy co-operation for regional macro-economic and structural policies was to be pertinent. These include investment incentives; labour standards and structural reforms. The regional value chains for economic diversification and transformation and the role of COMESA and its Institutions would be addressed.

Nchanga Open pit mine

The focus should be on creation of decent jobs on a differentiated approach for low and middle income countries.“


36

The Regional Association of Energy Regulators for Easter and Southern Africa (RAERESA)

recommended the adoption of four instruments to encourage investment in renewable energy in COMESA Member States.

In its fourth meeting that took place in Lusaka, the RAERESA Portfolio Committee on Renewable Energy identified the four as: the Feed-In-Tariffs (FIT) Guidelines; Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) Guidelines; Public Private Partnership (PPP) Guidelines; and Joint Development of Projects Guidelines.

The meeting recommended that the instruments be presented to the Annual General Meeting of RAERESA, expected to be held during second half of 2014 for adoption.

Pursuant to the recommendation, Member States were urged to use the guidelines when developing their national guidelines. This was to ensure a minimum

level of regulatory harmonization within the COMESA region while taking into account their specificities. The Secretariat was expected to facilitate training programme for Member States on the four guidelines to fully understand them and further internalize them.

Assistant Secretary General Dr Kipyego Cheluget observed that since the establishment of RAERESA in 2009 and its operationalization in 2010, the Portfolio Committee had undertaken activities to facilitate the harmonization of regulatory frameworks for renewable energy technologies through support from USAID.

“The activities are meant to facilitate the harmonization of regulatory frameworks for renewable energy technologies in an effort to make the environment conducive to renewable energy sub-sector’s investments, in particular, encouragement of private sector investment and participation,” Dr Cheluget said while addressed the meeting.

Mr Getahun Moges, Director General, Ethiopian Energy Authority of the Federal Democratic of Ethiopia, the current Chair of the Portfolio Committee on Renewable Energy of RAERESA said the Portfolio Committee had conducted various studies concerning renewable energy resources in the COMESA region.

“The studies focus on enhancing the further development of the renewable energy sources by facilitating conducive regulatory services, framework and by harmonizing such services and incentives across countries as enshrined in the RAERESA constitution,” Mr Moges said.

Fourteen COMESA countries, namely: Burundi, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Rwanda, Sudan Swaziland and Zambia participated in the meeting. It was also attended by the African Union Commission and Renewable Energy Cooperation Programme of the Africa-EU Energy Partnership.

RAERESA encouraging States to Invest in Renewable Energy

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Seventy staff members were trained on the use and application a COMESA

Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) online system developed with support of the World Bank to build institutional capacity in implementation of programmes.

The system, dubbed COMESA 24/7 Online combines management information systems and monitoring and evaluation. It would be used by the COMESA Secretariat, its institutions and Members States in monitoring and evaluating Regional Integration programmes. The system was also intended to strengthen the alignment of national M&E Systems

with the COMESA Medium term Strategic Plan M&E system for key regional priorities and outcomes.

The system was developed through a World Bank grant of US $869,000. Through this grant COMESA was developed the current Medium Term strategy (2011-2015) which was approved by the Council of Ministers in Swaziland in 2010.

Other activities carried out include the hosting a Regional Validation Workshop for the online system, rolling out the system to Member States and training the COMESA staff.

In April 2014, a new policy and

COMESA 24/7 Online system rolled out to staff

guidelines on M&E were also endorsed by Member States. This paved the way for the integration of M&E as a core function of COMESA in programme implementation. The regional economic bloc has not had an institutionalized M&E framework and this has been partly blamed for the slow implementation of the decisions made by Council of Ministers and the Authority of the Heads of States over the years.

The development of the policy and guidelines and adaption of the M&E online systems was expected to significantly raise the level of implementation of COMESA programmes.

COMESA Staff


38

Staff at COMESA Secretariat in Lusaka commemorated the 90th birthday of Zambia’s

founding President Dr Kenneth Kaunda by adopting and launching lifetime support to the children’s cancer ward at the country’s biggest referral medical facility, the University Teaching Hospital (UTH).

Assistant Secretary General, Ambassador Nagla El Hussainy led a team of staff members to the hospital on 02 May 2014 where they presented various items, including foodstuff for the patients who range from two to 12 years.

“Today marks the beginning of a long journey together and I believe that we shall all support each other in this quest of trying to make the lives of the patients as comfortable as

COMESA staff take KK birthday to UTH

possible, and the work of the medical experts easier,” Ambassador Hussainy said

The Director of Administration, Mrs Victoria Mwewa revealed that staff at the Secretariat have formed the “Making a Difference Fund” which will go towards helping the vulnerable in society.

“COMESA has a wider mandate but we believe that we must make a difference in the community in which we live and operate. This gesture is the beginning of many more to come. Apart from reaching out to this health unit, we have also adopted a community school, which we will soon visit,” Mrs Mwewa added.Management at UTH expressed joy at the support from COMESA Secretariat and they have encouraged

the organization to continue lending a helping hand.

Managing Director Dr Lackson Kasonka, who was visibly delighted to receive the donation, said running the UTH is an enormous task and all kinds of donations are welcome to help cater for the people of Zambia. The support from COMESA included painting the entire A06 Children’s ward, painting murals on the walls, fixing tiles in the ward and putting new curtains. Food items such as milk, sugar, cooking oil, and non-food items such as Dettol, washing powder and bedsheets, among others, were donated. The total contribution amounted to US $10,000.

Dr Kenneth Kaunda ruled Zambia for 27 years and he turned 90 years on 28 April 2014.


39

COMESA deployed a team

of election observers to

the tripartite, May 2014

elections in Malawi. The team was

led by a member of the COMESA

Committee of Elders, Ambassador

Berhane Ghebray from Ethiopia.

COMESA has in the past one

year deployed similar observer

missions to other Member States

such as Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya,

the Democratic Republic of

Congo, Malawi itself, Zambia and

Zimbabwe among others.

This is in line with COMESA’s

main objective which is the

attainment of regional economic

integration for sustainable growth

and development. This is done to

promote democratic governance

and observance of the rule of law in

each Member State.

The observation of these elections

is not meant to pass judgment, but

to contribute to the transparency of

the electoral process.

Two COMESA Member States, Seychelles and Madagascar concluded a bilateral air services management agreement in April this year. The agreement provided a renewed and forward-looking framework to govern air access between the island states, which has been complex for decades. It also heralded an era of enhanced connectivity, supporting cultural and trade development. The development was a crucial stage in a bilateral effort to restore direct air links between Seychelles and Madagascar.

Delegates from Seychelles headed by Gilbert Faure, chief executive of the Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority (SCAA), and from Madagascar headed by James Andrianalisoa, the Director General of that country’s

Civil Aviation Authority, met for the final negotiations and signing of the agreement at the SCAA head office from 24-25 April 2014.

“The new air services agreement between Seychelles and Madagascar is consistent with our regional integration agenda to improve connectivity in the region and promote the two centre-destinations also known as the Vanilla Islands initiative,” said Mr Faure.

“The new framework encompasses all the requirements of commercial operations in today’s modern aviation era to include co-operative arrangements, aircraft leasing and enhanced capacity arrangements to benefit both countries,” Mr Faure added.

Seychelles and Madagascar bilateral air services agreement

COMESA observers Malawi elections


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Through the lens


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Through the lens


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The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) has announced the launch of its annual media awards for 2014. The Awards are open for published and broadcast works in the fields of Print, Radio, Television, and online media that focus on programmes and activities relating to regional economic integration in Eastern and Southern Africa.

The objective of the Awards is to promote reporting of COMESA regional integration activities and recognize journalists whose works contribute to this agenda. They are open to journalists from the 19 COMESA Member States,

and eligible entries are for works published/broadcast between January and December 2014 Selection of the best works will be decided upon by an adjudication panel identified by COMESA Secretariat from Member States. Winners shall be announced and prizes awarded during the COMESA Heads of State and Government Summit in Addis Ababa expected to take place in March 2015. The first prize in each category carries a monetary award, a trophy and a certificate.

Winners for COMESA Media Awards 2013 were Julius Barigaba

of the EastAfrican Newspaper and Francisco Ahabyona of the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation. The duo was presented with cash award and certificates of merit by President Joseph Kabila of the D R Congo during the COMESA Heads of State Summit in Kinshasa in February this year.

Since 2009, COMESA invites media practitioners from the region to submit published articles and audio/visual productions relevant to the regional integration agenda for consideration for awards.

Details for entry are published in the COMESA website www.comesa.int

Call for Media Award Entries 2014

H.E President Joseph Kabila presents a COMESA Certificate of Merit to Francisco Ahabyona


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