newworldafro
DeeperThanRapBiggerThanHH
@
So they going turn Cape Verde into a gambling mecca off the coast of Africa. That's going to be really i.n.t.e.r.e.s.t.i.n.g.
.....
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Essential The Africa the Media Doesn't Tell You About
- Thread starter TommyHilltrigga
- Start date
@
So they going turn Cape Verde into a gambling mecca off the coast of Africa. That's going to be really i.n.t.e.r.e.s.t.i.n.g.
.....
newworldafro
DeeperThanRapBiggerThanHH
Major Development on an island in the Congo River next to Kinshasa. I've posted the first video before. The pictures are some of the residential areas that are going up, still a ways till the full commercial part is put in. I don't know if there is a tried and true African architectural style, but I like how these look. Has a Motherland feel to the design, maybe a real architect can tell me what I'm seeing
KINSHASA | La Cite du Fleuve | Under Construction - Page 44 - SkyscraperCity
KINSHASA | La Cite du Fleuve | Under Construction - Page 44 - SkyscraperCity
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Botswana welcomes proposal to help Seychelles to train more of its teachers
Botswana welcomes proposal to help Seychelles to train more of its teachers
Victoria, Seychelles | August 19, 2015, Wednesday @ 19:03 in National » GENERAL | By: Rassin Vannier and Sandra Barbier | Views: 512
Seychelles should receive help from Botswana teachers to fill the shortage of teachers in the school system. (Joena Bonnelame, Seychelles News Agency)
(Seychelles News Agency) - A group of teachers from Botswana are expected to come to the Seychelles by December this year, to fill the shortage of teachers in the various schools of the island ocean island nation.
According to a press statement from State House, this agreement follows a meeting between the Vice President of Seychelles, Danny Faure, with the Minister of Education and Skills Development of Botswana, Unity Dow.
This meeting took place on the sidelines of SADC’s 35th annual summit held on the 17th and 18th of August in Gaborone, Botswana, where Vice President Faure was representing President James Michel.
According to the statement, "this meeting was held to propose an exchange program with the Botswana authorities in order to secure placement for a backlog of Seychellois teachers currently awaiting to complete their advance studies in various fields of teaching…..without compromising the number of teachers available to fulfill the human resource requirements in the immediate."
Vice President Danny Faure of the Seychelles initiated a sideline meeting with the Minister of Education and skills development of Botswana, Unity Dow ( State House) Photo License: CC-BY
Vice President Faure proposed an exchange programme for the placement of Seychellois students at the University of Botswana, and in return the Seychelles would be willing to consider employing teachers from Botswana. Both countries use English as a language of teaching.
This would also help to fill the immediate gap of the trainee teachers who will be sent abroad.
The Botswana authorities have on their part welcomed the proposal while stressing on the fact that the university has the capacity to absorb additional students from Seychelles.
They further added that they have currently a surplus of qualified teachers who can benefit from the recruitment programme and therefore allow both parties to benefit from the agreement.
Seychelles and Botswana have had close cooperation in the education sector in recent years. A number of Seychellois students have in the past undertaken training in Botswana, particularly in the field of librarianship.
"Currently, there are 20 Seychellois already following first degree courses in the Botswana University in the area of English language, mathematics, sciences and social sciences," reads the press statement.
The agreement on the exchange progamme still needs to be formalised with the signature of a memorandum of understanding in the coming months.
The first cohort of Botswana teachers are expected to arrive in the Seychelles by mid December 2015, and the group of Seychellois teachers are expected to start their studies in Botswana in January 2016.
Seychelles, an island nation of 90,000 inhabitants, has many foreign teachers working in the state schools of the country as well as in the private sector, among which many come from Sri Lanka, India and Kenya.
Cairn Energy obtains approval to proceed with drilling operations offshore Senegal
19 August 2015
Cairn Energy has secured approval from the Government of Senegal to go ahead with a major drilling programme in Sangomar Offshore block.
Following the approval, the company hopes to begin drilling at the block located 100km offshore Senegal later this year.
According to the company's estimates, the fields in Senegal may contain more than a billion barrels of oil.
Initial work on the fields is set to begin shortly with a 3D seismic survey programme expected to commence in the third quarter of 2015.
Cairn Energy obtains approval to proceed with drilling operations offshore Senegal - Offshore Technology
Cairn Energy chief executive Simon Thomson said: "We are delighted to have agreement from the Government of Senegal for our extensive evaluation plan which commences shortly with a 3D seismic survey and continues later this year with a multi-well exploration and appraisal programme.
19 August 2015
Cairn Energy has secured approval from the Government of Senegal to go ahead with a major drilling programme in Sangomar Offshore block.
Following the approval, the company hopes to begin drilling at the block located 100km offshore Senegal later this year.
According to the company's estimates, the fields in Senegal may contain more than a billion barrels of oil.
Initial work on the fields is set to begin shortly with a 3D seismic survey programme expected to commence in the third quarter of 2015.
Cairn Energy obtains approval to proceed with drilling operations offshore Senegal - Offshore Technology
Cairn Energy chief executive Simon Thomson said: "We are delighted to have agreement from the Government of Senegal for our extensive evaluation plan which commences shortly with a 3D seismic survey and continues later this year with a multi-well exploration and appraisal programme.
newworldafro
DeeperThanRapBiggerThanHH
Zambia flags off first export of coffee to Japan
Zambia flags off first export of coffee to Japan
August 19, 2015
Minister of Agriculture Given Lubinda listens with UCCI Representative Tetsuya Seki after the inauguration ceremony of the shipping of the coffee beans to Japan produced by Olam Limited today. Looking on is northern Province Minister Freedom Sikazwe. Picture by Mary Bwembya.
Agriculture Minister Given Lubinda has officially flagged off the first ever export of Zambian coffee to Japan.
ZANIS reports that Mr Lubinda launched the shipment of the coffee beans produced by Northern Coffee Cooperation limited plantation to UCC coffee of Japan in Kasama today.
And Mr Lubinda said the export of Kasama coffee to Japan marks the revival of the coffee industry in the country.
He said the development also provides an opportunity to market Zambian coffee on the international market.
The Agriculture Minister urged the business community to consider investing in the coffee industry.
Mr Lubinda said his government will continue to support the growth of the industry by creating an enabling environment.
Earlier, Japanese Ambassador to Zambia Kiyoshi Koinuma said Japan seeks to strengthen the bilateral relationship with Zambia through enhancement of trade and investment in various sectors.
And Mwinelubemba, Chitimukulu Kanyanta Manga II praised Northern Coffee Cooperation Limited for the investment which he said will help to reduce poverty and unemployment.
The Mwinelubemba has since pledged to allocate land for a coffee out grower scheme for the company.
He said such investments should be encouraged by all stakeholders.
Northern Coffee Cooperation Limited, a subsidiary of OLAM limited has been in operation since 2012.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture Maxas Ng'onga at the inauguration ceremony of the shipping of the coffee beans to Japan produced by Olam Limited today. Looking on is Agriculture Minister Given Lubinda, Japanese Ambassador to Zambia Kiyoshi Koinuma, and NCCL Varun Mahajan. Picture by Mary Bwembya.
Mwinelubemba Chitimukulu Kanyanta Manga II being welcomed by Japanese Ambassador to Zambia Kiyoshi Koinuma at the inauguration ceremony of the shipping of the coffee beans to Japan produced by Olam Limited today. Looking on is Agriculture Minister Given Lubinda and Northern Province Finister Freedom Sikazwe. Picture by Mary Bwembya.
Japanese Ambassador to Zambia Kiyoshi Koinuma with NCCL Varun Mahajan at the inauguration ceremony of the shipping of the coffee beans to Japan produced by Olam Limited today. The event was also attended by Agriculture Minister Given Lubinda.
Mwinelubemba Chitimukulu Kanyanta Manga II being welcomed by Japanese Ambassador to Zambia Kiyoshi Koinuma at the inauguration ceremony of the shipping of the coffee beans to Japan produced by Olam Limited today. Looking on is Agriculture Minister Given Lubinda and Northern Province Finister Freedom Sikazwe. Picture by Mary Bwembya.
Minister of Agriculture Given Lubinda pose for a photo with UCCI Representative Tetsuya Seki after the inauguration ceremony of the shipping of the coffee beans to Japan produced by Olam Limited today. The colorful event was also attended by Japanese Ambassador to Zambia Kiyoshi Koinuma, NCCL Varun Mahajan and Mwinelubemba Chitimukulu Kanyanta Manga II. Picture by Mary Bwembya.
Minister of Agriculture Given Lubinda listens to NCCL Representative Varun Mahajan when he toured Olam plantation today. Looking on is Japanese Ambassador to Zambia Kiyoshi Koinuma, UCCI Representative Tetsuya Seki and Mwinelubemba Chitimukulu Kanyanta Manga after the inauguration ceremony of the shipping of the coffee beans to Japan produced by Olam Limited.
Zambia's Kariba dam—world’s largest made by man— drying up: 10 brain-twisting facts about Africa’s energy use
21 AUG 2015 19:24
They are not quite what you expect -- an African country that meets 100% of its energy needs from coal?
Blackouts are common in Africa, as this picture from Nigeria shows.
ZAMBIA has for years been a favourite of investors based on its political stability, but sometimes, like at the present, the environment weighs in, reminding us who’s really king.
The southern African country will in October and November enter its hottest months, further compounding a drought that has seen water levels at its Lake Kariba dam, the world’s largest man-made reservoir, drain steeply, to immense alarm.
The reservoir, which sits astride its border with Zimbabwe, supplies 1,800 megawatts of power at peak capacity. But last month, the dam was only 40% full, itself less than half what levels were one year ago, according to a Bloomberg news wire report.
The resulting damage has been major: households struggle with load-shedding that stretches up to eight hours, while mining companies have been asked to curb demand by at least a third, hurting an industry that accounts for 12% of the Zambian economy and which has seen prices and demand for its mainstay copper take the plunge.
The dam’s low levels is also bad news for struggling Zimbabwe, highlighting the importance of energy to Africa’s growing economy, where despite frantic efforts over 500 million Africans are still expected to be left off-grid.
Mail & Guardian Africalooked at a few more facts about Africa’s energy use:
1: Zambia’s discomfort is acute for the reason that 99.65% of its energy comes from hydropower, the highest dependence in Africa after Mozambique, which relies on dams for 99.88% of its energy, according to the World Bank. But with Mozambique set to become Africa’s biggest producer of natural gas in coming years, Zambia will soon become the most dependent, unless it can also find alternatives.
2: Algeria is the country that produces the highest proportion of its energy from natural gas—92.4% in 2012, according to the International Energy Agency. Nigeria, which produces 50% of its electricity from gas, Egypt (75%), Ivory Coast (67.5%) and Gabon (40.5%) round out the top five. Globally, Bahrain, Qatar and Turkmenistan meet completely all of their energy needs from gas.
3: Oil is increasingly getting a bad name, but it has been a mainstay for Eritrea, which generates 99.4% of its energy from the fossil fuel—the highest proportion globally.
4: An Eritrean consumes the lowest energy of any nationality globally—an American consumes 55 times more, and a citizen of Qatar, one of many popular destinations for its migrants, uses 135 times more energy than an Eritrean over the course of a year.
5: Another fossil fuel that has a smoky reputation is coal. But for Botswana, which has an estimated 35 billion tonnes of the resource, (the government puts it at 212 billion tonnes), it is critical—100% of its energy needs come from coal—the highest proportion globally. South Africa, the second highest on the continent, derives about 94% of its power from coal.
6: But Botwana has the highest gross domestic product (GDP) per unit energy use—in 2012 it wrung $13.8 from a kilogramme of oil equivalent, making it the the most efficient in Africa, and fifth most efficient globally. Globally, Hong Kong is the most efficient, getting $24.6 from the same quantity.
7: The DR Congo is the least efficient, managing only $2.2 of GDP per unit energy use, ahead of Zimbabwe, Ethiopia and Mozambique (all $2.5).
8: As would be expected, South Africa is Africa’s largest producer of energy, at 163 million tonnes of oil equivalent (the amount of energy released by burning one tonne of crude oil), placing it 17th in the world. Algeria (146 million tonnes of oil equivalent) and Egypt (88 million tonnes) are the only other African countries ranked among the top 30—a list headed by China.
9: South Africa is also Africa’s largest consumer of energy, according to the World Bank, consuming 141 million tonnes of oil—China, its largest trading partner and the global leader, consumes 20 times more energy. Nigeria consumers 118 million tonnes of oil equivalent, ahead of Egypt’s 78 million tonnes of oil uptake.
10: African countries make up three of the top five lowest net importers of energy—and as expected, all three are crude producers: Republic of Congo, Gabon and Angola. Put differently, they export all of it and tap renewables instead—the Congo produces just 0.7% of its electricity from oil, but 60% from hydro, whlle Angola’s dam power is 70% of its energy mix.
Zambia's Kariba dam—world’s largest made by man— drying up: 10 brain-twisting facts about Africa’s energy use
21 AUG 2015 19:24
They are not quite what you expect -- an African country that meets 100% of its energy needs from coal?
Blackouts are common in Africa, as this picture from Nigeria shows.
ZAMBIA has for years been a favourite of investors based on its political stability, but sometimes, like at the present, the environment weighs in, reminding us who’s really king.
The southern African country will in October and November enter its hottest months, further compounding a drought that has seen water levels at its Lake Kariba dam, the world’s largest man-made reservoir, drain steeply, to immense alarm.
The reservoir, which sits astride its border with Zimbabwe, supplies 1,800 megawatts of power at peak capacity. But last month, the dam was only 40% full, itself less than half what levels were one year ago, according to a Bloomberg news wire report.
The resulting damage has been major: households struggle with load-shedding that stretches up to eight hours, while mining companies have been asked to curb demand by at least a third, hurting an industry that accounts for 12% of the Zambian economy and which has seen prices and demand for its mainstay copper take the plunge.
The dam’s low levels is also bad news for struggling Zimbabwe, highlighting the importance of energy to Africa’s growing economy, where despite frantic efforts over 500 million Africans are still expected to be left off-grid.
Mail & Guardian Africalooked at a few more facts about Africa’s energy use:
1: Zambia’s discomfort is acute for the reason that 99.65% of its energy comes from hydropower, the highest dependence in Africa after Mozambique, which relies on dams for 99.88% of its energy, according to the World Bank. But with Mozambique set to become Africa’s biggest producer of natural gas in coming years, Zambia will soon become the most dependent, unless it can also find alternatives.
2: Algeria is the country that produces the highest proportion of its energy from natural gas—92.4% in 2012, according to the International Energy Agency. Nigeria, which produces 50% of its electricity from gas, Egypt (75%), Ivory Coast (67.5%) and Gabon (40.5%) round out the top five. Globally, Bahrain, Qatar and Turkmenistan meet completely all of their energy needs from gas.
3: Oil is increasingly getting a bad name, but it has been a mainstay for Eritrea, which generates 99.4% of its energy from the fossil fuel—the highest proportion globally.
4: An Eritrean consumes the lowest energy of any nationality globally—an American consumes 55 times more, and a citizen of Qatar, one of many popular destinations for its migrants, uses 135 times more energy than an Eritrean over the course of a year.
5: Another fossil fuel that has a smoky reputation is coal. But for Botswana, which has an estimated 35 billion tonnes of the resource, (the government puts it at 212 billion tonnes), it is critical—100% of its energy needs come from coal—the highest proportion globally. South Africa, the second highest on the continent, derives about 94% of its power from coal.
6: But Botwana has the highest gross domestic product (GDP) per unit energy use—in 2012 it wrung $13.8 from a kilogramme of oil equivalent, making it the the most efficient in Africa, and fifth most efficient globally. Globally, Hong Kong is the most efficient, getting $24.6 from the same quantity.
7: The DR Congo is the least efficient, managing only $2.2 of GDP per unit energy use, ahead of Zimbabwe, Ethiopia and Mozambique (all $2.5).
8: As would be expected, South Africa is Africa’s largest producer of energy, at 163 million tonnes of oil equivalent (the amount of energy released by burning one tonne of crude oil), placing it 17th in the world. Algeria (146 million tonnes of oil equivalent) and Egypt (88 million tonnes) are the only other African countries ranked among the top 30—a list headed by China.
9: South Africa is also Africa’s largest consumer of energy, according to the World Bank, consuming 141 million tonnes of oil—China, its largest trading partner and the global leader, consumes 20 times more energy. Nigeria consumers 118 million tonnes of oil equivalent, ahead of Egypt’s 78 million tonnes of oil uptake.
10: African countries make up three of the top five lowest net importers of energy—and as expected, all three are crude producers: Republic of Congo, Gabon and Angola. Put differently, they export all of it and tap renewables instead—the Congo produces just 0.7% of its electricity from oil, but 60% from hydro, whlle Angola’s dam power is 70% of its energy mix.
Zambia's Kariba dam—world’s largest made by man— drying up: 10 brain-twisting facts about Africa’s energy use
7 reasons for Africa's currency slide, explained (GRAPHICS)
22 AUG 2015 18:00CHRISTINE MUNGAI
The South African has retreated 11% this year, and touched 13 to the dollar for the first time in 14 years. (Photo: AFP)
THIS year has seen a sustained currency plunge in several African countries, with central banks across the continent scrambling to defend their currencies. The Nigerian naira has lost more than 20% of its value in the past 12 months; Standard & Poor’s said last month another naira devaluation is “inevitable”—possibly by more than 15%.
The South African has retreated 11% this year, and touched 13 to the dollar for the first time in 14 years. The Ugandan shilling, Kenyan shilling and Tanzanian shilling have all lost at least 12% of their value in the past 12 months; the Zambian kwacha, Angolan kwanza and Egyptian pound are similarly under pressure.
What’s going on?
Bottom line: It’s going to get worse before it gets better.
7 reasons for Africa's currency slide, explained (GRAPHICS)
22 AUG 2015 18:00CHRISTINE MUNGAI
The South African has retreated 11% this year, and touched 13 to the dollar for the first time in 14 years. (Photo: AFP)
THIS year has seen a sustained currency plunge in several African countries, with central banks across the continent scrambling to defend their currencies. The Nigerian naira has lost more than 20% of its value in the past 12 months; Standard & Poor’s said last month another naira devaluation is “inevitable”—possibly by more than 15%.
The South African has retreated 11% this year, and touched 13 to the dollar for the first time in 14 years. The Ugandan shilling, Kenyan shilling and Tanzanian shilling have all lost at least 12% of their value in the past 12 months; the Zambian kwacha, Angolan kwanza and Egyptian pound are similarly under pressure.
What’s going on?
Bottom line: It’s going to get worse before it gets better.
7 reasons for Africa's currency slide, explained (GRAPHICS)
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Unlocking Africa’s Trade Potential
WASHINGTON, DC – Africa’s rise challenges the imagination. During the last decade, Sub-Saharan Africa was home to six of the world’s ten fastest-growing economies. During the next five years, the region’s GDP is expected to grow 30% faster than that of the rest of the world. And, during the next 35 years, the continent will account for more than half of the world’s population growth, according to the United Nations.
These trends will give African countries a more prominent role on the world stage, and provide new opportunities for people to better their lives. As African countries assume their new role, they want meaningful economic partnerships that deliver the sustainable, inclusive growth they seek. As US President Barack Obama said during his visit to Ethiopia last month, “Real economic partnerships have to be a good deal for Africa. They have to create jobs and capacity for Africans.”
By those criteria, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) has been tremendously effective since its enactment in 2000. By removing tariffs on exports to the United States from 39 Sub-Saharan countries, it has stimulated growth, encouraged economic integration, and created opportunity where it otherwise might not have existed. Earlier this summer, the US Congress, recognizing these gains and underscoring the strength of America’s commitment to Africa, overwhelmingly approved legislation to reauthorize AGOA for another ten years.
To make the most of this extension – the longest in the program’s history – the US and its African partners need to start working toward a more comprehensive partnership. That journey begins by acknowledging that tariffs are no longer the biggest constraint on trade in Africa. Today, the chief impediments are supply-side constraints, which require well-designed strategies and capacity-building efforts so that AGOA’s members can take full advantage of the program’s benefits.
Making the most of AGOA will also require improvement in the infrastructure – physical and institutional – necessary for promoting investment and facilitating trade. The issues that need to be addressed include the lack of reliable, affordable electricity, high transportation costs, and weak and inefficient trade-related facilities.
Consider the challenges faced by Brazzaville, in Congo, and Kinshasa, in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo. These two cities, separated by the Congo River, are expected to grow to a combined total of nearly 20 million residents by 2025. But, because of poor infrastructure and inefficient customs procedures, only 1.1% of Congo’s imports come from its neighbor.
According to the World Bank, getting a container across the Congo River costs almost $4,500, and the total can top $10,000 once the cost of inland transportation is added. By contrast, moving an identical container with the same cargo from Malaysia to Singapore costs less than $1,000.
Africa needs to build its capacity to trade competitively in today’s global economy. That is why the Office of the US Trade Representative, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), USAID, and other US government agencies are advancing programs like Trade Africa, Power Africa, and Feed the Future to help the continent develop sustainable infrastructure and increase regional integration.
Consider MCC’s work in Benin. As one of the US agencies leading efforts to build trade capacity in Africa, MCC committed more than $180 million to upgrade the Port of Cotonou, which serves as a gateway for trade not only to Benin, but also to the landlocked countries of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. MCC’s investment, which leveraged public and private funds, aimed to alleviate chronic freight bottlenecks in the port by doubling its capacity to import and export cargo.
During President Obama’s visit to Africa, MCC made a further commitment of $52 million to support a series of similar public-private partnerships that are expected to generate $750 million in investments in Africa. MCC could do even more to increase trade capacity and cross-border engagement if it had the authority to pursue regional investments. By investing in cross-border roads or power transmission, for example, MCC could help increase economic activity and promote regional integration.
Such efforts would help African and American exporters alike, including the 120,000 Americans whose jobs are supported by US exports to sub-Saharan Africa. That is why leaders in Congress from both parties are working to give MCC this much-needed authority.
Even as we consider how to make the most of AGOA’s historic renewal, we need to look beyond 2025 and imagine what a deeper, more mature economic partnership might entail. Of course, we will need to account for emerging economic realities both within and outside of Africa. Already, many African countries are forging more permanent, reciprocal relationships with other developed-country trading partners.
At the same time, the US is moving forward with next-generation trade agreements – the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership – that will raise standards across both the Asia-Pacific region and the Atlantic and will have positive spillover effects in Africa. For example, the TPP will help combat illegal wildlife trafficking, including illegal trade in ivory from Africa. In other areas, including labor rights, these agreements could help make higher standards the global norm.
As President Obama made clear at the US-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington, DC, a year ago, the US is not new to Africa. Indeed, we have been engaged in Africa for decades, not as a colonial power, but as a partner. And that partnership is based not just on extracting resources from the region, but on unlocking growth for all. As representatives from across Africa gather in Libreville, Gabon, this week for this year’s AGOA Forum, we have an opportunity and an obligation to take that partnership to the next level.
Read more at Unlocking Africa’s Trade Potential
WASHINGTON, DC – Africa’s rise challenges the imagination. During the last decade, Sub-Saharan Africa was home to six of the world’s ten fastest-growing economies. During the next five years, the region’s GDP is expected to grow 30% faster than that of the rest of the world. And, during the next 35 years, the continent will account for more than half of the world’s population growth, according to the United Nations.
These trends will give African countries a more prominent role on the world stage, and provide new opportunities for people to better their lives. As African countries assume their new role, they want meaningful economic partnerships that deliver the sustainable, inclusive growth they seek. As US President Barack Obama said during his visit to Ethiopia last month, “Real economic partnerships have to be a good deal for Africa. They have to create jobs and capacity for Africans.”
By those criteria, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) has been tremendously effective since its enactment in 2000. By removing tariffs on exports to the United States from 39 Sub-Saharan countries, it has stimulated growth, encouraged economic integration, and created opportunity where it otherwise might not have existed. Earlier this summer, the US Congress, recognizing these gains and underscoring the strength of America’s commitment to Africa, overwhelmingly approved legislation to reauthorize AGOA for another ten years.
To make the most of this extension – the longest in the program’s history – the US and its African partners need to start working toward a more comprehensive partnership. That journey begins by acknowledging that tariffs are no longer the biggest constraint on trade in Africa. Today, the chief impediments are supply-side constraints, which require well-designed strategies and capacity-building efforts so that AGOA’s members can take full advantage of the program’s benefits.
Making the most of AGOA will also require improvement in the infrastructure – physical and institutional – necessary for promoting investment and facilitating trade. The issues that need to be addressed include the lack of reliable, affordable electricity, high transportation costs, and weak and inefficient trade-related facilities.
Consider the challenges faced by Brazzaville, in Congo, and Kinshasa, in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo. These two cities, separated by the Congo River, are expected to grow to a combined total of nearly 20 million residents by 2025. But, because of poor infrastructure and inefficient customs procedures, only 1.1% of Congo’s imports come from its neighbor.
According to the World Bank, getting a container across the Congo River costs almost $4,500, and the total can top $10,000 once the cost of inland transportation is added. By contrast, moving an identical container with the same cargo from Malaysia to Singapore costs less than $1,000.
Africa needs to build its capacity to trade competitively in today’s global economy. That is why the Office of the US Trade Representative, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), USAID, and other US government agencies are advancing programs like Trade Africa, Power Africa, and Feed the Future to help the continent develop sustainable infrastructure and increase regional integration.
Consider MCC’s work in Benin. As one of the US agencies leading efforts to build trade capacity in Africa, MCC committed more than $180 million to upgrade the Port of Cotonou, which serves as a gateway for trade not only to Benin, but also to the landlocked countries of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. MCC’s investment, which leveraged public and private funds, aimed to alleviate chronic freight bottlenecks in the port by doubling its capacity to import and export cargo.
During President Obama’s visit to Africa, MCC made a further commitment of $52 million to support a series of similar public-private partnerships that are expected to generate $750 million in investments in Africa. MCC could do even more to increase trade capacity and cross-border engagement if it had the authority to pursue regional investments. By investing in cross-border roads or power transmission, for example, MCC could help increase economic activity and promote regional integration.
Such efforts would help African and American exporters alike, including the 120,000 Americans whose jobs are supported by US exports to sub-Saharan Africa. That is why leaders in Congress from both parties are working to give MCC this much-needed authority.
Even as we consider how to make the most of AGOA’s historic renewal, we need to look beyond 2025 and imagine what a deeper, more mature economic partnership might entail. Of course, we will need to account for emerging economic realities both within and outside of Africa. Already, many African countries are forging more permanent, reciprocal relationships with other developed-country trading partners.
At the same time, the US is moving forward with next-generation trade agreements – the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership – that will raise standards across both the Asia-Pacific region and the Atlantic and will have positive spillover effects in Africa. For example, the TPP will help combat illegal wildlife trafficking, including illegal trade in ivory from Africa. In other areas, including labor rights, these agreements could help make higher standards the global norm.
As President Obama made clear at the US-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington, DC, a year ago, the US is not new to Africa. Indeed, we have been engaged in Africa for decades, not as a colonial power, but as a partner. And that partnership is based not just on extracting resources from the region, but on unlocking growth for all. As representatives from across Africa gather in Libreville, Gabon, this week for this year’s AGOA Forum, we have an opportunity and an obligation to take that partnership to the next level.
Read more at Unlocking Africa’s Trade Potential
next 10 years I'm investing HEAVY in african agriculture markets, construction, tech and energy. gonna eat real good
Weak Power Grids in Africa Stunt Economies and Fire Up Tempers
By NORIMITSU ONISHI
JULY 2, 2015
Power lines stretch over an informal settlement on the outskirts of Sebokeng, South Africa, about 30 miles from Johannesburg. CreditJoao Silva/The New York Times
JOHANNESBURG — In the darkened and chilly parking lot of a mall, a suburban family huddling around a shopping cart shared a snack on a Friday evening out. After finding their favorite restaurant closed because of a blackout, Buhle Ngwenya, with her two sons and two nephews, settled for meat pies from one of the few stores open in the mall.
“It’s like death, this load shedding,” Ms. Ngwenya, 45, said, referring to the blackouts imposed by South Africa’s state utility to prevent a collapse of the national electricity grid.
With winter here in South Africa, the worst blackouts in years are plunging residents into darkness in poor townships and wealthy suburbs alike. The cutoffs have dampened the economy, Africa’s second biggest, and are expected to continue for another two to three years.
Despite a decade of strong economic expansion, sub-Saharan Africa is still far behind in its ability to generate something fundamental to its future, electricity, hampering growth and frustrating its ambitions to catch up with the rest of the world.
All of sub-Saharan Africa’s power generating capacity is less than South Korea’s, and a quarter of it is unproductive at any given moment because of the continent’s aging infrastructure. The World Bank estimates that blackouts alone cut the gross domestic products of sub-Saharan countries by 2.1 percent.
The crippling effect was recently on display in Nigeria, which overtook South Africa as the continent’s biggest economy last year.
Nigeria’s electrical grid churns out so little power that the country mostly runs on private generators. So when a fuel shortage struck this spring, a national crisis quickly followed, disrupting cellphone service, temporarily closing bank branches and grounding airplanes.
The power shortages and blackouts have cast a harsh light on elected officials, causing rising anger among voters for whom reliable electricity was supposed to be a dividend of democracy and economic growth.
Experts say that the appointment of politically connected officials with little industry expertise at the South African state utility, Eskom, has led to mismanagement, just as it has at other state-owned enterprises.
“It’s not only a symbol of failure when the lights go off,” said Anton Eberhard, an energy expert and a professor of management at the University of Cape Town. “It’s experienced directly by people. If you’re about to cook or if your child is studying for an exam the next day and your lights go off, people feel this very directly. There is a very concrete and dramatic expression of failure.”
The demand for power in Africa has become a major international issue. China has taken the lead in financing many power projects across the continent — mostly hydroelectric dams, but also solar power plants and wind farms. Private companies from Asia, the United States and Europe are also supplying power to an increasing number of countries.
President Obama, in a visit to Africa two years ago, highlighted the importance of improving the continent’s power supply with a $7 billion initiative called Power Africa. The American government, partly through entities like the Millennium Challenge Corporation, is focusing on improving the electricity infrastructure in several countries, including Ghana, Malawi and Tanzania.
But investments and changes in the electricity sector on the continent have yet to yield significant gains, and experts predict that it will take decades before sub-Saharan Africa enjoys universal access to electricity.
In his inaugural address last month, Nigeria’s new president, Muhammadu Buhari, said that his nation’s attempts to overhaul its electricity sector had “only brought darkness, frustration, misery and resignation among Nigerians.” He singled out unreliable power service as the biggest drag on the economy.
Nigeria’s leaders have promised a stable power supply since the end of military rule in 1999, spending about $20 billion and dismantling the state National Electric Power Authority, better known as N.E.P.A. and widely derided as “Never Expect Power Always.”
Yet the country’s power generating capacity has remained virtually unchanged, about six gigawatts for a country of 170 million. The United States, with 320 million people, has a capacity of more than 1,000 gigawatts.
“Most companies don’t have four hours of power a day from the national grid,” said Akpan H. Ekpo, the director general of the West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital. “If they do, they’re lucky.”
Most of the $20 billion spent to overhaul the power sector is believed to have gone into the pockets of corrupt officials, Mr. Ekpo said.
“With the advent of democracy, we were promised constant power, or at least improved power,” he added. “But much to our surprise, things have only gotten worse. In some middle-class parts of Lagos, people are lucky if they now get 30 minutes of power a day.”
A woman in an impoverished neighborhood of Cape Town ran her restaurant by candlelight during a blackout. Energy experts say South Africa does not have nearly enough generation capacity.CreditNic Bothma/European Pressphoto Agency
South Africa’s recent history of electrification is more complicated, and it has been the subject of fierce debate as the current blackout crisis has dragged on for several months.
In the last years of apartheid, before a democratic government was elected in 1994, electricity reached only a third of South African households, few of them black.
Under the African National Congress — whose leaders have governed ever since, often promising free electricity and other services as part of the nation’s democracy — 85 percent of households now have electricity, a remarkable accomplishment by any standard.
President Jacob Zuma has forcefully rejected any blame for the energy crisis. The strain on the grid, he said, resulted from the burden of bringing light to millions of black households that lacked power under white-minority rule.
“It is a problem of apartheid, which we are resolving,” he said this year.
But energy experts say that these households, many of them low-income, consume little electricity. Instead, they said, the shortages result from frequent breakdowns at aging plants and, most critically, the delayed construction of two new facilities.
As far back as 1998, a government report warned that without new capacity, the country would face serious power shortages by 2007. A year later, in 2008, South Africa suffered its first rolling blackouts.
South Africa, which has the continent’s only nuclear power plant, has around half of sub-Saharan Africa’s power generating capacity, roughly 44 gigawatts. Still, the power cuts contributed to a recent drop in economic growth and a spike in unemployment to 26.4 percent, the worst level in a dozen years.
The blackouts have affected everyone, including giant gold mining companies, small businesses and individuals.
South Africans are buying up generators, rechargeable lights and gas burners. They plan their days and evenings around blackouts scheduled by the utility. Dominating South Africa’s list of popular app downloads are ones that alert smartphone users to the impending start of a cutoff in their neighborhood or the risk of one as load shedding across the nation increases.
To Ms. Ngwenya, who was sharing meat pies with her family in the mall parking lot, load shedding was not only about electricity. She blamed theAfrican National Congress, the party that liberated South Africa and has steered its course ever since.
“I always supported the A.N.C.,” said Ms. Ngwenya, who grew up in Soweto, a black township outside Johannesburg, but now lives in a wealthy suburb. “However, when it comes to load shedding, I don’t know. It’s not normal coming to a mall and carrying a torch like this man here,” she said, pointing to another consumer shrouded in darkness.
“For me, this is the biggest failure of the A.N.C.,” she added. “We even have a name for it, load shedding. Why don’t they say blackout once and for all?”
In Sandton, a Johannesburg suburb with gated communities and sumptuous malls, Junior Nji, 38, walked out of a well-lit Woolworths in an otherwise dark mall. His wife had just sent him a text message with the news that their neighborhood had gone dark, telling him not to bother getting groceries.
“Load shedding boo,” she wrote, using a term of endearment. “This can’t be life.”
That morning, Mr. Nji said, he had finally decided to buy a diesel generator for his house, and workers had come to prepare for the installation. But Mr. Nji, an architect, was holding off on plans to move to a bigger office because of the extra costs of equipping it with a generator. He had been planning, he said, to hire an additional architect and a draftsman.
He texted his wife: “Then let’s go out somewhere. That Chinese restaurant might just be O.K.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/03/w...rica-stunt-economies-and-fire-up-tempers.html
By NORIMITSU ONISHI
JULY 2, 2015
Power lines stretch over an informal settlement on the outskirts of Sebokeng, South Africa, about 30 miles from Johannesburg. CreditJoao Silva/The New York Times
JOHANNESBURG — In the darkened and chilly parking lot of a mall, a suburban family huddling around a shopping cart shared a snack on a Friday evening out. After finding their favorite restaurant closed because of a blackout, Buhle Ngwenya, with her two sons and two nephews, settled for meat pies from one of the few stores open in the mall.
“It’s like death, this load shedding,” Ms. Ngwenya, 45, said, referring to the blackouts imposed by South Africa’s state utility to prevent a collapse of the national electricity grid.
With winter here in South Africa, the worst blackouts in years are plunging residents into darkness in poor townships and wealthy suburbs alike. The cutoffs have dampened the economy, Africa’s second biggest, and are expected to continue for another two to three years.
Despite a decade of strong economic expansion, sub-Saharan Africa is still far behind in its ability to generate something fundamental to its future, electricity, hampering growth and frustrating its ambitions to catch up with the rest of the world.
All of sub-Saharan Africa’s power generating capacity is less than South Korea’s, and a quarter of it is unproductive at any given moment because of the continent’s aging infrastructure. The World Bank estimates that blackouts alone cut the gross domestic products of sub-Saharan countries by 2.1 percent.
The crippling effect was recently on display in Nigeria, which overtook South Africa as the continent’s biggest economy last year.
Nigeria’s electrical grid churns out so little power that the country mostly runs on private generators. So when a fuel shortage struck this spring, a national crisis quickly followed, disrupting cellphone service, temporarily closing bank branches and grounding airplanes.
The power shortages and blackouts have cast a harsh light on elected officials, causing rising anger among voters for whom reliable electricity was supposed to be a dividend of democracy and economic growth.
Experts say that the appointment of politically connected officials with little industry expertise at the South African state utility, Eskom, has led to mismanagement, just as it has at other state-owned enterprises.
“It’s not only a symbol of failure when the lights go off,” said Anton Eberhard, an energy expert and a professor of management at the University of Cape Town. “It’s experienced directly by people. If you’re about to cook or if your child is studying for an exam the next day and your lights go off, people feel this very directly. There is a very concrete and dramatic expression of failure.”
The demand for power in Africa has become a major international issue. China has taken the lead in financing many power projects across the continent — mostly hydroelectric dams, but also solar power plants and wind farms. Private companies from Asia, the United States and Europe are also supplying power to an increasing number of countries.
President Obama, in a visit to Africa two years ago, highlighted the importance of improving the continent’s power supply with a $7 billion initiative called Power Africa. The American government, partly through entities like the Millennium Challenge Corporation, is focusing on improving the electricity infrastructure in several countries, including Ghana, Malawi and Tanzania.
But investments and changes in the electricity sector on the continent have yet to yield significant gains, and experts predict that it will take decades before sub-Saharan Africa enjoys universal access to electricity.
In his inaugural address last month, Nigeria’s new president, Muhammadu Buhari, said that his nation’s attempts to overhaul its electricity sector had “only brought darkness, frustration, misery and resignation among Nigerians.” He singled out unreliable power service as the biggest drag on the economy.
Nigeria’s leaders have promised a stable power supply since the end of military rule in 1999, spending about $20 billion and dismantling the state National Electric Power Authority, better known as N.E.P.A. and widely derided as “Never Expect Power Always.”
Yet the country’s power generating capacity has remained virtually unchanged, about six gigawatts for a country of 170 million. The United States, with 320 million people, has a capacity of more than 1,000 gigawatts.
“Most companies don’t have four hours of power a day from the national grid,” said Akpan H. Ekpo, the director general of the West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital. “If they do, they’re lucky.”
Most of the $20 billion spent to overhaul the power sector is believed to have gone into the pockets of corrupt officials, Mr. Ekpo said.
“With the advent of democracy, we were promised constant power, or at least improved power,” he added. “But much to our surprise, things have only gotten worse. In some middle-class parts of Lagos, people are lucky if they now get 30 minutes of power a day.”
A woman in an impoverished neighborhood of Cape Town ran her restaurant by candlelight during a blackout. Energy experts say South Africa does not have nearly enough generation capacity.CreditNic Bothma/European Pressphoto Agency
South Africa’s recent history of electrification is more complicated, and it has been the subject of fierce debate as the current blackout crisis has dragged on for several months.
In the last years of apartheid, before a democratic government was elected in 1994, electricity reached only a third of South African households, few of them black.
Under the African National Congress — whose leaders have governed ever since, often promising free electricity and other services as part of the nation’s democracy — 85 percent of households now have electricity, a remarkable accomplishment by any standard.
President Jacob Zuma has forcefully rejected any blame for the energy crisis. The strain on the grid, he said, resulted from the burden of bringing light to millions of black households that lacked power under white-minority rule.
“It is a problem of apartheid, which we are resolving,” he said this year.
But energy experts say that these households, many of them low-income, consume little electricity. Instead, they said, the shortages result from frequent breakdowns at aging plants and, most critically, the delayed construction of two new facilities.
As far back as 1998, a government report warned that without new capacity, the country would face serious power shortages by 2007. A year later, in 2008, South Africa suffered its first rolling blackouts.
South Africa, which has the continent’s only nuclear power plant, has around half of sub-Saharan Africa’s power generating capacity, roughly 44 gigawatts. Still, the power cuts contributed to a recent drop in economic growth and a spike in unemployment to 26.4 percent, the worst level in a dozen years.
The blackouts have affected everyone, including giant gold mining companies, small businesses and individuals.
South Africans are buying up generators, rechargeable lights and gas burners. They plan their days and evenings around blackouts scheduled by the utility. Dominating South Africa’s list of popular app downloads are ones that alert smartphone users to the impending start of a cutoff in their neighborhood or the risk of one as load shedding across the nation increases.
To Ms. Ngwenya, who was sharing meat pies with her family in the mall parking lot, load shedding was not only about electricity. She blamed theAfrican National Congress, the party that liberated South Africa and has steered its course ever since.
“I always supported the A.N.C.,” said Ms. Ngwenya, who grew up in Soweto, a black township outside Johannesburg, but now lives in a wealthy suburb. “However, when it comes to load shedding, I don’t know. It’s not normal coming to a mall and carrying a torch like this man here,” she said, pointing to another consumer shrouded in darkness.
“For me, this is the biggest failure of the A.N.C.,” she added. “We even have a name for it, load shedding. Why don’t they say blackout once and for all?”
In Sandton, a Johannesburg suburb with gated communities and sumptuous malls, Junior Nji, 38, walked out of a well-lit Woolworths in an otherwise dark mall. His wife had just sent him a text message with the news that their neighborhood had gone dark, telling him not to bother getting groceries.
“Load shedding boo,” she wrote, using a term of endearment. “This can’t be life.”
That morning, Mr. Nji said, he had finally decided to buy a diesel generator for his house, and workers had come to prepare for the installation. But Mr. Nji, an architect, was holding off on plans to move to a bigger office because of the extra costs of equipping it with a generator. He had been planning, he said, to hire an additional architect and a draftsman.
He texted his wife: “Then let’s go out somewhere. That Chinese restaurant might just be O.K.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/03/w...rica-stunt-economies-and-fire-up-tempers.html