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An update on free trade in Africa – the Guided Trade Initiative, regional value chains and measures for sustainable trade

17Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Business

An update on free trade in Africa – the Guided Trade Initiative, regional value chains and measures for sustainable trade

By Virusha Subban, Partner Specialising in Customs and Trade and Head of Tax, Baker McKenzie, Johannesburg The AfCFTA Guided Trade Initiative (GTI) is the latest development designed to boost trade in the Africa's continent-wide free trade zone. The GTI was launched in October 2022 with the aim of testing meaningful, continuous trade under AfCFTA and to assist in the development of regional value chains that will allow for more climate-friendly, sustainable trade across the continent. The GTI will test AfCFTA's policies, legal framework and operational and institutional environments. There are eight countries participating in the GTI that have all met the minimum requirements in terms of AfCTA's tariff book and rules of origin - Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Rwanda, Tanzania ...

10Mar

By Baker McKenzieNo Comments

Main

Challenges remain for Industrials, but calculus shifts

Disruption arising from COVID-19 has accelerated trends already apparent in the industrials market –– particularly digitalisation and trade volatility –– and transformation has gone from a “nice to have” to a necessity, according to the latest findings from Baker McKenzie. The law firm surveyed 700 company leaders in six industrial sub-sectors in early 2020, and again at the end of the year after the pandemic had taken hold of the global economy. In Africa, challenges in the industrials market were exacerbated by the pandemic, and highlighted by the requirements for seamless trade, strong supply chains, digitisation and sustainability, that were necessitated by the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement (AfCFTA), as well as by the post pandemic market environme...

Africa needs Pragmatic Free Market policies to attract capital into Gas markets

1Mar

By NJ AyukNo Comments

Energy

Africa needs Pragmatic Free Market policies to attract capital into Gas markets

Speaking at the International Petroleum (IP) Week on February 25, 2021, I commended Nigeria for its efforts in driving gas monetization, but we have to be clear that our industry and hardworking people remain frustrated by the delays and inability to pass and sign the Petroleum Industry Bill. There needs to be that fierce sense of urgency of now especially in the era of the energy transition. The Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) needs to be passed as it allows energy companies to turn their attention to producing energy that drives our economies. It will allow politicians to focus on other pressing matters like the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA) and security issues. Africa is well-placed to become a key global supplier of LNG. Mozambique, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Senegal, and ...

29Jan

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Egypt News, Ghana News, Kenya News, Main, Mauritius News, Nigeria News, South Africa News

African dealmaking decreases, the Africa’s Free Trade Agreement expected to boost recovery

Dealmaking activity in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) dropped in the second half of 2020 (H2 2020), when compared to the second half of 2019 (H2 2019) and year-on-year, deals were also down in both volume and value when compared to 2019. According to Baker McKenzie’s analysis of Refinitiv data, M&A transactions dropped in SSA in H2 2020, down 4% compared to H2 2019 with 329 deals in the period. Deal value fell by 17% to USD8.9 billion in the second half of 2020, compared to the same period in 2019. For the full year 2020, transactions dropped by 8%, with 625 deals in 2020, and deal value dropped by 33%, with deals valued at USD17.4 billion in total for 2020. However, as Africa gears up for its post-pandemic recovery, it appears that the opportunities presented by the recent launch of fr...