The Chinese aided African Union’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) headquarters building project commemorated it’s topping out ceremony at the project site on Friday November 26. The topping out ceremony marked the completion of the first phase of the project.
Construction of the headquarters began in December 2020 with the project completion scheduled in 24 months. The headquarters rest in an area of 40,000 square meters. After completion the facility will house laboratories, emergency operation center and offices among others.
Within a construction period of less than a year, 45 percent the project is completed consuming USD 20 million out of the total budget of USD 100 million. The project is fully funded by the government of China.
During the ceremony, head of China’s Mission to the African Union, Ambassador Liu Yuxi praised the partnership between China and the AU.
The implementation agreement on the Africa CDC HQs building project was signed in July 2020 between the AU Commission and the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China.
The headquarters in Addis Ababa will be finalized by early 2023. Africa CDC has a plan of building additional five Regional Collaborating Centers in Egypt, Gabon, Kenya, Nigeria, and Zambia in the near future.
The Africa CDC was established in January 2016 by the 26th Ordinary Assembly of Heads of State and Government to improve coordination among health institutions among African Union member states in dealing with disease threats. African Union member states had first considered the idea of establishing a continent wide public health agency in 2013 at an AU Special Summit on HIV, Tuberculosis and Malaria in Abuja Nigeria. The idea was proposed by Ethiopia, then the Chair of the AU. The 2014 Ebola crisis accelerated the establishment of the Africa CDC, and also shaped perceptions of what its main purpose was to be and strengthened the importance of health emergency prevention and response. In July 2015, the African Union Ministers of Health meeting in Malabo had adopted the Statute of the Africa CDC, which called for fast-tracking the establishment of the institution. The agency was officially launched in January 2017.
Phase I of Africa CDC completes
ECX preps to floor aromatic gum, resins
The Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) that has been in modern trading facilitation for almost 13 years is on the process to embark the trading of aromatic gum and resins.
The exchange that is working to add more commodities on the electronic trading floor is now developing a contract for frankincense, myrrh and opopanax that are classified as aromatic gum. The floor has also planned to trade, gum Arabic, which is non-aromatic gum and resins.
According to the information Capital obtained from ECX, the trading floor has drafted the contract that was tabled on the panel of exports consultation for private and enterprises stakeholders and relevant public bodies like the Ministry of Agriculture.
During the discussion, relevant inputs were given to improve the draft contract document that considers grades and different measurements.
Further industry level consultation with stakeholders including suppliers and exporters is expected to be undertaken to introduce the trading at ECX.
The information indicated that ECX has targeted to commence the trading in this budget year, while it would depend on the preparation work.
Ethiopia is considered to have a long-established gums and resins sector, experienced in harvesting, grading, trading and exporting. The country is also considered as the widest range of endemic gums and resins in Africa, “and this represents an important commercial resource base for the country,” a Global Business Network Program document stated.
Different studies indicated that Ethiopia is one of the countries well endowed with various species of Acacia, Boswellia and Commiphora that are known to produce gum arabic, frankincense and myrrh, respectively.
Available estimates of the total area of oleo-gum resin bearing woodlands cover about 3.5 million hectares of land in the country, with over 35,000 to 114,000 metric tons of natural gum production potential. According to different study report, gum and resins production are playing significant economic role both at the local and national level today in Ethiopia, and their contribution is growing every year.
According to the Global Business Network Program document, the annual formal exports are around the 5,000 tonnes level.
A study that was conducted about a decade ago indicated that gum and resins is one of the forest export commodity that contributes over USD 30 million annually.
Frankincense, also known as Olibanum – these comprise sources from three different geographical zones, namely Tigray, Ogaden and Borena. The most commercially traded is from Tigray, Boswellia papyrifera, whilst the principal commercial species from the other main areas are Boswellia rivae and Boswellia neglecta. Myrrh and Opoponax – various species that are most likely endemic to Ethiopia, these include Commiphora myrrha as well as Commiphora guditti.
Ethiopia is one of the countries well endowed with various species of Acacia, Boswellia and Commiphora that are known to produce gum arabic, frankincense and myrrh, respectively. Available estimates of the total area of oleo-gum resin bearing woodlands cover about 3.5 million ha of land in the country, with over 30,000-33,000 metric tons of natural gum production potential. According to different study report, gum and resins production are playing significant economic role both at the local and national level today in Ethiopia, and their contribution is growing every year.
ECX which is at the heart of trading agricultural crop mainly trades; coffee, sesame seeds, soybean, white pea beans, green mung beans, speckled beans, red kidney beans and pigeon beans.
Recently the trading of four spices and vetch has been introduced to its electronic trading platform that started operation in 2008.
Investors seek gov’t support after AGOA suspension
Investors request government support to resist the effect of Ethiopian termination from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). Due to the conflict erupted last year between the federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) on November 2, 2021, the U.S. President Joe Biden moved to suspend Ethiopia from the AGOA.
Temesgen Tilahun, Deputy Commissioner of the Ethiopian Investment Commission told Capital, following the commission’s discussion with investors, some investors have disclosed that they are working to find alternative market options while some investors have stated that they are planning to cut off their production until a better time comes and have asked the government to support them, in that accord.
As the commissioner elaborated, EIC is carefully inspecting the operation of investors and having encouraging discussions on the problems investors face. Moreover, the commission is preparing a strategy which includes different stakeholders to support investors.
Rearranging tax and tariffs, expanding duty free schemes, giving loan relief, minimizing transport subsidy and also minimizing shade leasing cost are some strategies to be used, the deputy commissioner indicates.
Since Ethiopia is not a WTO Member State, the country’s standard tariff schedule for access to the US market has far higher tariffs than would be the case under normal tariff relations (NTR). A loss of AGOA removes preferential access to 6,500 tariff lines.
Ethiopian officials had warned the suspension could take away 1 million jobs, disproportionately hurting poor women who are the majority of garment workers.
Temesgen explained that one of the efforts that the government is working on is to change the decision of the US government and also going forward, perhaps finding alternative market and increasing the product is the mainstream market which will be impactful for the future.
In a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “removing the preferential agreement will affect the livelihoods of more than 200,000 low income families, mostly; women who have got nothing to do with the conflict, it will also considerably impair the lives of one million people who are engaged in the supply chain ecosystem.”
The ministry expected a balanced view on the situation from the international community and asked the US government to reverse its decision that may only embolden the terrorist group while endangering the aspirations of Ethiopians to extricate themselves out of poverty.
Ethiopia is one of three African countries alongside coup hit Guinea and Mali which will lose access to the scheme from January 1st.
AGOA brings Ethiopia about $100m in “hard cash” annually and directly generates employment for about 100,000 people, Ethiopia exported 237 million dollar duty-free to the U.S. last year, U.S. Commerce Department data said.
Almost half of Ethiopia’s 524 million dollar in exports to the US in 2020 utilized AGOA preferences – mainly for apparel and footwear, two sectors reliant on AGOA preferences with most of the exporters found in Industrial parks.
From the total 24 Industrial Parks developed in the country, 22 are now in operation and the country has managed to attract more than 250 domestic and foreign investors which till August 2021 created employment opportunities for 86,837 unskilled laborers and more than twenty thousand posts for skilled labor and graduates, excluding the three Industrial Parks in Tigray region which have ceased operations for the last one year.
According to the IPDC inclusive of the ones in the Industrial Park context, currently more than 65 textiles and apparel, and 67 major leather products, and gloves manufacturing industries employ over 200,000 direct jobs of which 80 percent of them are women and youth and generate about 230 million dollars per annum.
Electronic Single Window saves Ethiopia 70 million dollar
Ethiopia saves around 70 million dollar from Jan 4, 2020 up to now by using the Electronic Single Window (ESW) program.
As part of the government’s commitment to improve investment and trade, the Ethiopian Customs Commission developed an electronic single window (ESW) for trade with the help of the World Bank Group.
The platform that will enhance efficiency in the trade logistics landscape of the country by speeding the customs process for importers and exporters was described by Robel Tesfaye, Program Director of Ethiopian Electronics Single Window Program Office, as system that has been able to minimize import release time from 44 day to about 12 days.
“We are able to reduce time to process a single permit from 30 days to 2.5 days and 55 autonomous organizations out of 73 expected organizations are able to process traders’ permit requests using our system,” elaborated Robel.
According to Robel, by making the procedure predictable and reachable by deploying new technologies, the E-service has spared the traders from wasting their time saving the country 70 million dollar within one and half years.
The Ethiopian Electronic Single Window is a program office that is aimed to conduct various single window related projects, which consists of 6 complementary projects, namely: The Ethiopian Electronic Single Window Software project – Phase I, The Advancement Software project, Software Consultancy, Network Infrastructure and Data Center Development project, Integrated Cyber Security Consultancy Project, The Ethiopian Electronic Single Window Software project – Phase II, and the EDF 11 – Trade Facilitation project.
Ethiopia is among the countries with the highest logistics costs in the world which retards growth of export-driven light manufacturing and agriculture. High trade costs can be attributed to various constraints, including a state monopoly on key logistics services, regulatory restrictions and low levels of key logistics services, amongst shortages of foreign currency which prolongs import times. Moreover, delays in obtaining and processing trade documents are a great contributor to the delay.
To address these challenges, the government introduced new procedures and approaches to conduct customs operations as part of its multi-pronged approach that includes improving regulations, processes, and practices that was burdensome to private businesses and addressing the investment climate issues that have been holding back investment and productivity growth.
“Basically, Electronic Single Window is a facility that allows parties involved in trade and transport to lodge standardized information and documents with a single entry point to fulfill all import, export, and transit-related regulatory requirements,” said Robel.
The Electronic Single Window system is aimed to simplify an international trade business that would eventually have the following benefits: Enhance import and export service by cutting time and cost to trade. It is aimed to minimize the import release time from 44 days to 3 days in the full-fledged implementation of all projects at large and it is aimed to reach from 44 to 15 days in the operation of the first phase project implementation in particular. In addition it will bring forth visibility, predictability and ease of use to both regulatory agencies and traders with respect to processing an international trade service. It seeks to maximize national revenue by encouraging manufacturing sector and revenue collection through streamlined import and export processes, enhance global competiveness with respect to ease of doing business and logistics performance to attract foreign investment. Likewise, it aims to enhance good governance by reducing corruption perception rate and by maximizing customer satisfaction.
According to Robel, more than 381,000 online trader-related requested have been process so far. 19 banks including the National Bank and 18 insurance companies are serving traders through the system. He further stated more than 19,400 traders are using the system to lodge their trade related request to regulatory organizations.
“We launched the Ethiopia Electronic Single Window Service a key technology that will enhance cost effectiveness and efficiency in trade logistics landscape of Ethiopia,” said Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, on January 25, 2020 launching the project, adding, “By creating a paperless environment, eliminating multiple physical inspections and repetitive document submissions, it will help to reduce compliance costs for traders by an estimated 50%.”
