The document discusses various economic and political developments across several African countries and regions. It reports that Mauritius held a workshop on public-private partnerships to promote infrastructure development. It also discusses Egypt's continued investments in new airports despite the global slowdown, calls by the African Union for sanctions against Eritrea for supporting Somali insurgents, and Zimbabwe's plans to streamline investment processes through a one-stop shop model. Rwanda reported lower inflation rates and revised GDP growth estimates than expected.

1. COMESA RISK ASSESSMENT BULLETIN
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Volume 1 – N 5- May 5 2009 - Fortnightly published by AFRIKASOURCES
HOT TOPIICS
HOT TOP CS
Developing Projects Through Private And Public Finance - The latest three-day workshop on Public Private Partnerships
MAURIITIIUS
MAUR T US (PPP), organised by the Mauritius PPP committee and the Commonwealth Secretariat between 7 and 9 April, looked at how the
private sector could work with the government on development projects. It was attended by over 50 senior officials from various
PPP solutions ministries, academic and state-owned enterprises. The Minister of Public Infrastructure, Land Transport and Shipping in
Mauritius, the Hon A. K. Bachoo, said: quot;Massive investment is required to meet the growing demand for infrastructure the world
over”. Lead Analyst of the Mauritius PPP Unit, Visvanaden Soondram said: quot;The workshops were useful in creating awareness of the
PPP initiative. The participants will be able to apply what they have learned on the course to practical situations. quot;We will make sure
that whatever the techniques, concepts or the best practice, whatever has been disseminated through the workshop when developing PPP
projects progresses the initiatives.quot;
Deputy Director of Procurement and Supply at the Procurement Policy Office, Anund Mudhoo, said: quot;The workshops were
important because many public officers may have heard of PPP and they know how it can be used but they have not been exposed to real
cases. Now we know what are the risks, the opportunities and how we have to deal with situations.quot;
During the sixth Zambia International Business Advisory Council (ZIBAC )conference held at Zambezi Sun Hotel under the
ZAMBIIA
ZAMB A
theme “Global Economic Crisis: Zambia’s Response to growth and competitiveness” the President R. Banda said there was urgent
need to maintain food security by prioritizing measures to support the continued growth of the agricultural industry.
Improve business climate Mr. Banda also called for the creation of a conductive business and investment climate by way of producing quality goods and
services if the country was to compete favorably in the global economy.
He also stressed the need to implement and effectively monitor reforms under the private sector development program.
To that effect Mr. Banda said government had put in place a framework for monitoring the implementation of all agreed policies,
programs and projects on a monthly basis to ensure bottlenecks in the implementation process were easily identified.
He assured the private sector and co-operating partners that government would continue attaching strong political will and
commitment to private sector development.
According to Dr Fundanga, the Governor of the Central Bank of Zambia, the country will slightly be affected by the economic
and financial crisis as the country had only spent about US$134 million in foreign investment portfolios in its foreign reserve.
Inspite of the global financial crisis and a slowdown in aviation activities across the globe, Egypt will move ahead with its 6.3
EGYPT
EGYPT billion Egyptian pounds [1.1 billion US $] investments program in new airports. The country will spend 2 billion pounds [360
million US $] for the reconstruction of terminal 2 at Cairo International Airport, and will invest 4.3 billion pounds [770 million
Invest in airports US $] on three new airports in the country. “With a combine passenger traffic handling capacity of 10 million these new airports
are Burg El Arab Airport, Hurgada Airport and Asyout Airport, Ihsan Sadik from Cairo Airport Company, part of the Egyptian
Holding Company for Airports and Air Navigation, said.
The biggest airport in Egypt, opened its Terminal 3 on April 27, 2009, with an annual capacity of 11 million passengers. After
the opening of the new terminal, Cairo Airport handles 24 million passengers per annum. Located at the crossroads of Africa, the
Middle East, Europe and the Gulf, Cairo International Airport is poised to become the gateway to Africa and the Middle East and
a regional hub for millions of visitors to Egypt. “Egypt is launching a new cargo city project this year so we are anticipating a new
runway, air traffic control tower and people mover, among other big-ticket components,” said Sadik.
Last year in May, Sharm El Sheikh Airport started operations with a capacity of 4,300 passengers per hour.
African Union calls for sanctions against Eritrea - The African Union called on the United Nations to impose immediate sanctions on
ERIITREA
ER TREA Eritrea for supporting Islamist insurgents attempting to overthrow Somalia's government. But Eritrean Ambassador Araya Desta
said in a letter to the U.N. Security Council: quot;I wish to put on record my government's strong opposition to, and categorical
AU calls for sanctions rejection of, the unsubstantiated accusations leveled against my country.quot;
The demand from the AU marked the first time it has ever called for international punishment against one of its own members,
reflecting the dire situation in Mogadishu where 4,000 AU peacekeepers supporting a fragile government have been targeted by
hard-line Islamic militants. The statement echoed demands made by the east African regional bloc, the Inter Governmental
Authority on Development (IGAD). The AU reiterated IGAD's request that the United Nations enforce sanctions to prevent
foreign fighters and arms from entering. quot;(We want) the imposition of a no-fly zone and blockade of sea ports to prevent the entry
of foreign elements into Somalia, as well as flights and shipments carrying weapons and ammunitions to armed groups inside
Somalia,quot; the statement said. In an interview with Reuters, influential insurgent leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys said Eritrea
supported the rebel struggle. He said a few Arab fighters had joined the rebels in the name of Islam.
Rwanda ‐ The Rwanda Development Board/Information and Communication Technology, Tuesday signed a deal worth US $5.2m with a Swedish ICT firm, Coromatic, to
establish a National Data Centre (NDC) where all national data will be stored.
Sudan ‐ SABMiller Plc, the world’s second‐ biggest brewer, began production at its southern Sudan unit, the first‐ever brewery in the region. The brewery, in the region’s
capital Juba, has the capacity to produce 180,000 hectoliters (4.8 million gallons) of beer and 60,000 hectoliters of soft drinks a year.
Uganda – The country estimates an overall economic loss of between USD 2 to 8 billion in the last 10 years to the Banana Xanthomonas Wilt (BXW) disease. Scientists
further estimate a production loss of about 53% in cooking bananas in the next 10 years in the country if the disease is left unchecked.
Madagascar ‐ Air Madagascar is in dire straits as visitor numbers have plummeted by 70 percent due to the political trouble in the country.
Seychelles ‐ The representatives of Paris Club creditors and the representatives of the Government of the Republic of Seychelles met on 15 and 16 April 2009 and agreed
on a total amount of debt cancellation of 45% in nominal terms in two phases. The remaining amounts will be rescheduled over 18 years, including a 5‐year grace period.
They also agreed to defer part of payments due in the coming years (moratorium interest).
Edited by AFRIKASOURCES – Author: Jean Philippe PAYET [CEO-Senior analyst]
The content of this publication is based on a selection of information browsed by our services. Request for a more detailed analysis at payet@in.com – © Afrikasources Consult Ltd – Port-Louis [Mauritius]

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Zimbabwe Investment Authority (ZIA) says it is working on streamlining the processes prospective investors undergo in order to
ZIIMBABWE
Z MBABWE set up business in Zimbabwe in a bid to promote the free flow of investments into the country. Under the One Stop Shop (OSS)
concept, ZIA proposes that all processes that investors follow must be conducted under one roof in order to reduce red tape.
One‐Stop‐Shop “There is need for Zimbabwe to come up with an investment project that will see investors gain their confidence in investing in
Zimbabwe again because all the trust had been lost because of the political situation that had been prevailing as well as the ever
changing policies,” Richard Mbaiwa, the ZIA chief executive officer said. The OSS model comes at a time when investors have
raised concern that doing business in Zimbabwe is long and tedious. According to the World Bank Doing Business Report 2009,
Zimbabwe was ranked 158 out of 181 countries on environment conducive to doing business.
At the same time, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad) will send a delegation to Zimbabwe to explore areas of
partnership with the inclusive government in agriculture and related investments. The delegation will comprise mostly experts
from the body’s agriculture and capacity building departments. The visit is part of Nepad’s efforts to help African governments
boost agricultural production, as one of the ways of shielding the continent from the effects of the global financial and food crises.
Rwanda's annual inflation rate fell to 13.64 % in April from 17.08 in March according to the National Institute of Statistics of
RWANDA
RWANDA Rwanda. Like other land-locked neighbouring states, Rwanda has suffered from high energy and commodity prices since last year.
The Finance Minister and Economic Planning M. James Musoni revised its gross domestic product (GDP) growth estimate this
Better statistics… than month for the coming fiscal year, which begins in July, down to 5.7 % from roughly 6 % previously. The ministry said the
expected country's balance of payments would swing into deficit in 2009/10 for the first time in five years as falling global demand cuts
hard currency earnings. quot;We are not worried because our economy performed far better than we had anticipated, thus we don't project
to lay off workers because of the global financial crisis,quot; Musoni assured.
Most drivers of the stable economy cited include external sector industries such as tea, exports, tourism and remittances. Tea
fetched $11.5m in the first quarter of 2009 compared to 10.4 million in the same period last year giving it an increase of 10 %. In
tourism sector, the overall visitors increased from 95,320 last year to 120,809 in the first 3 months of this year giving an increase
of 27 %. It is said that significant growth was registered in leisure tourists which rose by 50 % and business visitors that increased
by 25 %. Revenues in tourism have also increased from $22m in the first quarter of last year to $24 million this year.
REGIONAL NEWS
WITS UNIVERSITY CENTRE FOR INDIAN STUDIES IN AFRICA INVEST IN COMESA
This Centre will be the first of its kind on the African continent. CISA will support quot;Investment promotion is a key component of the development of our countries. One
research, teaching and public debate about India and its growing presence across the of the key challenges to investing in the region is the issue of infrastructurequot; has said
African continent. Swazi Minister of Commerce, Industry and Trade Lindiwe Dlamini at the opening of a
The Centre has been set up in an effort to boost ties between India and South Africa recent COMESA event. The workshop, organized by the COMESA Regional Investment
as trade and investment between the two countries records significant upward growth. Agency (RIA) and the Swaziland Investment Promotion Authority (SIPA) with the
According to the Acting Director of CISA Prof Stephen Gelb, total bilateral trade support of BizClim, aims at fostering the development of public-private partnership
between South Africa and India amounts to over US$4 billion today and has grown by (PPP) models in the COMESA region.
22% annually since 2001. At the same seminar, COMESA Assistant Secretary General Stephen Karangizi said that
quot;Around 40 major corporations from each country now operate in the other, including public-private partnerships (PPPs) could help governments build capacity and acquire as
many familiar corporate names: Tata, Ranbaxy, Bajaj, ICICI, Anglo American, Sasol, well as maintain assets in environments of shrinking or diminished budgets that make
Sanlam and Shoprite. Others such as Infosys and Standard Bank are known to be public sector investments difficult, if not impossible.
considering entry,quot; he says. A study made by BKP Development for COMESA RIA proposes operational
CISA plans to expand applied research collaborations between Wits and Indian recommendations for assisting the 19 national IPAs in designing policies and establishing
universities. It also plans to promote staff and student exchanges and to initiate joint systems that would facilitate the adoption of laws and regulations for PPP projects and
projects with Indian scholars about common problems such as social divisions of caste, design the appropriate institutional frameworks. The focus is on utilities, energy, ports
community and race, the rise of the middle class, rural-urban migration and issues in and transport, water supply, health and education sectors. By disseminating best
constitutional law. practices and providing practical tools, COMESA RIA will assist COMESA countries in
In a recent report the World Bank was calling for improvement in the Indian developing their own PPP model and procedures on a shared experience.
investment promotion policy considered as “weak”. More details on www.comesaria-ppp.org
SNAPSHOTS
10th Summit of Heads of State of The East African Community, Arusha, Tanzania, 29 April 2009
EAC, the regional organization of Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Burundi and Rwanda, was early this year rocked by financial crisis following failure by the partner states to
remit their contributions to the secretariat in Arusha on time.
During the last Summit, while the five member countries agreed on various issues including the harmonization of several trade agreements, the free movement of
business people, joint implementation of inter-regional infrastructure programmes and other arrangements to foster co-operation, it was also clear that not all differences
had been ironed out. It is these differences that once again led to the postponement of the Common Market protocol, this time to November 2009.
Despite their opposition, member states agreed on the organization budget. East African Community will spend $54,257,291 during the 2009/2010 financial year,
according to budget proposals presented to the regional assembly. The budget exceeds the previous one of $40.5 million by 34 % the chairperson of EAC Council of
Minister, Ms Monique Makaruliza, told the East African Legislative Assembly in Bujumbura. Development expenditure will take at least 50 % of the total budget
followed by personnel emoluments (31 %). Recurrent expenditure is allocated 19 %. A statement issued by the EAC secretariat in Arusha, gave a breakdown of $27.4
million to be spent on development projects, $16.7 million (personnel emoluments) and $10.1 million for recurrent expenditure.
Ms Makaluriza, who is Rwanda's minister for EAC Affairs, told the regional parliament that this year's budget for the regional organization, will focus on deepening
regional integration, especially the envisaged Common Market and Monetary Union. She said efforts were underway to finalize negotiations for the EAC Common
Market Protocol later this year as directed by the heads of state and its subsequent launching. Other priority areas will include laying the foundation for the Monetary
Union, infrastructure development and promoting EAC trade and investments, including EPA negotiations.
The East African Business Council (EABC) has welcomed the decisions taken during the Summit and described them as a quot;positive stepquot; and a demonstration of
commitment by the Heads of State to protecting national sovereignty of partner states in EAC negotiations without compromising the spirit of the community.
East Africa Community (EAC) countries recently embarked on the first-ever joint mission to Canada to market the region as a single trade and investment destination.
Edited by AFRIKASOURCES – Author: Jean Philippe PAYET [CEO-Senior analyst]
The content of this publication is based on a selection of information browsed by our services. Request for a more detailed analysis at payet@in.com – © Afrikasources Consult Ltd – Port-Louis [Mauritius]
NEXT EDITION: 20 May 2009