World
Burkina Faso Suspended From AGOA Programme
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
Burkina Faso, that desert-landlocked West African country located in the Sahel, might be facing its thorniest path to the unpredictable political situation. With an approximately 22 million population, the majority impoverished largely due to misplaced state planning by the previous political leaders, Burkina Faso has been severely affected by the rise of militant terrorist attacks since the mid-2010s.
Burkina Faso is not alone. Across the Sahel region, neighbours feared the jihadist insurgency might spread further down from Burkina Faso to coastal neighbours, including Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo and Benin. Nigeria is already consistently fighting Boko Haram and other militant groups.
According to several media reports, Burkina Faso point-blank accused France of not doing enough to tackle an Islamist insurgency. The prolonged insecurity resulted in political instability and military takeovers in January 2022 and September 2022 in the country.
The reports further said Burkina Faso has allegedly made an agreement with Russia’s Wagner Group in which the shadowy mercenary outfit will help the west African country deal with surging jihadi violence in exchange for a mine.
Russia is broadening its geography of military diplomacy covering poor African countries and especially fragile states that need its military assistance. It has, during its past two decades of raising its economic influence and fighting French neo-colonial tendencies, bartered military equipment to have complete access to mineral resources in the Central African Republic, Guinea, Mali and Chad. There are similar cases in Sudan and Libya.
Last year, it suffered two military coups, heavily condemned by the regional bloc (Economic Community of West African States) and the continental organization (African Union). Both the ECOWAS and AU withdrew Burkina Faso’s membership and further imposed some restrictions on the country for its unconstitutional military ascension to political power.
The ECOWAS and AU have also expressed collective concerns about any use of private mercenary forces, instead of well-constituted regional forces approved by regional blocs, as a means to address conflicts in Africa.
During the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit held December 13-15 in Washington, the White House did not invite Sudan, Guinea, Mali and Burkina Faso because they are currently suspended by the African Union following coups and counter-coups in Africa. These countries are simply not in good standing with the Africa Union.
Reports indicated that the United States had dropped Burkina Faso from its African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The main reason is that the United States operates within the framework of protocols of the African Union, and thus Burkina Faso is no longer and logically qualified for the AGOA trade preference program. The United States Trade Office said Burkina Faso had failed to meet the requirements of the AGOA statute.
The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) provides sub-Saharan African nations with duty-free access to the United States if they meet certain eligibility requirements, such as eliminating barriers to U.S. trade and investment and making progress toward political pluralism.
Frustrations over the government’s inability to curb an insurgency spurred two military coups in Burkina Faso in 2022. In late December, Burkina Faso’s military government ordered Barbara Manzi, who is a senior United Nations official, to leave the country, a decision that was contested by the United Nations.
Burkinabe Ministry of Foreign Affairs, however, reacted to the decision by repeating a November statement saying the timetable for a return to democracy had not changed. It had committed to returning to constitutional rule in 24 months in a July agreement with the West African regional bloc ECOWAS.
Burkina Faso is one of the world’s poorest countries. It is agricultural but is said to have been mining copper, iron, manganese, gold and phosphates. Despite its political crisis, Burkina Faso utterly refused to observe the protocols of the ECOWAS and the African Union. And the United States shows readiness to cooperate with African partners within the protocol principles and the framework of the African Union’s Agenda 2063.
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
The Republic of Côte d’Ivoire has abandoned its import substitution policy and other economic measures, including the budgetary allocation for modernizing local agriculture and support for boosting domestic agricultural production. It, however, boasts around 64.8 per cent of arable and agricultural land, which largely remains uncultivated.
Arguably, Côte d’Ivoire, located on the Gulf of Guinea (Atlantic Ocean), could support its fishing industry by spending adequate funds on acquiring simple fishing equipment for local people and even start its own large-scale fish ponds but instead plans to increase fish imports into the country.
It was gathered that the West African country might spend an estimated $100 million on exports of Russian food and agricultural products this second quarter of 2023.
The Russian Agriculture Ministry’s Agroexport Center said it was ready to export such products to Côte d’Ivoire as its market is promising for exports, including grain, fish, sunflower and soybean oil, processed grain products and prepared meat products, among others.
Russian exports of agribusiness products to Côte d’Ivoire more than doubled to $41.6 million in 2021 from $18 million a year earlier, the report said. This included 96,100 tonnes of wheat worth $26.2 million, 12,900 tonnes of fish worth $8.7 million, 1,100 tonnes of sunflower oil worth $1.7 million and 400 tonnes of ice cream worth $0.5 million.
Statistics show that imports from the Côte d’Ivoire are far higher and grew to $237.5 million in 2021 from $223.7 million in 2020, although by the volume they dropped to 72,600 tonnes from 74,500 tonnes. These imports included 43,800 tonnes of cocoa beans worth $141.8 million, 18,100 tonnes of cocoa paste worth $69.3 million and 3,400 tonnes of cocoa powder worth $8.5 million.
“The decrease in Russian imports by volume was due to the reduction of purchases of cocoa beans and cocoa powder. At the same time, cocoa paste imports showed significant growth: 27% by volume and 37.2% by value,” the report said.
Around 7.5 million people made up the workforce. The workforce took a hit, especially in the private sector, with numerous economic crises since the 2000s. Decreasing job markets posed a huge issue as unemployment rates grew.
With rising unemployment, especially among the youth, experts suggested the government engage in economic diversification, focus on support for improving local production. Therefore, preliminary solutions proposed to decrease unemployment included diversifying the economy and increasing financial support in addressing domestic food security.
With an estimated population of 29 million, the economy of Côte d’Ivoire has grown faster than that of most other African countries since independence. One possible reason for this might be taxes on exported agriculture. It is the world’s largest exporter of cocoa beans. In 2021, cocoa-bean farmers earned $2.53 billion for cocoa exports. Generally, it is the fourth-largest exporter of general goods in sub-Saharan Africa (following South Africa, Nigeria, and Angola)
By geographical description, Côte d’Ivoire is a country in western sub-Saharan Africa. It borders Liberia and Guinea in the west, Mali and Burkina Faso in the north, Ghana in the east, and the Gulf of Guinea (Atlantic Ocean).
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria’s West African neighbour, Cote d’Ivoire, may be the latest country in the African continent to get a Startup Act as the Ivorian government unveiled the framework designed to support the country’s most talented start-ups.
The journey began in 2018, and after much deliberations, in August 2021, startup ecosystem players gathered in the capital Yamoussoukro to develop a local law fostering startups in the West African country.
Two years later, the bill was approved by the Ivorian Council of Ministers, the country’s top executive decision-making body.
The bill, among other things, establishes the terms of financing and support for digital startups under Ivorian law. Its special goal is to support the development and sustainability of these vulnerable enterprises’ creative activity until they reach maturity in order to maximise their contribution to the transformation of the national economy and the quality of life of the people.
To give more weight and visibility to young innovative companies, Côte d’Ivoire announced a new legal framework. The Ivorian Startup Act, which is awaiting parliamentary approval, should soon bring a wind of change in the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Speaking on this recently following a meeting with stakeholders from Tunisia, the first African country to pass a Startup Act, Florence Tahiri Fadika, who is a technical advisor in charge of innovation and change at the country’s Ministry of Communication and the Digital Economy, said, “A meeting with our Tunisian counterparts during a benchmarking study at the end of 2022 accelerated the process. Tunisia is one of the first countries in Africa to have implemented a Startup Act. Their model is inspiring because it is very operational. The benchmarking mission, organized by the NTF V project, enabled us to benefit from Tunisia’s experience and to identify good practices.”
Following Tunisia’s model, the Ivorian Startup Act is driven by a strong political will and intends to bring concrete results.
“While waiting for the law to be officially voted by our assemblies, we are already working to make the Startup Act a tangible reality. The idea is not to copy the Tunisian legislation but to adapt it to the reality of our economy. A mapping study is underway and should enable us to precisely target the needs of our ecosystem,” Fadika said.
“At the same time, we are developing construction projects for new technology parks and start-up campuses,” she said. “Under the Startup Act, eligible start-ups will be able to benefit from state-of-the-art infrastructure and numerous amenities in order to succeed both regionally and internationally.”
The beneficiary start-ups will be able to access new opportunities in terms of training, financing, promotion, and access to public contracts and international markets.
When it becomes a law, the country will join Tunisia (April 2018), Senegal (December 2019), and Nigeria (October 2022) as African countries with startups backing the legislation.
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
Parliamentarians from Russia and Africa discussed issues of development of economic cooperation during the first day of their conference March 19 to 20, in Moscow.
The objectives of the conference are to strengthen parliamentary cooperation with African countries in the conditions of formation of a multipolar world, to develop relations and develop common approaches to legal regulation in the economy, science and education and security.
Round table discussions on the topic “Legislative Response to Economic Challenges” was held as part of the International Parliamentary Conference Russia-Africa events.
First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma, Alexander Zhukov, stressed that Africa “is a rapidly developing region with great prospects and that Russia is currently actively working to enhance cooperation with the countries of the African continent.”
“Unlike many Western countries, Russia does not have colonial experience, and the contribution of the Soviet Union to the liberation of African countries from colonial dependence is also well known to everyone,” he explained.
“An important part of the cooperation should be the exchange of legislative experience with African countries in key areas,” he said.
“Our mutual economic interests include investments, cooperation within production chains, cooperation in strategic infrastructure projects, energy, medicine, financial technologies, and that, of course, along with the traditional supply of grain and fertilizers,” said the First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma.
Africa stands for an equal partnership
Jacob Mudenda, the Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Zimbabwe, stressed that there should be a “specific approach” to provide a legislative response to economic challenges.
“Africa has resources, including those that cannot be found in other countries, even in developed ones. That is why Africa is the best investment option,” he said.
“Africa is against economic colonization; Africa stands for equal partnership,” said Jacob Mudenda.
Speaking about legislative issues, he said that the continent needed infrastructure and its development, such as road improvements, rail and air transport.
“If there is no infrastructure, it will be impossible to trade even with developed countries such as Russia and with Africa,” said the Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Zimbabwe.
He also noted the necessity to develop the energy sector for industry and sufficient water for agriculture.
Energy cooperation
The Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Energy, Pavel Zavalny, said that signing intergovernmental agreements was an important tool of political support for enhancing energy cooperation between Russia and African countries.
He emphasized that energy was one of the most promising areas of economic cooperation between Russia and African states. Economic growth and energy demand are shifting to Asia and Africa in global economic and geopolitical transformation conditions.
“One of the tools for intensifying economic cooperation is political support. Currently, there have been established economic cooperation with 14 countries of the continent at the state level, there were created high-level bilateral commissions, and signed intergovernmental agreements,” stressed Zavalny.
“The development and harmonization of energy legislation can play an important role in enhancing mutually beneficial energy cooperation between Russia and African countries. And that is the work that we should do in the interests of our nations,” concluded the Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Energy.
Multipolar world instead of hegemony
Jean-François Buzonni, a deputy spokesman assistant for the Union of the Congolese Nation (Congo) political party, said he was very pleased that Russia had turned its attention to the African continent, “which for many years has been under the yoke of Western countries.”
“The world no longer lives under the hegemony of one country. We see the transformation processes of a multipolar world,” he stressed.
“I am glad that Russia is seeking to develop equal partnership relations with the countries of the region for the common benefit,” added Jean-François Buzonni.
Transition to national systems of settlement
According to Maxim Topilin, the Chairman of the Committee on Economic Policy, the sanctions and pressure that Russia is experiencing just prove that “any situation in which a country maintains its independent position can lead to the destruction of all economic ties.”
“That should be a lesson to us,” he added.
Topilin said that in relations between Russia and Africa, it is necessary to focus on national systems of settlement. “It is very important not to be based on those standard principles, use those currencies that we used in the framework of joint projects,” he said.
Topilin is convinced that for further cooperation between Russia and Africa, it is necessary to create new international organizations. “We should think about new supranational institutions for recognition, certification, and admission to the markets of certain goods. There is a lot of work that should be done,” said the Chairman of the Committee on Economic Policy.
Topilin also recalled that a draft law on Islamic banking was being prepared for the second reading, and members of the State Duma plan to adopt it during the spring session. “From the point of view of cooperation with Islamic countries, that definitely will be a very serious breakthrough in the financial strategy,” he added.
More than 40 parliamentary delegations from African countries arrived at the conference, which was also attended by members of the State Duma, senators of the Federation Council, and representatives of the educational and business community. The conference was held just a few months before the second Russia-Africa summit, which is planned to be held in July 2023 in Saint Petersburg.
