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Promoting South-South Civil Society Cooperation

Issue No. 13, 2006
A quarterly E-Newsletter
Published by CUTS-Africa Resource Centre, Lusaka, Zambia

CONTENTS

EDITOR’S NOTE

Africa’s MDG Hopes Uncertain
Africa is afflicted with poverty, famine, HIV/AIDS, weak infrastructure development, poor water sanitation, health delivery system and education. It may not realise the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which are to be achieved by 2015. Many low-income countries in sub-Saharan African (SSA) have low budget allocations to these sectors.

In April 2005, the executive boards of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) endorsed a joint framework for debt sustainability assessments (DSAs) in low-income countries and reviewed the debt sustainability framework (DSF) April 2006, alongwith the implications of the multilateral debt relief initiative (MDRI).
Given the central role of official creditors and donors in providing new development resources to these countries, the framework simultaneously provides guidance for their lending and grants allocation decisions to ensure that resources to LICs are provided on terms that are consistent with their long-term debt sustainability and progress towards the achievement of MDGs.

Editor


ACTIVITY REPORT

CSOs Adopt Position on Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs)
CUTS Africa Resource Centre (CUTS ARC), Lusaka, in cooperation with the Commonwealth Foundation, the Danish Association for International Cooperation (MS) Zambia, Oxfam (Novib, The Netherlands) and Institute for Global Dialogue, South Africa organised a regional dialogue entitled: ‘EPA Negotiations and Economic Development’, on October 19-21, 2006.

Over 55 representatives of civil society organisations (CSOs) from Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) agreed on a common position on EPAs. Speaking at the occasion, Erastus Mwencha, Secretary-General, Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) echoed civil society's fears that the EU was applying ‘underhand methods’ in the negotiations by saying that the Economic Development Fund (EDF) was sufficient for development in the ESA countries. He called upon the EU to provide ESA countries with real and secure market access through EPAs and to ensure that development remained at the heart of negotiations.

(For details, please visit: www.cuts-epa.org )

Farmers Bemoan Inadequate Marketing Policy
Following the bold economic reforms programmes, which were undertaken by the Zambian Government in 1991, small scale farmers and producers have been left wanting. The market reforms and end of Government subsidies have adversely affected the sector, which is a source of livelihood for a majority of the Zambian population. This has given rise to poverty in rural areas.

These views were expressed at a lobby and advocacy workshop organised by CUTS ARC, Lusaka, in partnership with MS-Zambia, at Mansa, on November 20-21, 2006.

(For details, please visit: www.cuts-international.org/cuts-arc-events.htm )


NEWS BRIEFS

COMESA-South Africa Trade Drops
South Africa has traditionally been the single largest trading partners for COMESA countries. However, trade between South Africa and COMESA has fallen drastically. COMESA exports to South Africa in 2005 pitched US$844mn, a decline of 70 percent compared with US$2,742mn in 2004.

(Source: The East African, 05.12.06)
 

Agricultural Trade Tops COMESA Agenda
 The agriculture sector in COMESA has vast potential to contribute to the economic diversification among member States and promote food security. COMESA has staged up initiatives to promote the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) under the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). The initiative is aimed at ensuring member States to benefit from agricultural trade and promote diversification. Mwencha said, “diversifying the agriculture sector is important to fight poverty in Africa because it has immense potential”.

(Source: Kenyan Times, 01.12.06)
 

TUS-SACU Talks Hopeful
The ambitious Free Trade Agreement (FTA) talks between the US and the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) received a setback as both parties failed to reach a consensus. However, SACU member’s opted to utilise trade relationships with the US under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), and other bilateral trade arrangements. “It was difficult to tell when talks would resume”, said Iqbal Sharma, acting deputy director general of International Trade and Economic Development (ITED), South Africa.

(Source: Busrep.co.za 17.11.06)

EAC Integration Criticised
Africa’s regional integration process has been criticsed for failing to succeed. During a trade policy review on East African Community (EAC) countries, the WTO indicated that the countries’ membership in overlapping trade arrangements was likely to limit the proper functioning of their customs union (CU) and making the trade regime more complex.

The WTO report stated that continued structural reforms and additional trade liberalisation by EAC members would contribute to better allocation of resources. Meanwhile, WTO has urged for an improvement in EAC members' multilateral commitments, both on goods and services, to improve their ability to attract investment and business climate.

(Source: Zambia Daily Mail, 16.11.06)


EVENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

Helping African CSOs Influence the EPA Negotiations
CUTS ARC, Lusaka, in collaboration with Overseas Development Institute (ODI), Civil Society Trade Network of Zambia (CSTNZ), Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR), Participatory Ecological Land Use Management (PELUM) Association, and the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJDP), will host a workshop to launch the project entitled, ‘Helping African CSOs Influence the EPA Negotiations’, at Lusaka, Zambia, on February 08-09, 2007.

The workshop will focus on the highly contested element that cannot be ‘negotiated out’ of the EPA: ‘reciprocity’ or the need for African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) members to remove trade barriers on ‘substantially all’ their imports from the EU over a transition period.

(For more details, please visit http://www.cuts-international.org/cuts-arcFE.htm#08feb2007)

Media workshop on EPAs
CUTS ARC, Lusaka, with support from Oxfam (Novib, The Netherlands) will host a media workshop on EPAs, at Lusaka, Zambia, on January 06, 2007. The objective of the workshop is to engage media in Zambia on EPA negotiations, enhance communications on EPA between policy makers, CSOs, and the media and to launch a two-year project entitled: ‘Capacity Building on Media Coverage on Trade and Development Reporting in Zambia’. The project will be implemented in partnership with OneWorld Africa (OWA), Zambia.

(For more details, please visit http://www.cuts-international.org/cuts-arcFE.htm#06jan2007)

PUBLICATIONS

Ripping off the Red Tape, Making Investment More Attractive: The Zambian Case
This Policy Brief aims at providing the reader with information about some of the administrative and regulatory policies that can be more or less conducive for a country in the area of attracting investment and thereby achieving economic growth.

The Brief is primarily based on the findings of an administrative barriers’ study on the Republic of Zambia carried out by the Foreign Investment Advisory Service (FIAS) under the WB, in 2004.
(For more details, please contact: cutsarc@zamnet.zm )

For more details contact: cutsarc@zamnet.zm
 

Contact Us:

Africa Resource Centre
Suite 4.11, Main Post Office Building,
Cairo Road, P.O. Box 37113, Lusaka, Zambia
Ph: (00) 260-1-224992
Email: cutsarc@zamnet.zm
lusaka@cuts.org

About CUTS-ARC Sounds

This is a strictly non-commercial and educational service for non-profit organisations and individuals.

 

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