Musings From Abroad

Rwanda indicates interest in EU-Kenya economic partnership deal

Published

1 month ago

August 20, 2024

As the first partner state of the East African Community (EAC), Rwanda has indicated interest in joining Kenya’s Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU), according to a top official.

Rwanda has indicated its intention to join the agreement, according to a statement made on Tuesday by Ambassador Henriette Geiger, the head of the EU representation in Kenya.

With the EPA going into force last month, Kenyan products can now enter the EU’s 27 member states duty-free.

“It seems that Rwanda is now ready to join (the EPA). They have signalled their interest but we haven’t started negotiating it,” said Ms Geiger.

“The EPA was supposed to be an agreement of the EU with the entire East African Community. We will have to see whether others will join,” she said.

Speaking in Nairobi, Ms Geiger was paying Cabinet Secretary for Investments, Trade, and Industrialisation Salim Mvurya a courtesy call.

The only member of the EAC without duty-free or quota-free access to the EU is Kenya. As the other EAC nations are classified as least-developed nations, they have been granted duty-free access to the important economic union.

The EAC permitted Kenya to negotiate a bilateral deal with the EU, with the possibility of later membership by the other nations.

Several stakeholders expressed concern that the Kenya-EU EPA might harm certain industries by allowing the import of low-cost, EU-subsidized goods.

These worries have been relieved by Mr Mvurya, who says that agricultural items from the EU are on the list of goods from the bloc that won’t be able to enter the Kenyan market duty-free.

“The sensitive list of products which includes agricultural products is part of the exclusion,” he said.

Europe is the third-largest market for Kenyan commodities, after only Asia (25.8%) and Africa (43.2%). Fresh beans and peas, tea, coffee, flowers, and other agricultural products are the nation’s top exports to Europe.

Kenya will reduce tariffs on EU goods under the terms of the EPA beginning in 2031, the seventh year of the agreement’s implementation. Gradually, these limitations will be lifted until the EPA’s 25th anniversary.

“Both the business and investor communities must be fully informed about the stakes involved – not only for the private sector but also for public and government agencies,” said Mr Mvurya.

Kenya and the UK have an EPA that went into effect in March 2021. Kenya’s goods can continue to enter the UK market duty-free and quota-free after it leaves the EU thanks to the Kenya-UK EPA.

Related Topics:European Union Featured Rwanda

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Musings From Abroad

Egypt: Bond prices rise following announcement of $5 billion Saudi investment

Published

1 day ago

September 19, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Bond prices rose on Thursday after Egyptian Prime Minister, Mostafa Madbouly, declared that a $5 billion Saudi investment in Egypt was separate from money the Gulf state had deposited in the nation’s central bank.

Sovereign dollar bonds issued by the nation surged to record two-year highs. According to Tradeweb statistics, the 2059 maturity gained the most, increasing 1.35 cents to bid at 77.60 cents on the dollar by 1309 GMT.

Bidding for near-term maturities reached a maximum of 99.52 cents.

“The $5 billion investments will be in projects that will be decided mutually later in important economic sectors,” Madbouly said.

Tuesday saw a significant increase in Egypt’s bond market, pushing the country’s assets to levels last seen in early 2022. This came a day after the Egyptian cabinet announced that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had ordered the Saudi sovereign wealth fund (PIF) to invest $5 billion in Egypt in a “first stage” of the plan.

The Central Bank of Egypt has medium long-term deposits worth $5.3 billion from Saudi Arabia, according to data from the bank. Additionally, it made a $5 billion short-term deposit in 2022; it is thought that this money has since been rolled over.

In an attempt to recover from a protracted economic crisis that has resulted in record inflation, a mounting debt load, and severe currency devaluations over the last two years, Egypt has been actively seeking large-scale investments.

The North African country received a boost earlier this year when it agreed to develop a desirable portion of the Mediterranean coast with the United Arab Emirates under the terms of the Ras El Hekma contract and obtained billions of dollars in finance from foreign lenders.

Large-scale investments are currently being made in five Red Sea Coast locations by Cairo, one of which is Ras Banas, a 30-kilometer (19-mile) peninsula located in the extreme south of Egypt across from Saudi Arabia.

It is one of the few remaining undeveloped coastal areas in the nation of North Africa.

“We allocated five large areas on the Red Sea coast, we aim to develop these areas as the developmental centres established like in the Ras El Hekma deal,” he said.

Musings From Abroad

Blinken to address Gaza ceasefire and bilateral relations in Egypt

Published

3 days ago

September 18, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Concerned about rising tensions in the Middle East, United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, is scheduled to visit Cairo on Wednesday.

During his visit, he intends to further efforts to establish a truce in Gaza and fortify relations with Egypt, according to his spokesperson. The visit by the senior US diplomat occurs at a time when the area is still on high alert because of the possibility that the Gaza War could spread, especially after Hezbollah, a militant organisation, threatened to avenge Israel after accusing it of detonating pagers around Lebanon on Tuesday.

Regarding the explosions, Israel has not answered enquiries. Nearly 3,000 people were injured, and at least nine people lost their lives.

At a routine briefing, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller stated that while it was too soon to determine how the events in Lebanon might impact the Gaza ceasefire negotiations, diplomacy was thought to be the most effective means of easing tensions.

Before meeting with Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and other officials on Wednesday morning, Blinken met with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt at Al-Ittihadiya Palace in Cairo.

How we achieve a plan that we think would get support from both parties” to an Israel-Hamas truce was “squarely on the table” in Blinken’s conversations with Egyptian officials, Miller added.

For weeks, American authorities have stated that a fresh plan for a settlement that would see the release of hostages that Hamas had kidnapped from Israel on October 7, 2023, would be made available soon.

“There are some issues that we need to engage with the government of Egypt on as it relates to this ceasefire proposal that we are trying to bring to fruition,” Miller said.
According to a State Department official, Blinken will travel from Cairo to Paris on Thursday to meet with the foreign ministers of France, Italy, and Britain. During the meeting, they will talk about the Middle East, Ukraine, and other topics. According to the official, Blinken will also meet French President Emmanuel Macron.

This is the first time Blinken has skipped a stop in Washington’s closest regional ally, Israel since the Palestinian militant group Hamas started the Gaza War almost a year ago. Blinken will not be visiting Israel during this trip.

Miller explained that this was because Washington’s goal for this trip was to talk to Egypt about bilateral matters, and the proposal for a Gaza truce that the United States and its mediators have been working on was still not ready to be presented to Israel.

“So it would be premature to be presenting such a proposal, or doing any other diplomatic engagements,” he added.

In the crucial diplomatic effort to end the war, Egypt and Qatar have acted as a go-between for Hamas and Israel’s proposals and counterproposals. In an attempt to improve the flow of humanitarian supplies to Gaza’s 2.3 million war-torn citizens, Washington has also relied on Cairo.

In the raid on Israel last year, Palestinian militants claimed 1,200 lives and captured over 250 prisoners, according to Israeli accounts. Gaza claims that over 41,000 people have died as a result of Israel’s retaliatory attack, which has essentially destroyed the territory.

Washington has sent billions of dollars into military aid to Egypt over their decades-long cooperation, even in the face of allegations of serious abuses, including torture and enforced disappearances, under Sisi’s regime. The Egyptian government refutes the charges.

Last week, Blinken lifted human rights requirements on U.S. foreign military assistance to Egypt, allowing the entire $1.3 billion for the first time since President Joe Biden took office, signalling Cairo’s growing prominence.

After promising to prioritise human rights in U.S.-Egypt relations, Seth Binder, director of advocacy for the Middle East Democracy Centre in Washington, stated that the Biden administration has “completely abandoned any pretence that human rights matter to the relationship.”