THE AFRICAN CONTINENTAL FREE TRADE AREA (AFCFTA) COUNCIL OF MINISTERS RESPONSIBLE FOR TRADE AGREED THAT TRADING UNDER AFCFTA REGIME PROCEEDS ON THE BASIS OF AGREED RULES OF ORIGIN COVERING 87.7% OF TOTAL TARIFF LINES

The Eighth (8″”) Meeting of The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Council of Ministers Responsible for Trade was convened in Accra-Ghana on 28-29 January, 2022. The meeting was chaired by Hon. Ebrahim Patel, Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition of the Republic of South Africa. The overall objective of the meeting was to assess the status of negotiations on outstanding issues and agree on the steps towards the start of commercially meaningful trading under the AfCFTA. In addition to the progress report from the Secretary-General of AfCFTA, His Excellency…

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SHIPPERS’ AUTHORITY EYES BOOST IN TRANSIT TRADE AS IT SHELTERS TRUCK DRIVERS

The perineal transit truck congestion at the Elubo border and the haphazard parking of cargo trucks in the Jomoro Municipal Assembly has become a thing of the past with the construction of the Elubo Freight Park. The project which was initiated and funded by the Ghana Shippers’ Authority (GSA) with support from the Jomoro Municipal Assembly was commissioned on Friday, January 28, 2022. The ultra-modern facility aims to make the nation’s western transit corridor attractive to businesses and individuals who haul goods between Ghana and La Cote d’Ivoire and beyond…

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OMA GROUP – NEW APPOINTMENTS IN GHANA

All change at OMA in Ghana. A restructuring of the company has seen the appointment of two Country Managers and a General Manager to oversee the two key segments of the business. Rebecca Owusu-Asamoah joins us as Country Manager for OMA Ghana and will head up the ship agency/energy sector of the business in Ghana, based at the Tema office. Rebecca has 14+ years of experience in the shipping industry, starting her career with Maersk Line and Damco. Rebecca worked at OMA Ghana from 2016 before transferring to Hapag-Lloyd where most…

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CILT GHANA TO SUPPORT NEW TRANSAID DRIVER TRAINING PROJECT

Transaid has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) Ghana, aimed at promoting mutual cooperation in the area of road safety. The agreement follows less than a year after Transaid began developing a professional driver training programme in the country’s capital, Accra; its first project of this kind to be launched in West Africa. With funding secured from Puma Energy Foundation, Transaid has set out to raise training standards and expand training capacity for heavy goods vehicle (HGV) drivers. The MOU was…

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OPIBUS INTRODUCES THE FIRST-EVER ELECTRIC BUS DESIGNED AND DEVELOPED IN AFRICA

Opibus has just introduced the first all-electric bus in Kenya as well as the first African designed electric bus ever. This is the first major step in the company’s vision to provide a locally designed and developed electric bus that can be mass-produced for the pan-African market, by the end of 2023. This is a step towards realizing Opibus goal of electrifying Africa’s public transport system, deploying products tailored for the local use case. The bus is designed and developed in-house with local engineering talent, while at the same time…

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COVID 19: REOPENING OF MOROCCO’S AIRSPACE FROM FEB. 7

The government announced Thursday the reopening of the airspace to flights to and from Morocco as of February 7, 2022. This decision comes in accordance with the legal provisions relating to the management of the state of health emergency and following the recommendations of the scientific and technical commission and taking into consideration the evolution of the epidemiological situation in the Kingdom, said the government in a statement. To accompany the implementation of this decision, a technical committee is currently examining the measures to be adopted at border crossings and…

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COOPERATION AGREEMENT BETWEEN THPA S.A. AND SUEZ CANAL ECONOMIC ZONE

ThPA S.A. – Port of Thessaloniki and the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) signed a Cooperation Agreement with the aim to develop international trade and increase their business activities by promoting the sea route between Europe and Asia via the Suez Canal. The main objective of this cooperation is the exchange of knowledge and professional experience between the parties and the development of joint initiatives focusing on commercial and educational actions in the context of port activity. The Cooperation Agreement was signed by the Executive Chairman of the BoD of…

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YAPI MERKEZI TO BUILD TANZANIA’S BIGGEST RAILWAY LINE

Yapı Merkezi has signed on to undertake a $1.9-billion project in Tanzania. Having successfully developed an impressive array of world-class projects, Yapı Merkezi has recently signed another contract to construct the third phase of the Tanzania’s Dar es Salaam–Mwanza Railway, which will be the fastest railway line ever to be built in East Africa. The company has already undertaken the first and second phases of the railway line. The third phase will stretch from Makutupora to Tabora. In addition to the infrastructure works of the turnkey, single-line railway project in…

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PASSENGER DEMAND RECOVERY CONTINUED IN 2021 BUT OMICRON HAVING IMPACT

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced full-year global passenger traffic results for 2021 showing that demand (revenue passenger kilometers or RPKs) fell by 58.4% compared to the full year of 2019. This represented an improvement compared to 2020, when full year RPKs were down 65.8% versus 2019. Because comparisons between 2021 and 2020 results are distorted by the extraordinary impact of COVID-19, unless otherwise noted all comparisons are to the respective 2019 period, which followed a normal demand pattern. International passenger demand in 2021 was 75.5% below 2019 levels.…

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RETURN TO SERVICE OF THE MABOPANE LINE AND OVERSIGHT ON INFRASTRUCTURE REHABILITATION

Following relentless efforts since 2019 to rehabilitate and upgrade infrastructure in the Mabopane Corridor, the Railway Safety Regulator finally granted a No-Objection Notice allowing PRASA to commence operations with the new trains. A programme to upgrade the infrastructure and implement necessary refurbishments was introduced in February 2020 following the President’s announcement of a R1.4 billion allocation for this purpose. The Mabopane line has seen its fair share of challenges before the declaration of state of disaster and needed major infrastructure upgrades before the new trains could be deployed on this…

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