Frankfurt am Main, Germany | AFP | The United States’ new hostility to free trade deals under President Donald Trump is benefiting the European Union, the bloc’s top trade official said Tuesday. After Trump’s withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal in late January, “many countries are now turning to …
Read More »COMMENT: Three surprises in 2017
The world could be caught off guard by these potentially transformative developments Economic pundits traditionally offer their (traditionally inaccurate) New Year predictions at the beginning of January. But global conditions this year are anything but traditional, so it seemed appropriate to wait until US President Donald Trump settled into …
Read More »EU to give ‘virtually bankrupt’ Gambia 225 mn euros
Banjul, Gambia | AFP | The European Union announced aid worth 225 million euros ($240 million) for The Gambia on Thursday as President Adama Barrow warned that the nation was “virtually bankrupt” due to economic mismanagement by the former regime. The EU froze assistance to The Gambia in December 2014 …
Read More »Magufuli, Museveni hatch Economic Partnership EPA plan
President Museveni, Magufuli to discuss EPA, Burundi Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni and Tanzania’s President Dr. John Magufuli will meet February to agree on East Africa’s way forward on the controversial Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). The EPA is supposed to be negotiated between the EU and member states of the East African Community (EAC). Kenya …
Read More »South Africa and EU spar over chicken meat ‘dumping’
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South Africa’s poultry industry says it is on the brink of collapse due to hotly-denied accusations that the European Union is dumping cheap chicken in the country in a dispute over free trade. Workers, former workers and company managers from the South African poultry …
Read More »Cracks in Museveni relations with donors
Professors show why Museveni will win Cracks are developing in President Yoweri Museveni’s relations with the West, according to a group of academicians and civil society leaders in Kampala. They cite a growing forcefulness in criticism from the donors and Museveni’s equally forceful response to them. One such case is …
Read More »Presidential term limits resolution rejected by ACP-EU
ACP-EU MPs Overwhelmingly Reject Resolution on Presidential Term Limits Members of the European Parliament and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) parliamentary group have rejected a motion to impose presidential term limits on member states. The ongoing ACP-EU joint parliamentary assembly in Nairobi voted against the motion for presidential terms limits, that was …
Read More »Facebook faces fines for ‘misleading’ information in WhatsApp buyout
Brussels, Belgium | AFP | The EU charged Facebook on Tuesday with providing “misleading” information when it sought approval for its blockbuster $22-billon buyout of the WhatsApp mobile messaging service. The commission said the EU’s greenlight of the buyout, announced in October 2014, was not put back into question but …
Read More »East Africa’s biggest solar plant launched
Residents of the eastern Uganda town of Soroti may be set to enjoy more stable and affordable power supply following the commissioning of East Africa’s largest solar power plant in the district. The $19million power plant, which is Uganda’s first gridconnected solar plant, will generate 10MW of power, with the …
Read More »Oulanyah opposes ACP, EU motion on Presidential term limits
Europe should not impose term limits on Uganda – Oulanyah tells EU Members of the European Parliament and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) parliamentary group will on Wednesday vote on a motion to impose presidential term limits on member states. The ongoing ACP-EU joint parliamentary assembly in Nairobi was preceded by …
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