British investors, under their umbrella organization called Made in Africa Initiative, have disclosed that they want to establish two industrial parks in Uganda to deal in export and import substitution with the support of the British Department of International Development. The entrepreneurs made their plans known in a meeting with President Yoweri Museveni yesterday at State House, Entebbe. The British High Commissioner to Uganda, Mr. Peter West, led the delegation that included Ms. Hellen Hai, Chief Executive Officer of Made in Africa Initiative. State Minister for Privatization and Investment, Hon. Anite Evelyn, attended the meeting. The President thanked the British entrepreneurs for coming to visit Uganda and assured them of support to realize the success of their investment project in the country.

If going by the forecast, Nigeria market is billed to become the third largest world economy after China by 2050, said the European Ambassador to ECOWAS, Mr. Michel Arrion. Speaking during his working visit to the Nigerian Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) National Secretariat, Oba Akinjobi, Ikeja GRA, Lagos, on Friday, Arrion who was accompanied on the visit by Mr. Filipo Amato, EU Head, Trade & Economic Section, said that Nigeria remained one of the biggest markets in the world with potentials market for exportation. According to the Ambassador, “Nigeria is paradoxical and it is one of the richest markets in the world. Because private sector contributes a bulk to income generation and distribution Nigeria will be the third largest world economy in 2050.

The Agriculture Sector in OECS Member States is on the brink of a new era in collaborative production for regional and international trade. A comprehensive grouping of regional agriculture stakeholders, which include Ministers, Manufacturers, Traders, representatives from the Bureau of Standards and the OECS Commission, are working together to ensure the success of the initiative. The virtual OECS Agri-Export Working group began in June of 2016 and, only one year later, has seen many achievements due to the influence and reach of the agricultural stakeholders involved, paired with the technological nature of the ongoing online meeting, which facilitates speedy action and decision making. Main achievements of the Agri-Export Initiative to date include:

Nigeria has been identified as the 19th most attractive economy for investments flowing in Africa, the latest Africa Investment Index 2016 said on Friday. The publication by Quantum Global, an independent research arm of Quantum Global Research Lab., noted the huge potentials of the economy, saying the country, which attracted a net foreign direct investment, FDI, of $3.1 billion in 2015, was also among the top countries in Africa with potentials to attract an overall FDI of $13.6billion. The report, which ranked Botswana as the most attractive economy for investments flowing into the continent, also identified Morocco, Egypt, and South Africa as the other economies.

China stands ready to further cooperate with Mali in its agricultural and industrial development, with a view to helping the West African nation establish an industrial system, visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here Sunday. Meanwhile, China will also help Mali to nurture capacities in the three major areas of infrastructure construction, human resources, and peace and security. These efforts are aimed at allowing the country to strengthen its capability for independent development and realize economic independence after it had achieved political independence, Wang said during talks with his Malian counterpart Abdoulaye Diop.

Africa needs to foster partners in the developed world to further boost its international trade and economic growth. This is the consensus at the recent maiden forum on “Belarus-Africa: New Frontiers’’ held in Belarus. The forum, organised by the African Export Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the Belarusian Government brought together government officials and businesses in Belarus and Africa to explore more opportunities on trade relations. Dr Bernard Oramah, the President of Afreximbank, who set the tone of discussion at the forum, said that though the total African trade grew one trillion dollars in 2016, Africa had the potential to grow the trade volume exponentially in the next few years. He said that economic prosperity of the continent was, in the main, being stifled by poor infrastructure, stressing that Africa needed 93 billion dollars annually in the next 10 years to bridge the infrastructure deficit.

The European Union (EU) will finance the second phase of the Wadi El Kou Basin project in North Darfur with €10 million. The second phase of the project will start in October this year and will last for five years. The North Darfur Minister of Agriculture, Anwar Ishag, announced the grant in the state capital of El Fasher in a press conference yesterday, together with visiting EU adviser Magda Nassif. The Minister called for further cooperation with the EU concerning the implementation the second phase of the project. EU adviser Nassif said that she will sit with the project's advisory and technical committees, and will discuss the project as well with other stakeholders and leaders of the local communities to select the project areas.

The National Super Alliance (Nasa) presidential candidate Raila Odinga has accused the government of failing to account for food donations from international partners to support efforts to fight hunger. Mr Odinga said the Jubilee administration has refused to declare how much support it has received and how it has used it as requested by the Heads of Missions and the Development Partner Group. "Without this information, donor partners and agencies cannot channel more support to our people. "The President is in business as usual looking for votes and wishing the famine away while mourning just like all other Kenyans," the former Prime Minister said at a press conference in Nairobi.

Lack of education and mismatched skills remain major obstacles to Africa's development agenda and with an estimated 364 million Africans between the age of 15 and 35 years, Africa has the world's youngest population.The African Union Commission cautions that the future of Africa’s economic growth and the future of millions of Africans, is in jeopardy, if the underlying issues that hinder development are not adequately addressed. With Africa expected to double its population over the next 25 years and the working-age population expected to grow by approximately 450 million between 2015 and 2035, the African Union Commission deputy chairperson, Ambassador Kwesi Quartey, says it is critical to urgently address the lack of education and mismatched skills, as major causes of rising numbers of unemployment.

Cabo Verde (Cape Verde) is in a good position to attract investments by business people from China and Portuguese-speaking countries, through the meeting of Economic and Trade Cooperation that begins today in Praia, said the president of national investment agency Cabo Verde TradInvest, Ana Bárber. The event, called the Entrepreneurs’ Meeting for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and the Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), will take place until Sunday at the Cabo Verde International Fair (FIC) in Praia, and is expected to be attended by 400 business people, 160 of them from China and Macau. Bárber also noted that TradInvest will present some private projects looking for synergies and “concrete partnerships” between Chinese and Cape Verdean companies.