(Posted 06th April 2023)
CCA MEMBERS IN THE NEWS
TDB Group and Finnfund Sign MOU to Collaborate on Promoting Sustainable Development Investments
TDB Group
The Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank Group (TDB Group) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Finnfund, a Finnish development financier and impact investor, to promote investments that contribute to the UN sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in key projects in TDB member states… Read more>>
U.S.-AFRICA RELATIONS
Harris out to reframe US views on Africa, foster partnership
AP News
If U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris has a favorite number on her trip to Africa, it’s undoubtedly 19. That’s the median age on this continent, and she repeats the fact at every opportunity. For Harris, it’s not a piece of trivia but the driving force behind the United States’ reenergized outreach to Africa. Washington is racing to build partnerships on the oldest inhabited continent with the youngest population, a test that could reshape the economy here and, by extension, the rest of the world…. Read more>>
Harris launches $1B fund to empower women during Ghana visit
The Hill
President Harris on Wednesday announced a global initiative to support women in the economy, touting $1 billion in funding from private sector and government investments. The White House released details of the initiative during Harris’ final day in Ghana, the first stop on a three-country visit to Africa. A significant portion of the funding will go toward increasing economic opportunities for women on the continent…. Read more>>
Kamala Harris wraps up Ghana visit, heads to Tanzania
Reuters
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will meet Ghanaian women entrepreneurs on Wednesday to discuss economic empowerment and leadership, her last engagement in Accra before heading to Tanzania to continue her week-long African tour. Harris is the latest U.S. government figure to visit African countries, after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, as Washington strives to counter-balance growing Chinese and Russian influence on the continent…. Read more>>
AGRIBUSINESS
Premier African Minerals completes Zimbabwe lithium plant, production imminent
Reuters
Premier African Minerals said on Wednesday it had finished building a lithium processing plant at its Zulu mine in Zimbabwe and expected to start production of spodumene concentrate later this week. Spodumene is a lithium ore with high concentration of lithium, a key component in the production of batteries for electric vehicles. Premier built the plant, which has capacity to produce nearly 50,000 tonnes of spodumene concentrate annually…. Read more>>
ENERGY
Ethiopia to host conference on renewable energy in Africa
Prensa Latina
African Energy Now, alongside the Ministry of Water and Energy of Ethiopia and the Ministry of Energy of Tanzania, with their respective public service companies, is organizing the event with the aim of identifying concrete possibilities in current and future projects in the sector…. Read more>>
Nigeria to Build West Africa’s First Solar-Cell Factory for Green Energy Solutions
Solar Quarter
Nigeria’s National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASRENI) has started the construction work of the first solar-cell production factory in West Africa. The factory is a part of the Nigerian government’s efforts towards transforming the power sector as well as boosting the local economy….. Read more>>
HEALTH
The New Public Health Order: Africa’s health security Agenda
African Union CDC
The African continent has demonstrated decisive leadership throughout its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, leveraging lessons learned from previous outbreaks and acting quickly to limit the impact of the virus. It remains a glaring fact that the world’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the weaknesses and inequities in the global health ecosystem. This was clearly demonstrated in the unequal access to diagnostics and other medical commodities, including vaccines for African countries when they became available….. Read more>>
New Marburg Outbreaks in Africa Raise Alarm About the Deadly Virus Spread
The New York Times
Two concurrent outbreaks of the Marburg virus, a close cousin of Ebola that can kill as many as 90 percent of the people it infects, are raising critical questions about the behavior of this mysterious bat-borne pathogen and global efforts to prepare for potential pandemics….. Read more>>
INFRASTRUCTURE
Promoting investment to power Africa’s single market
Institute for Security Studies
The landmark African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) aims to increase Africans’ prosperity through more intra-African trade by eliminating tariff and non-tariff barriers. There is however the question of the production of the goods and services that will be traded. Scaling up production will require an injection of local and foreign investment into African industries. The increased focus on investment is a logical next step in the AfCFTA’s implementation process…. Read more>>
How to foster US mineral trade with Africa
The Hill
African minerals development can help reorient the global critical minerals supply chain from its current dominance by China. China refines about 80 percent of the world’s lithium and 66 percent of its cobalt, sourced in part from commercial relationships across the African continent. The most cited case is the DRC: It produces 70 percent of the world’s Cobalt and Chinese entities own about 80 percent of the total DRC cobalt production. Despite this, most African countries have had dismal recent economic performance…. Read more>>
Malawi does need foreign aid, but structural reform too
The Guardian
As someone who lives in Malawi and has seen first-hand the devastation caused by Cyclone Freddy, and other cyclones in recent years, it seems to me to be the worst time to suggest that Malawi does not need aid. While of course structural reforms are needed in Malawi to make it more resilient, Malawians are also in dire need of immediate support to rebuild their homes, roads and other infrastructure…. Read more>>
ICT
Pan-African venture capital company has raised $25 million to invest in climate technology in Africa
Tech In Africa
Novastar Ventures, a pan-African venture capital firm, has received a $25 million equity investment from the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) for its Africa People + Planet Fund, which aims to assist startups in developing agriculture and climate solutions…. Read more>>
Here is how technology is helping the fight against Diabetes in South Africa
Techcabal
According to data from the International Diabetes Federation, diabetes caused an estimated 96,000 deaths in South Africa in 2021. Additionally, the disease affects 1 in 9 adult South Africans, with 45.4% of people living with the disease in the country undiagnosed. Over the last years, numerous healthtech companies in the country have put products on the market which seek to alleviate the country’s healthcare system to tackle the malady….. Read more>>
