BRUSSELS, Belgium, September 14, 2016 –The European Parliament approved an agreement granting duty-free access to the EU for products from Namibia, Mozambique, Botswana, Swaziland and Lesotho, and improved market access for South Africa on Wednesday.
“This agreement will help our African partner states to reduce poverty and can also facilitate their smooth and gradual integration into the world economy. There are also many safeguards in the deal to ensure that local people truly benefit from this cooperation. The language on human rights and sustainable development is one of the strongest that you will find in any EU agreement”, said rapporteur Alexander Graf Lambsdorff (ALDE, DE), before the vote.
MEPs approved the deal by 417 votes to 216, with 66 abstentions.
Free access to EU markets
The Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with six member states of the South African Development Community (SADC) establishes a “positive discrimination”, ensuring immediate duty- and quota-free access for their exports to the EU market. It also creates new regional opportunities through more flexible use of rules of origin.
The African countries will liberalise 86% of their trade with the EU (Mozambique 74%) over ten years with the exception of agricultural and fishery products. The deal replaces the previous interim agreements based on unilateral trade preferences and complies with World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules.
Safeguards
While the agreement covers only trade and development cooperation, it leaves the door open for services, investment, intellectual property and public procurement. To mitigate potential negative impacts on the SADC countries, several safeguards were added to the deal. The EU undertook not to subsidize its agricultural exports to these countries.
The deal also lists trade-related areas that could benefit from EU development cooperation funding, but none is pledged at this stage.
Monitoring
In a July resolution, international trade MEPs advocated strengthening the monitoring of the agreement to ensure that “its benefits for the people are maximized”. The committee also tabled an oral question to the Commission for this plenary on parliamentary oversight and civil society monitoring.
Next steps: The deal will enter into force once the Council formally approves it and the national parliaments of the six African states ratify the text.
Note to the editors: in the Cotonou Partnership Agreement of 2000, African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries and the EU agreed to negotiate reciprocal, though asymmetric, trade agreements to comply with WTO rules and to support these countries’ development and integration into the world economy.
Negotiations were to be concluded by the end of 2007, but the process took longer and the EU finished negotiations with six states of the SADC Group in July 2014. Angola finally decided not to enter into the agreement, but may join in the future.
Negotiations with six SADC states ended in 2014. The other eight (Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Seychelles, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe) belong to other regional EPA groupings.
Afterthought!
As expected the Ugandan Government will shut down or have shut down the Social Media in Uganda, and their plans to Silence the Opposition and news about the Opposition as the finale stages towards the Swearing-in of President Museveni into his 7th Term as President of the Republic of Uganda on Kololo Independence Ground is estimated to happen tomorrow as Presidents, Presidential Envoys and other dignitaries comes to be parts of jolly occation.
This while the Opposition are under house-arrest, detained and silenced. The Grand Dictators Party at Kololo with fellow dictators and totalitarian leaders except for President Magufuli of United Republic of Tanzania who wants to honour the man who offered the Crude Oil Pipeline too his country! The rest is Swaziland representatives, Leshoto and others who would easilly be handpicked as men who does not care about democratic values in their own countries and looks up to President Museveni and his actions. Say I am wrong, Mr. President?
So expect that Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter in Uganda, and in the Republic of Uganda will be gone as the UCC and Government of Uganda; want to totally control the Steady Regress of the Nation as we know it. They cannot help themself. We can only pray and wish that the NRM could see their foolish actions… But the close leadership around Mr. President is like Ofwono Opondo, I am not worried.
First Company:
Second Company:
So Ugandans go back to VPN and QUICK! Peace.
One way to Bypass the Ban:
Go in there and follow instruction so you can bypass this foolish mess.
Hope that can help in the time of the Government tries to totally controll all movement and intimidate while the President and his guests lives in lavish lives.. Something that isn’t right. Peace.
London, UK and Johannesburg, South Africa – WorldRemit and MTN Group today announced that WorldRemit customers can now send money instantly to MTN Mobile Money wallets in Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia.
The launch follows the signing of a global partnership agreement earlier this year, to enable WorldRemit customers all over the world to send international remittances to MTN’s Mobile Money customers.
“This partnership makes sense for both companies, as WorldRemit and MTN share a disruptive approach to innovation and bring impactful services to our customers. Together, we are now providing an instant, fully digital and very affordable solution to send international remittance to Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia. Other countries will follow soon,” says Serigne Dioum, MTN Group Head of Mobile Financial Services.
“At WorldRemit, we are pioneering international mobile-to-mobile remittances. Our partnership with MTN allows our customers around the world to send money instantly from the WorldRemit app to MTN Mobile Money users in Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia. Together with MTN, we make sending money home as easy as sending an instant message,” says Alix Murphy, Senior Mobile Analyst at WorldRemit.
She continues: “For diaspora members sending money to friends and family back home in these countries, Mobile Money is a real game-changer. In Uganda, Mobile Money has already overtaken cash pick-up and bank deposits as the preferred method to receive money. We expect this trend to continue as MTN’s Mobile Money services reach millions of people without bank accounts, giving them access to a variety of life-enhancing financial services including savings and insurance schemes.”
People in more than 52 countries already use the WorldRemit app to send around 400,000 money transfers every month to over 125 destinations. WorldRemit is the leading sender of remittances to Mobile Money wallets connecting to over 25 different services worldwide.
MTN Mobile Money enables users to perform utility payments, save money, purchase airtime and access a range of mobile financial products. To date, MTN Mobile Money is used by customers in 15 countries across Africa, i.e. Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, Congo, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Republic, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Uganda and Zambia.
In keeping with its aim to accelerate the rollout of international remittance, MTN launched a cross-border mobile money transfer service between Uganda and Rwanda in August. The service allows customers in both countries to transact via MTN Mobile Money with the same simplicity as for a local money transfer. MTN also offers a mobile money cross-border remittance service between Ivory Coast, Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger. The remittance corridor between Kenya and Rwanda is the latest addition to MTN’s Mobile Money bouquet of services. It forms part of a major initiative between MTN and Vodafone, to enhance financial inclusivity in East Africa.
In the six months to 30 June 2015, MTN grew mobile money subscribers by 45,8% to 32,4 million.
*NB: All figures are unaudited
About the MTN Group
Launched in 1994, the MTN Group is a leading emerging market operator, connecting subscribers in 22 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The MTN Group is listed on the JSE Securities Exchange in South Africa under the share code: “MTN.” As of 30 June 2015, MTN recorded 231 million subscribers across its operations in Afghanistan, Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Cyprus, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Republic, Iran, Liberia, Nigeria, Republic of Congo (Congo-Brazzaville), Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, South Sudan, Swaziland, Syria, Uganda, Yemen and Zambia. Visit us at, www.mtnbusiness.com and www.mtn.com