原創 Charles Omusana 中國投資參考
Introduction
The East African Community (EAC) is a regional economic bloc made up of six (6) countries.The EAC has a combined land area of 2.47 million km2 with a combined population of over 178 million people, whereas the total GDP is over US$163.4 billion and has been growing at an average of 5.8% over the last decade.
The EAC integration agenda is anchored on 4 pillars i.e. a Customs Union, a Common Market, a Monetary Union and ultimately a Political Federation. The EAC is currently a Common Market but envisages to become a Monetary Union by 2024. The EAC is a 『people centred and market driven co-operation』 making the private sector key players in the integration process and fundamental in the attainment of the region’s vision.
Important area
All EAC Partner States』 economies are fully liberalized with free trade among themselves and with a Common External Tariffs (CET) for rest of the world. The region is a fully-fledged Single Customs Territory (SCT), with simplified, standardised and harmonised customs procedures, and import transactions being cleared at point of entry. This is to promote production efficiency within the region, which is a fertile ground for enhancing domestic, cross border and foreign investment. There is also the free movement of factors of production including persons, labour, services and capital.
The EAC region prides itself on enormous investment opportunities in all sectors. However, each of the Partner States has priorities sectors with huge potential in terms of creating economic growth. These sectors include but not limited to: agriculture and agribusiness; infrastructure; manufacturing; energy; mining and metals; oil and gas; tourism; education, research and innovation; and health.
Agriculture and agribusiness: Agriculture is still the backbone of the EAC economy and is number one employment sector. The sector also contributes greatly to the GDP growth. Agriculture remains central to the industrialization of the EAC as it provides markets for industrial products and raw materials for industries especially the agro-processing sector. The region has millions of hectares of arable land suitable for agricultural mechanization and irrigation. The investment opportunities include commercial farming, deep sea fishing, agro-processing, value addition in agriculture, livestock, fisheries and forestry products.
Infrastructure: Infrastructure is one of the most critical enablers of a successful regional integration process, taking into account its importance in facilitating activities such as trade, agriculture, tourism and the movement of labour and other resources. Thus, the EAC recognises that regional infrastructure interventions are key to attracting investment into the region, improving competitiveness, and promoting trade. The sector has the following sub-sectors: roads; railway; aviation; communications and Inland waterways. The infrastructure and support services sub-sector cover roads, railways, civil aviation, maritime transport and ports, multi-modal transport, freight administration and management. The EAC operates five modes of transport systems consisting of road, rail, maritime, air transport and oil pipelines. Public-Private Partnership (PPP) opportunities exist in intra-EAC road and railway networks as well in airports and port projects.
Manufacturing: Manufacturing is a key sector in EAC’s economic development, both in its contribution to the regional output and exports, and for job creation.
Emphasis in the EAC Partner States is on setting key targets and specific goals to steer industrial growth including the development of Special Economic Zones, Export Processing Zones, industrial parks and clusters, and niche products. There are a wide range of direct and joint-investment opportunities in this sector, including agro-processing, garments, the assembly of automotive components and electronics, plastics, paper, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, metals and engineering products for domestic and export markets. Also, the region offers abundant natural resources which provide plenty of raw materials for the manufacturing industries such as cotton for garment and textile industries, sisal for canvassing, iron for steel, as well as various minerals and gem stones.
Energy: EAC is endowed with diverse energy sources including hydro, biomass, natural gas, coal, geothermal, solar and wind power and uranium, much of which is untapped. Investment opportunities exist in generation of energy from biogas, hydro-carbons (natural gas, oil, and coal), uranium and renewable resources; generation of energy from solar, wind; extraction of biofuels, and; geothermal exploration and development.
Mining and metals: Mining has placed EAC in the higher ranks of African economies in terms of attracting FDIs. EAC is endowed with a variety of industrial minerals and precious metals as well as gemstones.
Oil and Gas: South Sudan has huge oil deposits with huge quantities of petroleum being discovered in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. Oil exploration is ongoing in nearly all EAC Partner States. In Tanzania, there have been significant natural gas discoveries on the coastal shore of the Indian Ocean at Songo Songo, Mnazi bay and Mkuranga. These discoveries are the catalysts of natural gas developments in Tanzania. The EAC region is an emerging oil and gas hub that is presenting a lot of investment opportunities and attracting a lot of FDIs. Most opportunities are in exploration and extraction.
Tourism: Tourism is one of EAC’s most important industries, and has strong linkages with transport, food production, retail and entertainment. EAC is still one of the most popular tourism destinations and has many investment opportunities in the tourism sector. The investment opportunities include the: establishment of resort cities; branding of premium parks; construction of internationally branded hotels; Development of high-quality Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) tourist facilities and conference tourism facilities, and; health and sports tourism.
Education, research and innovation: EAC achieving its social and economic development objectives is largely dependent upon its most valuable resource – its people. Thus, opportunities exist in education, research and innovation given the level of output in the region that is still low compared to global standards and needs to be improved if the region is graduate to lower middle-income status. The investment opportunities in this sector are in establishment of specialized education, research and innovation institutions to address specific regional human capital requirements and research and innovation needs of the region. Regional innovation ecosystems are grossly lacking and need to be established in partnership with the private sector.
Health: The EAC Heads of State in one of their retreats focusing on health considered and approved the following health investment priorities in the health sector:
i.expansion of access to specialized health care and cross border health services;
ii.strengthening the network of medical reference laboratories and the regional rapid response mechanism to protect the region from health security threats including pandemics, bio-terrorism and common agents;
iii.expansion of capacity to produce skilled and professional work force for health in the region based on harmonized regional training and practice standards and guidelines;
iv.increase access to safe, efficacious and affordable medicines, vaccines, and other health technologies focusing on prevalent diseases such as malaria, TB, HIV/Aids, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and other high burden conditions;
v.upgrading of health infrastructure and equipment in priority national and sub national health facilities / hospitals;
vi.establishment of strong primary and community health services as a basis for health promotion and diseases prevention and control;
vii.expansion of health insurance coverage and social health protection;
viii.improvement of quality of healthcare, health sector efficiency and health statistics; and
ix.strengthening of health research and development.
Why Invest in East Africa?
The region’s economy is fully liberalized without exchange or price controls as well as a liberalized banking and finance sector. The EAC offers attractive and comprehensive package of incentives offered to investors. It is one of the fastest growing regions in the world with a combined GDP of US$ 163.4 billion. The region’s GDP has been growing at an average of 5.8% in the last decade. The region’s growth can be attributed to the reforms the EAC countries have undertaken in terms of legal and regulatory frameworks to improve the business environment, improvement of infrastructure and industrialization initiatives that Partner States have undertaken. This is a testament to the region being the world’s fastest reforming region in terms of business regulation and ease of doing business.
There has been sustained macro-economic stability in the EAC mainly due to effective macro-economic policies. In the East Africa region, inflation, an important indicator of macroeconomic stability, remained in the double digits in 2018, increasing by 0.5 percentage point from 14.0 percent in 2017. In Africa, East Africa continues to lead with GDP growth. In 2018, East Africa’s GDP growth was estimated at 5.7 percent in 2018, followed by North Africa at 4.9 percent, West Africa at 3.3 percent, Central Africa at 2.2 percent, and Southern Africa at 1.2 percent (East Africa Economic Outlook, African Development Bank Group, 2019).
The region is politically stable with high level of governance and democracy together with institutionalized frameworks for the Public and Private Sector Dialogue. All Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs) have simplified investment procedures and One Stop Centre facilities to support investors easily set up their businesses.
Bordering the Indian Ocean and Somalia on the east, and Ethiopia and Sudan on the north, the Central African Republic on the west and Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia on the South, the EAC is strategically located as a regional financial, communication and transport hub. No wonder, it hosts continental offices for several international organisations and multinational companies.
EAC is one of the most integrated regional markets in Africa (Customs Union, Common Market and a Monetary Union - soon) with an internal population size of 178 million. Other markets include COMESA - 560 million, EU - EBA Initiative, US – AGOA.
•The European Union (EU) is the largest trading partner of the EAC countries. Exports from EAC countries have had preferential access to the EU market under the Cotonou agreement between the EU and the African, Caribbean and Pacific States (ACP).
•Together with other sub-Saharan African countries, the EAC Partner States also qualify for duty-free access to the US market under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which has been extended until 2025.
•Products from EAC countries can also access various markets in the developed world through the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), which offers preferential treatment to a wide range of products originating in developing countries.
•China is one of the major investors in EAC countries with investments ranging across various sectors from services to manufacturing.
EAC has among the world’s youngest population that is educated, trainable, mobile, skilled and enterprising which provides a solid source for labour force. The region also boasts of cordial, warmth and hospitable of the people and is one of the world’s leading and most successful tourism, wildlife and safari destination.
Instruments for the the Protection of Investment include:
•Insurance against non-commercial risk by Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA);
•Africa Trade Insurance Agency (ATIA), and;
•Sanctity of private property guaranteed on National Constitutions.
Editor | Zhang Mei
Design | Sun Ziyue
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《中國投資》雜誌創辦自1985年，由國家發改委主管，國家發改委投資研究所、中國國際工程諮詢有限公司主辦，是我國投資領域唯一的中央級刊物，業界最早專注於投資領域趨勢報導的核心期刊。創刊三十多年以來，雜誌以全球視角看中國投資，涵蓋宏觀經濟、行業分析和企業投資案例，同時以全球市場為坐標，聚焦特定國家、地區和重大國際趨勢，目前已經成為世界各國政府官員、各類投資機構、專家學者、企業家以及記者媒體的專業對話平臺。
《中國投資》雜誌每期覆蓋包括上市公司在內的200多家央企國企和10000多家中國民營企業、1000多家中央與地方政府決策部門和機構、1000多家行業協會和商會、300多家主要金融機構等，是了解宏觀經濟環境、行業趨勢前景和企業投資案例的重要參考。
自2016年始，在中聯部等相關機構的共同支持下，《中國投資》非洲版面世，為非洲各國與中國持久的大規模合作，提供一個專業而強大的對話平臺。
2017年，《中國投資》絲路版誕生，為一帶一路框架下各國各方與中國的合作互鑑，提供前瞻包容的思想引領，分享各行各業的創新創舉，在探索人類命運共同體的道路上共創未來。
China Investment, founded in 1985, is a monthly under the supervision of National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) China’s macro-economic management agency, It’s jointly operated by Investment Research Institute under NDRC, China International Engineering Consulting Corporation. Enjoying an exclusive position under the central government, China Investment is the core journal which started the earliest among similar magazines to focus on the investment trend. Over the past 30-plus years, China Investment has been in line with theglobal market as its fundamental coordinate with a strategic focus on specific countries and regional markets and those major international propensities. China Investment is a key dialogue platform for officials from different countries, investment agencies, experts and scholars, business people and journalists.
China Investment has been a key source of references for the better understanding of macro-economic environment, sectoral and industrial outlook, and cases of investments, thanks to the fact that each of its new issue touches upon activities of more than 200 Chinese SOEs, listed or non-public, 10,000 private enterprises, 1000 decision-making bodies at the central and local governments, 1000 trade associations and chambers, and 300 strong major financial institutions.
Starting from May 2016 and under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Department of the Central Committee of Communist Party of China, China Investment African Edition came into being, providing a professional and powerful platform of dialogue for the ever-growing and sustainable cooperation between China and the African countries throughout the continent.
Inspired by Belt and Road Initiative, China Investment Belts & Roads Edition was born in May 2017, which provides forward thinking for the cooperation and mutual learning between China and related countries. It also aims to share the innovative ideas in various trades and industries and explore a shared future in building a common community formankind.
原標題：《Create a Free and Convenient Common Market》
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