The Role of Regional Courts in Commercial Disputes

This month's bulletin focuses on the role of regional courts in commercial disputes in Africa. With the advent of the African Continental Free Trade Area and trade barriers increasingly being lifted between countries, disputes are expected to arise from trade interactions. Regional courts such as the East African Court of Justice, and the Economic Community of West African States Community Court of Justice, among others, play a key role in providing arbitration for commercial disputes.

The bulletin also highlights the major business stories making headlines across Africa and how they affect their respective regions, the continent and the globe. Closely related to these stories is a book and select reports picked for the month, which focus on environmental law; environmental, social and governance; sustainable development; and opportunities in the food systems in Africa.?

Top Story

The Role of Regional Courts in Commercial Disputes

Over the years, Africa has progressively sought to enhance access to justice through each state’s national courts, regional courts, and the African Union. In furtherance of shared objectives, African states have united and formed regional blocs based on their geographical and strategic locations. Each of these regional blocs, through their respective founding treaties, established a judicial arm mandated with adjudication of disputes between member states or any dispute referred to the court by a resident of a member state. The existing African and regional courts include: the African Court on Human and People’s Rights, The ECOWAS Community Court of Justice, Southern African Development...Read more.

World | Climate Finance to Low- and Middle-Income Countries Hits USD 51 Billion in 2021 - Climate finance committed by major multilateral development banks rose in 2021 with over USD 19 billion committed to climate?change adaptation finance, according to the Joint Report on Multilateral Development Banks’ Climate Finance, published...Read more.

Africa | Private Wealth in Africa Set for USD 798 Billion Jump to USD 3 Trillion - Africa’s stock of private wealth is forecast to jump 38 percent to nearly USD 3 trillion over the next decade, with Mauritius and Rwanda witnessing the strongest growth. Smaller, better-organised economies in Africa are fast turning into wealth hubs, home...Read more.

Africa | World Bank to include Africa in USD 127 Billion Solar Power Mini-Grid - The World Bank Group will be raising USD 127 billion for mini-grid power funding by 2030. The bank said it will be leveraging development partner funding and...Read more.

East Africa | East African States Lead in Domestication of AfCFTA Trade Requirements -East African member states have dominated the list of countries that have domesticated the African Continental Free Trade Area adequately to facilitate the commencement of trade under the trading bloc’s framework...Read more.

Algeria | Algeria Expects its Foreign Trade Surplus to Exceed USD 17 Billion - Algeria expects its foreign trade surplus to exceed USD 17 billion by the end of the year and for exports of non-oil products to reach USD 7 billion. Prime Minister Ayman...Read more.

Morocco | IFC Allocates USD 3.5 Billion for Private Sector Development in Morocco - Morocco celebrated its 60-year partnership with the International Finance Corporation which has so far mobilised more than USD 3.5 billion for local projects and businesses. Since 1962, the IFC has worked with over 100 Moroccan small businesses...Read more.

Nigeria/ Morocco | Gas Pipeline to Receive USD 25 Billion in Investment in 2023 - The Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline is set to receive a total investment of USD 25 billion next year, according to the head of the West African nation’s state oil company. Discussions for the financing of the energy mega project are still ongoing, with the Nigeria...Read more.

Tanzania | State Saves USD 52 Billion after Embarking on Natural Gas - The government has saved USD 52 billion (approximately TZS 121 trillion/- in 18 years) since the country embarked on natural gas to boost its energy mix plan, Director General of Petroleum Upstream Regulatory Authority (PURA) Engineer Charles...Read more.

Reports

Book | Environmental Law and Diplomacy

Environmental Law and Diplomacy is a collection of writings by Donald Kaniaru, which reflects on Africa’s pivotal role in the development of international environmental law over the last half-century.Regarded as renowned as “an admired pillar of the international environmental law community”, Mr Kaniaru reflects on the past and potential future of the "brilliantly vague" concept of sustainable development and the development and evolution of diverse tools of environmental governance to address urgent global priorities in the environmental arena. These writings cover a career spanning nearly five decades and are the author's compilation and distillation of the wisdom that helped to make UNEP what it is today.

For more information about this book contact [email protected].

World Economic Forum | ESG Pulse Check: Getting the Basics Right for Start-ups and Venture Capital Firms

While venture capital firms are a critical force in shaping the future as they invest in leading start-ups and disruptive technologies, the start-ups themselves have largely been left out of the conversation when it comes to ESG. This insight report aims to highlight what start-up and scale-up companies are thinking and doing on the ESG front, and the assistance they are seeking to ensure that they can avoid greenwashing and implement standards and strategies early on. The shifting macroeconomic and geopolitical environment has only increased its importance, further enhanced by a regulatory push to increase scrutiny on how companies as well as investors address ESG.

Click here to download and read the report.

World Economic Forum | Sustainable Development Investment Partnership Report

The COVID-19 pandemic has cast a long shadow over economic and social development and, as underscored in the Sustainable Development Investment Partnership Annual Report 2020/21, the reality is that although the challenges are global in their reach, they are not uniform in their impact on livelihoods. While the global sociopolitical and economic landscape has altered in many ways over the last year, developing countries continue their struggle to adapt to ongoing global disruption and the lingering and far-reaching effects of the pandemic.?

Click here to download and read the report.

World Bank | Africa's Pulse: Food System Opportunities in a Turbulent Time

African economies are facing a series of challenges to their post-pandemic recovery. Economic activity in the region is slowing to 3.3 percent amid global headwinds, including weak global growth and tightening global financial conditions. Elevated inflation rates and resulting policy tightening, as well as the rising risk of debt distress, are also impacting economic activity.?While food insecurity in Sub-Saharan Africa was increasing before the onset of COVID-19, the pandemic and the food and energy crisis have contributed to the recent steep increase in food insecurity and malnutrition.?

Click here to download and read the report.