Mr Giles Enticknap MBE has been appointed British High Commissioner to the Republic of Botswana in succession to Ms Sian Price who will be transferring to another Diplomatic Service appointment. Mr Enticknap will take up his appointment during August 2024

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Government of UK.

The Principal Secretary for Medical Services, Harry K. Kimtai, today officially launched the National Health Accounts Estimates Report for the fiscal years 2019/20 to 2021/22. 

The event underscored the government’s dedication to enhancing health services and ensuring equitable healthcare access for all Kenyans. 

In his address, Kimtai stressed that health is a fundamental right enshrined in the Kenyan Constitution, ensuring every citizen the right to the highest attainable standard of health. He reiterated the Ministry of Health’s commitment to implementing policies and measures to progressively achieve these rights.

The Principal Secretary highlighted significant progress made under the Vision 2030 initiative, particularly in improving healthcare quality and accessibility. He pointed out several achievements, including free treatment for HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis patients, which have contributed to a reduction in child and maternal mortality rates. 

Despite these successes, Kimtai acknowledged ongoing challenges in the health sector, such as inequitable access to services, inadequate financing, and a shortage of skilled health workers. 

He emphasized the need for continued efforts to address both communicable and non-communicable diseases, which place a substantial burden on the health system.

Kimtai also discussed the government’s Bottom Up Transformation Agenda (BETA) aimed at achieving universal health coverage (UHC). 

The Ministry has initiated reforms focused on human resources for health, health products and technologies, integrated health information systems, and healthcare financing.

The launch of the National Health Accounts Estimates Report provides valuable data for benchmarking, accountability, and evidence-based policymaking. It will aid in resource mobilization, service utilization, and fund allocation, contributing to better health outcomes for the population. 

Kimtai expressed gratitude to development partners, including WHO, USAID, and JICA, for their support in the NHA estimation process. He urged the involved teams to ensure the data collected is accurate and credible to facilitate effective health planning and policy formulation.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ministry of Health, Kenya.

In its bid to boost free trade and foster trade integration, the ECOWAS department for Economic Affairs and Agriculture has organized a train-the-trainer workshop on ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme (ETLS) of the National Committee of Origin recognition Committee (NRCOC) and the sensitization of the Private sector in Monrovia, Liberia from 16th to 17th May 2022.

The establishment of the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme (ETLS) in the 1990s provided the community framework for the operationalization of the ECOWAS Free Trade zone. With the evolution of the procedures for origin recognition worldwide and the need to ensure that the ETLS becomes a true vehicle for industrial and economic growth in West Africa, ECOWAS revised all the origin related texts.

A supplementary Act on ECOWAS rules of origin and origin recognition procedures was adopted in December 2018. Two regulations on modalities for the implementation of the Supplementary Act were adopted in December 2021 by the Council of Ministers. The main goal for of these reforms was to update and simplify the procedures for community origin recognition and certification while respecting the commitments of the members States with other international organizations such as World Customs Organization (WCO and World Trade Organization (WTO).

To ensure that Customs administrations, National committees for the origin recognition (NCOR) and the private sector are well equipped to implement the provisions of the texts, the Customs Union and Taxation Directorate has programmed a series training workshops to train the focal points of the NCOR. The training will take the form of train-the-trainer as these focal points will in turn train the various stakeholders in their respective countries.

Participants will be drawn from Customs administrations and other structures of the NCOR.

The main purpose of these training workshops is to train focal points of the National Committee for origin recognition (NCOR) on the new ECOWAS rules of origin during their working session and sensitize the Private Sector on advantages of the ETLS.

The training workshops will focus mainly on the new provisions introduced in the Supplementary Act and regulations. This workshop will enable focal points to identify a product as originating, train and sensitize at the national level on the new ECOWAS Rules of origin.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Speaking in her role as Chair of the WTO’s Trade Negotiations Committee, DG Okonjo-Iweala said consultations she has held with members and groups of members since the last General Council meeting in March to hear their thoughts on moving forward post-MC13 demonstrated a “constructive spirit”, with everyone “eager to complete the unfinished business from Abu Dhabi.”

“I was encouraged to hear members express determination to find pathways that allow us to do as much as possible here in Geneva, instead of waiting for ministerials to deliver things,” she said.  “In virtually every group, there was support for the notion of securing the political empowerment needed to get things finished here in the General Council.”

As part of efforts to advance work in Geneva, the Chair of the General Council, Ambassador Petter Ølberg of Norway, announced that a members’ retreat would be held on 8-9 July to reflect on how work is carried out in Geneva, how Ministerial Conferences can be optimized, and how ongoing work can be carried forward in the various workstreams.

The goal is to “ensure the WTO remains a forward-looking Organization — mindful of the pending, long overdue workstreams that require our attention and breakthrough of longstanding stalemates,” he said.

Ambassador Ølberg said he would be reaching out to members in the next few weeks to hear their views on the actual content of the retreat.

DG Okonjo-Iweala told the General Council meeting that four priorities for action repeatedly came up in her recent consultations with members — fisheries subsidies, agriculture, dispute settlement reform, and investment facilitation for development.

On fisheries subsidies, DG Okonjo-Iweala noted members were “very close” to completing the “second wave” negotiations on fisheries subsidies at MC13 and that “there is much regret that it did not happen”.

“Given this, members said we must get this done as soon as possible. So, this is a top priority, and we are going to have to work very hard to complete” before the WTO’s summer break, the goal indicated by many members, she added.

Ratification of the Fisheries Subsidies Agreement, agreed at the 12th Ministerial Conference in June 2022, is making progress, DG Okonjo-Iweala noted, with Qatar becoming the 76th member to deposit its instrument of acceptance.  Ten additional instruments of acceptance are expected in the coming weeks, raising expectations that the Agreement will enter into force this year.

On agriculture, making a breakthrough on this critically important sector is key, DG Okonjo-Iweala said. She encouraged members who have ideas on how to break the impasse to put them forward.  She welcomed Brazil’s paper on how to move the agriculture negotiations forward and said she was “encouraged by the new willingness to find a pathway to break the logjam.”

The other area where every member wants to continue work is dispute settlement reform, DG Okonjo-Iweala said, adding she was very pleased that Ambassador Usha Dwarka-Canabady of Mauritius will act as facilitator for this multilateral process.

“We need to fix what needs to be fixed so that the world will once again look at the WTO as a fully functioning organization,” DG Okonjo-Iweala declared. “The developments we’ve seen so far are positive.”

Another priority repeatedly mentioned by members in the consultations was the Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement and how to incorporate it into the WTO framework. The Agreement now has 128 WTO members as co-sponsors, of which 90 are developing economies.

Citing figures from a World Bank Group agency showing a sharp decline in capital flows to developing economies, DG Okonjo-Iweala said every instrument that can help developing economies attract investment and generate employment should be welcomed.

On development issues, DG Okonjo-Iweala said she was happy with the progress members were able to make for least developed countries and other developing  economies at MC13 and that members should build on the momentum achieved.  She noted that members indicated in the consultations that they would like to work further on the LDC graduation proposal and on the Agreement-specific proposals from the G90 group of developing economies and least developed countries.

During the 22 May General Council meeting, the negotiating chairs for agriculture (Ambassador Alparslan Acarsoy of Türkiye), fisheries subsidies (Ambassador Einar Gunnarsson of Iceland) and development (Ambassador Kadra Hassan of Djibouti) provided members with a readout on deliberations in their respective areas since the last General Council meeting in March.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of World Trade Organization (WTO).